Mountain War (Lebanon)
Encyclopedia
The Mountain War or War of the Mountain, also known as 'Guerre de la Montaigne' in French
, was a subconflict between the 1982–83 phase of the Lebanese Civil War and the 1984–89 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, which occurred at the mountainous Chouf District
located south-east of the Lebanese Capital Beirut
.
, the main Christian Maronite ally of Israel
, the Lebanese Forces
(LF) militia of the Kataeb
Party commanded by Bashir Gemayel sought to expand its area of influence in Lebanon. The LF tried to take advantage of Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) advances to begin deploying troops in areas where they had not been present before. Such territorial expansion was focused on regions known to harbor a large Christian rural population, such as the mountainous Chouf District
, located south-east of Beirut
. Following the assassination of their leader—and President-elect of Lebanon on August 23—Bashir Gemayel in September 1982, the LF command council decided late that month to enter the Chouf. The head of LF intelligence, Elie Hobeika
, voiced its opposition to the entry, but was overruled by its fellow senior commanders of the council. With the tacit backing of the IDF, Lebanese Forces
’ units under the command of Samir Geagea
(appointed Commander of LF forces in the Chouf-Aley
sector of Mount Lebanon
in January 1983) moved into the Christian-populated areas of the western Chouf. By early 1983, the Lebanese Forces’ managed to establish garrisons at a number of key towns in the Chouf, namely Aley, Deir el-Qamar, Souk el-Gharb, Kfar Matta, Bhamdoun
, and Kabr Chmoun among others. However, this brought them into confrontation with the local Druze
community, who viewed the LF as intruders on their territory.
The Maronites and the Druze were long-standing enemies since the 1860s—when a bloody civil war tore apart the Mount Lebanon Emirate, on which thousands of Christians were massacred by the Druzes—and old enmities were rearoused when Geagea’s Maronite troops tried to pay old historic debts by imposing their authority on the Chouf by force. Some 145 Druze civilians were reportedly killed by the Lebanese Forces at Kfar Matta and sporadic fighting soon broke out between the LF and the main Druze militia of the Progressive Socialist Party
(PSP).
(MNF) should be deployed in and around the Beirut area to maintain order. He also proceeded to re-organize and re-equip the depleted Lebanese Army with the help of the United States
and France
, whose MNF contingents (US Marines and Foreign Legion
Paratroopers) began training Lebanese recruits, followed by the end of the year of the arrival of arms shipments. Such partisan attitude however, eroded the neutrality of the MNF at the eyes of the Lebanese Muslims, since the regular Army – and in fact, the whole of the Lebanese Armed Forces
(LAF) – was not a neutral national defense force that would protect the interests of all factions. Indeed, the LAF was almost wholly controlled by the Christians.
In early October 1982, after regaining control of West Beirut the Lebanese Army Commander-in-Chief Major-General Ibrahim Tannous
turned its attention to the Chouf Mountains and on October 18, its troops began to reassert their presence in the region. However, they were unable to stop the ongoing Christian-Druze clashes, mostly due to the military Israeli presence in the area, which tended to restrict Lebanese government’ forces activity.
In November, the fighting in the Chouf spread into the south-western suburbs of Beirut and friction in the Lebanese Capital increased after December 1, when the Druze PSP leader Walid Jumblatt
was injured in an assassination attempt by a car-bomb explosion. On December 20 fighting broke out again between the Christian LF and the Druze PSP militias at the town of Aley which rumbled on until February 7, 1983, when the Druze overrun the town and drove out the Christian garrison.
’, which provided for the evacuation of all foreign armed forces from Lebanon. However, implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement depended entirely upon the cooperation of Syria
who, incensed for being neither invited to the negotiations nor consulted prior to the signature of the agreement, rejected it by refusing to withdraw its 30,000 troops stationed in Lebanon. Many Lebanese, both Christian and Muslim, were not in favour of the American-sponsored agreement either, which included severe security terms imposed by the Israelis and practically treated Lebanon as a defeated country.
Lebanese Muslims also felt both threatened and marginalized when President Amin Gemayel, confident of US political and military support, avoided implementing the much-needed political reforms to which the Muslim Political Parties and militias felt entitled.
from their remaining positions in the area. Despite the heavy presence of IDF units in the region, the Israelis had little interest at getting involved in Lebanese inter-sectarian strife, and made no attempt to intervene in the behalf of their LF allies.
During the summer of 1983 the situation in Lebanon degenerated into a vicious power struggle between Lebanese rival factions, with the MNF caught in the middle. Both the Israelis and Syrians withdrew to more defensive positions and tried to outmaneuvre each other by playing their local proxies, with mixed results. At the same time, the Lebanese central government was planning to re-impose its authority over the Chouf District, and on 9–10 July, Army regulars occupied an observation post recently abandoned by the IDF, located in the hills to the east of Beirut. President Gemayel and General Tannous wanted to step up the full deployment of combat units of the reformed Lebanese Army to the area, ostensibly to act as a buffer between the LF and the PSP. This was objected by the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who accused the Army of serving primarily the Kataeb
interests’, and began to re-organize and re-arm his PSP militia with Syrian material help. Oddly enough, the Israelis did not react to the Druze military built-up in the Chouf.
. Although President Gemayel accused Syria
of being behind the Druze shelling and threatened to respond accordingly, the artillery duels between government forces and Druze militias continued sporadically until a cease-fire came to effect on late August.
militia led by Nabih Berri
against the Lebanese Army. Although Amal had managed to seize control of much of West Beirut after two weeks of street-fighting, hostilities were resumed in August 28 near MNF positions in the southern edge of the Lebanese Capital which caused several UN casualties. The response was not long in coming, and two days later, Lebanese Army troops assisted by MNF detachments backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, made successful counterattacks and regained control of the Muslim quarters.
In any event, the cease-fire in the Chouf barely held for a week, and triggered another round of brutal fighting which caused Walid Jumblatt to declare on September 1 that the Druze community of Lebanon
was now formally at war with the Christian-dominated Gemayel government in East Beirut. The ‘Mountain War’ had begun.
(IDF) activated the first part of a phased withdrawal plan codenamed Operation Millstone, by quicky pulling out its troops from their positions on the southern approches of Beirut and from a section of the Beirut-Damascus Highway, and within twenty-four hours Israeli units had completed its redeployment south of the Awali River line. The Lebanese Army hurried south to occupy Khalde
and the road accesses to the adjoining International Airport, but run with difficulties near Aley, where heavy fighting between the Druze militias and the Lebanese Forces still rumbled.
(SSNP) militiamen under Inaam Raad, plus 3,000 Nasserite fighters of the Al-Murabitoun led by the Sunni Muslim Ibrahim Kulaylat
and some 5,000 Popular Guards’ militiamen of the Lebanese Communist Party
(LCP) under Elias Atallah
, a Maronite. In addition, the Shia Amal militia (not part of the alliance) at West Beirut was able to mobilize 10,000 fighters. Both Amal and the PSP-led coalition received the discreet, yet fundamental backing of the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) and the Syrian Army
, who provided logistical and artillery support.
The Lebanese Forces militia had about 2,500 lightly equipped Christian militiamen in the Chouf, mostly tied up in static garrison duties throughout the region’s main towns whereas another 2,000 fighters were deployed alongside LAF ground units at West Beirut. The Lebanese Army committed five newly-formed mechanized infantry
brigades – the Fourth Brigade
, Fifth Brigade, Sixth Brigade, Seventh Brigade
, and Eighth Brigade
– totaling roughly some 10,000 men, placed under the overall command of Gen. Tannous and the Lebanese Armed Forces
Chief-of-Staff, the Druze General
Nadim al-Hakim. Deployed in the western Chouf, and at both the western and eastern sectors of Beirut, the army brigades benefited from aerial, artillery, and logistical support lent by US and French forces of the MNF contingent.
In this post-Israeli period in the Chouf the Lebanese Forces and the regular army occasionally fought side-by-side, but at other times they were opponents. This lack of coordination between the LF and the government was due to the deep distrust that LF senior commanders felt towards President Amin Gemayel, its political moderate posture and friendly relations with Muslim
and Palestinian
leaders.
. Warned at the last minute of the eminent Druze attack, the Lebanese Forces’ command belatedly began evacuating Christian civilians from the villages around Deir el-Qamar, but there was no more time left to evacuate the rest, leaving the surrounding countryside virtually undefended.
For their part, the LF garrison forces were completely caught by surprise by the ferocity of the assault and were outnumbered. Supported by obsolescent field guns, TOW
Jeeps, Heavy machine guns and recoilless rifles on gun-trucks, and anti-aircraft autocannons mounted on wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APC)s, they tried desperately to hold their ground at Bhamdoun against a determined enemy now equipped with Soviet-made Tanks, tracked APCs, long-range artillery and MBRLs supplied on loan by Syria
.
Bhamdoun fell on the 7th, followed two days later by Kabr Chmoun, forcing the Lebanese Forces troops’ to fall back to Deir el-Qamar, which held 40,000 Christian residents and refugees and was defended by 1,000 LF militiamen. The Lebanese Forces command accused the Druze PSP of both ramsacking Bhamdoum and of committing ‘unprecedented massacres’ in the Chouf: in order to deny support, cover or a visible community for the LF to protect, the Druze implemented a ‘territorial cleansing’ policy to drain the local Christian population from the region.
Between 7 and 13 September, Jumblatt’s militia forces overran sixty-two Maronite villages, slaughtered 1,500 people and drove another 50,000 out of their homes in the mountainous areas east and west of Beirut.
When the Lebanese Army was forced to pull back on September 12, in order to strengthen their position around Souk el-Gharb, the Druze moved forward to fill the gap. This allowed their artillery point-blank line of sight to the US Marine position at Beirut Airport, overlooked by mountains of strategic value on three sides—designated the ‘three 8’ hills—and on September 15, Druze forces and their allies massed on the threshold of Souk el-Gharb.
Michel Aoun
bore the brunt of the attacks, fighting desperately to retain control of the town.
The revived Lebanese Air Force
(FAL, in the French
acronym) was also thrown into the fray for the first time since the 1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, in a form of a squadron of ten repaired British-made Hawker Hunter
fighter jets sent to support the beleguered Lebanese Army units in the Chouf. Because the main air base at Rayak had been shelled by the Syrian Army
, the Hunters had to operate from an improvised airfield at Halat, near Jbeil, built by the Americans by using part of the coastal highway. The last combat sortie of the FAL was flown in September 17, when three Lebanese ‘Hunters’, backed by a squadron of French Navy
’s Super Etandards from the aircraft carrier
Clemenceau
made an attempt to bomb and strafe Druze and Syrian gun emplacements in the Chouf. However, the Druze were awaiting for them with SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles and AA autocannons. One ‘Hunter’ was shot down by a SAM missile and the pilot barely managed to eject himself into the sea. The second Hunter was heavily damaged by ground fire and made a forced landing at Halat. The third did not return to the base but flew straight to the RAF air base at Akrotiri, Cyprus
, were the pilot eventually requested political asylum upon arrival.
United States Navy
warships shelled Druze positions and helped the Lebanese Army hold the town until an informal cease-fire was declared on September 25 at Damascus
, the day the battleship USS New Jersey
arrived to the scene.
Although the Lebanese Army had beaten the Druze forces on the battlefield, it was a pyhrric victory, for it marked the beginning of a confessional split in its ranks. Just prior to the cease-fire, Gen. al-Hakim, the LAF Chief-of-Staff and commander of the predominantely Druze Seventh Brigade
, fled into PSP-held territory, but he would not admit he had actually defected. After linking up at Khalde with their Shiite Amal allies, the Druze PSP militia forces drove the mixed Fourth Brigade 3½ miles south to the vicinity of Damour
, in the Iqlim al-Kharrub coastal enclave, as they attempted to create a salient from Aley to the coast at Khalde, south of Beirut. Surrounded and badly mauled, the Brigade disintegrated when approximately 900 Druze enlisted men, plus 60 Officers and NCOs, deserted the Brigade to join their coreligionists of Jumblatt’s PSP or SSNP militias. The remaining 1,000 or so Christian Maronite Officers and men fled south across the Awali River, seeking protection behind Israeli lines while leaving behind some US-made Tanks and armored personnel carriers, Jeeps and ammunition. After reaching Sidon
, the soldiers were evacuated by sea to East Beirut, where they enrolled in other Christian-dominated army elite units.
, Switzerland
, for a national reconciliation conference under the auspices of Saudi Arabia
and Syria
, and chaired by President Gemayel to discuss political reform and the May 17 Agreement
.
For its part, the United States
had clearly inherited Israel's role of shoring up the precarious Lebanese government. On September 29, 1983, the United States Congress
, by a solid majority, adopted a resolution declaring the 1973 War Powers Resolution to apply to the situation in Lebanon and sanctioned the United States military presence for an eighteen-month period.
(IAF) frequently carried attacks on hostile targets in the Chouf, losing a fighter jet to ground anti-aircraft fire over Bhamdoum on November 21, 1983.
The Israelis underscored the extent of their responsibility for their Lebanese allies on December 15 when they stepped in to help the IRC in the evacuation of some 2,500 Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) militiamen and 5,000 civilians from Deir el-Qamar and Souk el-Gharb. IDF armor and mechanized infantry units provided cover for the exodus towards the Israeli-controlled Awali River line. There were some tense moments as Druze militiamen, waving their rifles, jeered the LF fighters, who had been bundled into Israeli military trucks. The Christian fighters and the civilian refugees were eventually taken by ship by the Israeli Navy from the Israeli-occupied port of Sidon
to Christian-controlled areas around Beirut.
At West Beirut, violent clashes erupted on December 24 when Lebanese Army detachments attempted to occupy positions just vacated by the departing French MNF contingent. This time the Druze PSP joined the Amal Movement
in the fighting, forcing the battered government forces to withdraw to East Beirut after a five-day street battle.
, Syria
, the Lebanese Forces
, and the Shia Amal and Druze PSP militias. However, implementation of the plan was delayed by continual inter-factional fighting in and around the Lebanese Capital, but also in Tripoli
.
As sporadic fighting broke out again on January 16, there were fears that the informal cease-fire that has generally prevailed since late September 1983 was breaking down. Druze artillerymen again shelled Christian-controlled East Beirut and the Marines positions around the International Airport, with Amal and the Lebanese Army joining at the fringes. This in turn provoked a response from the 5-inch naval guns of the battleship USS New Jersey
and the destroyer USS Tattnall
, firing at Druze gun emplacements in the hills surrounding Beirut.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, was a subconflict between the 1982–83 phase of the Lebanese Civil War and the 1984–89 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, which occurred at the mountainous Chouf District
Chouf District
Chouf is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate of Mount Lebanon....
located south-east of the Lebanese Capital Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
.
Background
In the wake of the June 1982 Israeli invasion of LebanonIsraeli invasion of Lebanon
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon could refer to:*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1978 South Lebanon conflict;*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War;*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1993 Lebanon War;...
, the main Christian Maronite ally of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, the Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
(LF) militia of the Kataeb
Kataeb Party
The Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
Party commanded by Bashir Gemayel sought to expand its area of influence in Lebanon. The LF tried to take advantage of Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) advances to begin deploying troops in areas where they had not been present before. Such territorial expansion was focused on regions known to harbor a large Christian rural population, such as the mountainous Chouf District
Chouf District
Chouf is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate of Mount Lebanon....
, located south-east of Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
. Following the assassination of their leader—and President-elect of Lebanon on August 23—Bashir Gemayel in September 1982, the LF command council decided late that month to enter the Chouf. The head of LF intelligence, Elie Hobeika
Elie Hobeika
Elie Hobeika was a Lebanese Phalangist and Lebanese Forces militia commander during the Lebanese Civil War, and former MP...
, voiced its opposition to the entry, but was overruled by its fellow senior commanders of the council. With the tacit backing of the IDF, Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
’ units under the command of Samir Geagea
Samir Geagea
Samir Farid Geagea , born October 25, 1952, is a Lebanese politician. He is also a senior figure in the March 14 Alliance, alongside Saad Hariri and Amine Gemayel....
(appointed Commander of LF forces in the Chouf-Aley
Aley
Aley is a picturesque town in Mount Lebanon. It is located 17 km uphill from Beirut, just south of the summer resort of Bhamdoun and north of the strategic town of Souk El Gharb.-Demographics:...
sector of Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon , as a geographic designation, is a Lebanese mountain range, averaging above 2,200 meters in height and receiving a substantial amount of precipitation, including snow, which averages around four meters deep. It extends across the whole country along about , parallel to the...
in January 1983) moved into the Christian-populated areas of the western Chouf. By early 1983, the Lebanese Forces’ managed to establish garrisons at a number of key towns in the Chouf, namely Aley, Deir el-Qamar, Souk el-Gharb, Kfar Matta, Bhamdoun
Bhamdoun
Bhamdoun is a town in Lebanon from Beirut on the main road that leads to Damascus, lying at an altitude of above the Lamartine valley. Two separate villages compose the town, Bhamdoun-el-mhatta and Bhamdoun-el-day'aa...
, and Kabr Chmoun among others. However, this brought them into confrontation with the local Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
community, who viewed the LF as intruders on their territory.
The Maronites and the Druze were long-standing enemies since the 1860s—when a bloody civil war tore apart the Mount Lebanon Emirate, on which thousands of Christians were massacred by the Druzes—and old enmities were rearoused when Geagea’s Maronite troops tried to pay old historic debts by imposing their authority on the Chouf by force. Some 145 Druze civilians were reportedly killed by the Lebanese Forces at Kfar Matta and sporadic fighting soon broke out between the LF and the main Druze militia of the Progressive Socialist Party
Progressive Socialist Party
The Progressive Socialist Party or PSP , also known as Parti Socialiste Progressiste in French, is a political party in Lebanon. Its current leader is Walid Jumblatt...
(PSP).
The re-organization of the Lebanese Army
The new Lebanese President Amin Gemayel – brother of the late Bashir, elected as its successor in September 21 – requested that a US, French and Italian (soon joined by a small British contingent) peacekeeping Multinational ForceMultinational Force in Lebanon
The Multinational Force in Lebanon was an international peacekeeping force created in 1982 and sent to Lebanon to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization...
(MNF) should be deployed in and around the Beirut area to maintain order. He also proceeded to re-organize and re-equip the depleted Lebanese Army with the help of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, whose MNF contingents (US Marines and Foreign Legion
Foreign legion
Foreign legion or Foreign Legion is a title which has been used by a small number of military units composed of foreign volunteers.It usually refers to the French Foreign Legion, part of the French Army established in 1831.It can also refer to:...
Paratroopers) began training Lebanese recruits, followed by the end of the year of the arrival of arms shipments. Such partisan attitude however, eroded the neutrality of the MNF at the eyes of the Lebanese Muslims, since the regular Army – and in fact, the whole of the Lebanese Armed Forces
Lebanese Armed Forces
The Lebanese Armed Forces or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the Lebanese Army according to its official Website The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) (Arabic: القوات المسلحة اللبنانية | Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa al-Lubnāniyya) or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the...
(LAF) – was not a neutral national defense force that would protect the interests of all factions. Indeed, the LAF was almost wholly controlled by the Christians.
In early October 1982, after regaining control of West Beirut the Lebanese Army Commander-in-Chief Major-General Ibrahim Tannous
Ibrahim Tannous
Ibrahim Tannous , is a former commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces. He gave his resignation and was succeeded by Michel Aoun in June of 1984 after accusations were leveled at him of anti-Muslim bias.-External links:*...
turned its attention to the Chouf Mountains and on October 18, its troops began to reassert their presence in the region. However, they were unable to stop the ongoing Christian-Druze clashes, mostly due to the military Israeli presence in the area, which tended to restrict Lebanese government’ forces activity.
In November, the fighting in the Chouf spread into the south-western suburbs of Beirut and friction in the Lebanese Capital increased after December 1, when the Druze PSP leader Walid Jumblatt
Walid Jumblatt
Walid Jumblatt is a Lebanese politician and the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party . He is the most prominent leader of Lebanon's Druze community.-Family:...
was injured in an assassination attempt by a car-bomb explosion. On December 20 fighting broke out again between the Christian LF and the Druze PSP militias at the town of Aley which rumbled on until February 7, 1983, when the Druze overrun the town and drove out the Christian garrison.
The May 17 Agreement
After six months of tedious US-mediated negotiations, representatives of the Lebanese, Israeli, and American governments signed a withdrawal agreement on May 17, 1983, which became known as the ‘May 17 AgreementMay 17 Agreement
The May 17 Agreement of 1983 was a failed U.S.-backed attempt to create peace between Lebanon and Israel during the Lebanese Civil War, after Israel invaded Lebanon and besieged Beirut in 1982...
’, which provided for the evacuation of all foreign armed forces from Lebanon. However, implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement depended entirely upon the cooperation of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
who, incensed for being neither invited to the negotiations nor consulted prior to the signature of the agreement, rejected it by refusing to withdraw its 30,000 troops stationed in Lebanon. Many Lebanese, both Christian and Muslim, were not in favour of the American-sponsored agreement either, which included severe security terms imposed by the Israelis and practically treated Lebanon as a defeated country.
Lebanese Muslims also felt both threatened and marginalized when President Amin Gemayel, confident of US political and military support, avoided implementing the much-needed political reforms to which the Muslim Political Parties and militias felt entitled.
Increasing tensions
As a result, internal political and armed opposition to the weak Gemayel administration grew intensively throughout the country. On May 22, a number of clashes occurred in the Chouf Mountains, as the Druze PSP militias moved to expel the Lebanese ForcesLebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
from their remaining positions in the area. Despite the heavy presence of IDF units in the region, the Israelis had little interest at getting involved in Lebanese inter-sectarian strife, and made no attempt to intervene in the behalf of their LF allies.
During the summer of 1983 the situation in Lebanon degenerated into a vicious power struggle between Lebanese rival factions, with the MNF caught in the middle. Both the Israelis and Syrians withdrew to more defensive positions and tried to outmaneuvre each other by playing their local proxies, with mixed results. At the same time, the Lebanese central government was planning to re-impose its authority over the Chouf District, and on 9–10 July, Army regulars occupied an observation post recently abandoned by the IDF, located in the hills to the east of Beirut. President Gemayel and General Tannous wanted to step up the full deployment of combat units of the reformed Lebanese Army to the area, ostensibly to act as a buffer between the LF and the PSP. This was objected by the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who accused the Army of serving primarily the Kataeb
Kataeb Party
The Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
interests’, and began to re-organize and re-arm his PSP militia with Syrian material help. Oddly enough, the Israelis did not react to the Druze military built-up in the Chouf.
Clashes with the Druze in the Chouf
The first clash between the Druze PSP and the Army occurred on July 14, when an Army detachment accompanying an IDF patrol was ambushed by Druze guerrillas. Fourteen Lebanese regular soldiers and two Druze militiamen were killed in the attack, and in riposte the artillery units of Jumblatt’s PSP shelled on 18th, 20th and 23rd the Christian-held neighbourhoods of East Beirut (in which over 30 people were killed and 600 injured, mostly civilians) and the US Marines’ positions at Beirut International Airport in KhaldeKhalde
Khalde is a coastal town south of Beirut, Lebanon. It is famous as a touristic destination in the summer especially for its various beach resorts. Excavations, now covered over, show that the site has been occupied since at least the beginning of the first millennium BC. A few kilometers south of...
. Although President Gemayel accused Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
of being behind the Druze shelling and threatened to respond accordingly, the artillery duels between government forces and Druze militias continued sporadically until a cease-fire came to effect on late August.
Clashes with Amal in Beirut
As these events were unfolding in the Chouf, tensions continued to mount at Muslim-populated West Beirut. They finally exploded on mid-August when a general strike called on the 15th quickly escalated into open warfare, which pitted the Shia Muslim Amal MovementAmal Movement
Amal Movement is short for the Lebanese Resistance Detachments the acronym for which, in Arabic, is "amal", meaning "hope."Amal was founded in 1975 as the militia wing of the Movement of the Disinherited, a Shi'a political movement founded by Musa...
militia led by Nabih Berri
Nabih Berri
Nabih Berri is the Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon. He heads the mostly Shi'a Amal Movement.-Biography:He was born in Bo, Sierra Leone to Lebanese parents. He went to school in Tebnine and Ain Ebel in southern Lebanon and later studied at the Makassed and the Ecole de la Sagesse in Beirut...
against the Lebanese Army. Although Amal had managed to seize control of much of West Beirut after two weeks of street-fighting, hostilities were resumed in August 28 near MNF positions in the southern edge of the Lebanese Capital which caused several UN casualties. The response was not long in coming, and two days later, Lebanese Army troops assisted by MNF detachments backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, made successful counterattacks and regained control of the Muslim quarters.
The Israelis withdraw from the Chouf
To further aggrieve matters, the Israelis during that same month withdrew unilaterally from the Chouf to new positions further south along the Awali River, allowing the Lebanese Army to resume control over the area. This unexpected move effectively removed the buffer between the Druze and Christian militias, with some international analysts believing that the Israelis had deliberately provoked the conflict so that their Christian allies could establish themselves in the area.In any event, the cease-fire in the Chouf barely held for a week, and triggered another round of brutal fighting which caused Walid Jumblatt to declare on September 1 that the Druze community of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
was now formally at war with the Christian-dominated Gemayel government in East Beirut. The ‘Mountain War’ had begun.
September 1983
On September 3, 1983, the Israel Defense ForcesIsrael Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) activated the first part of a phased withdrawal plan codenamed Operation Millstone, by quicky pulling out its troops from their positions on the southern approches of Beirut and from a section of the Beirut-Damascus Highway, and within twenty-four hours Israeli units had completed its redeployment south of the Awali River line. The Lebanese Army hurried south to occupy Khalde
Khalde
Khalde is a coastal town south of Beirut, Lebanon. It is famous as a touristic destination in the summer especially for its various beach resorts. Excavations, now covered over, show that the site has been occupied since at least the beginning of the first millennium BC. A few kilometers south of...
and the road accesses to the adjoining International Airport, but run with difficulties near Aley, where heavy fighting between the Druze militias and the Lebanese Forces still rumbled.
Opposing forces
By this stage, Jumblatt’s 17,000-strong PSP militia was now part of a military coalition that gathered 300 Druze fighters sent by its Druze rival Majeed Arslan and head of the powerful Yazbaki clan and 2,000 Syrian Social Nationalist PartySyrian Social Nationalist Party
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party , is a secular nationalist political party in Lebanon and Syria. It advocates the establishment of a Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Israel, Cyprus, Kuwait,...
(SSNP) militiamen under Inaam Raad, plus 3,000 Nasserite fighters of the Al-Murabitoun led by the Sunni Muslim Ibrahim Kulaylat
Ibrahim Kulaylat
Ibrahim Kulaylat is a lebanese political man.Head of the Nasserist Party, known under the name of al-Mourabitoun, established in 1958, he organized a multi-confessional militia, consisted specially of Sunni, Shiite Muslims and progressive Christians...
and some 5,000 Popular Guards’ militiamen of the Lebanese Communist Party
Lebanese Communist Party
The Lebanese Communist Party – LCP or Parti communiste libanais in French, is a communist political party in Lebanon...
(LCP) under Elias Atallah
Elias Atallah
Elias Atallah born in 1947, is a Lebanese politician, and an elected member of parliament during the 2005 elections. He is also the chairperson of the Democratic Left Movement, and a prominent member in the March 14 Alliance...
, a Maronite. In addition, the Shia Amal militia (not part of the alliance) at West Beirut was able to mobilize 10,000 fighters. Both Amal and the PSP-led coalition received the discreet, yet fundamental backing of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
(PLO) and the Syrian Army
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army, officially called the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the...
, who provided logistical and artillery support.
The Lebanese Forces militia had about 2,500 lightly equipped Christian militiamen in the Chouf, mostly tied up in static garrison duties throughout the region’s main towns whereas another 2,000 fighters were deployed alongside LAF ground units at West Beirut. The Lebanese Army committed five newly-formed mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....
brigades – the Fourth Brigade
4th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon)
The 4th Infantry Brigade was a Lebanese Army unit that fought in the Lebanese Civil War, being active from its creation in September 1982 to its destruction in September 1983, in wake of the Mountain War.-Origins:...
, Fifth Brigade, Sixth Brigade, Seventh Brigade
7th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon)
The 7th Infantry Brigade was composed of 1,700 men in 1987. A contingent of the Seventh Brigade was stationed in the Jbeil district, north of Beirut. This contingent was regarded as loyal to former President Suleiman Frangieh, whose feudal seat, Zgharta, is a few kilometers southwest of Tripoli...
, and Eighth Brigade
8th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon)
The 8th Infantry Brigade was raised in 1983 by General Michel Aoun, being regarded as an elite unit, it was the strongest, best equipped, and best trained formation of the Lebanese Army by the late 1980s...
– totaling roughly some 10,000 men, placed under the overall command of Gen. Tannous and the Lebanese Armed Forces
Lebanese Armed Forces
The Lebanese Armed Forces or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the Lebanese Army according to its official Website The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) (Arabic: القوات المسلحة اللبنانية | Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa al-Lubnāniyya) or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the...
Chief-of-Staff, the Druze General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Nadim al-Hakim. Deployed in the western Chouf, and at both the western and eastern sectors of Beirut, the army brigades benefited from aerial, artillery, and logistical support lent by US and French forces of the MNF contingent.
In this post-Israeli period in the Chouf the Lebanese Forces and the regular army occasionally fought side-by-side, but at other times they were opponents. This lack of coordination between the LF and the government was due to the deep distrust that LF senior commanders felt towards President Amin Gemayel, its political moderate posture and friendly relations with Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
leaders.
The Druze offensive
As soon as the last Israeli units left the Chouf, the Druze launched on September 5 a full-scale offensive on Lebanese Forces’ and Lebanese Army positions at Deir el-Qamar, Kabr Chmoun and BhamdounBhamdoun
Bhamdoun is a town in Lebanon from Beirut on the main road that leads to Damascus, lying at an altitude of above the Lamartine valley. Two separate villages compose the town, Bhamdoun-el-mhatta and Bhamdoun-el-day'aa...
. Warned at the last minute of the eminent Druze attack, the Lebanese Forces’ command belatedly began evacuating Christian civilians from the villages around Deir el-Qamar, but there was no more time left to evacuate the rest, leaving the surrounding countryside virtually undefended.
For their part, the LF garrison forces were completely caught by surprise by the ferocity of the assault and were outnumbered. Supported by obsolescent field guns, TOW
BGM-71 TOW
The BGM-71 TOW is an anti-tank missile. "BGM" is a weapon classification that stands for "Multiple Environment , Surface-Attack , Missile ". "TOW" is an acronym that stands for "Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire command data link, guided missile"...
Jeeps, Heavy machine guns and recoilless rifles on gun-trucks, and anti-aircraft autocannons mounted on wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APC)s, they tried desperately to hold their ground at Bhamdoun against a determined enemy now equipped with Soviet-made Tanks, tracked APCs, long-range artillery and MBRLs supplied on loan by Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
.
Bhamdoun fell on the 7th, followed two days later by Kabr Chmoun, forcing the Lebanese Forces troops’ to fall back to Deir el-Qamar, which held 40,000 Christian residents and refugees and was defended by 1,000 LF militiamen. The Lebanese Forces command accused the Druze PSP of both ramsacking Bhamdoum and of committing ‘unprecedented massacres’ in the Chouf: in order to deny support, cover or a visible community for the LF to protect, the Druze implemented a ‘territorial cleansing’ policy to drain the local Christian population from the region.
Between 7 and 13 September, Jumblatt’s militia forces overran sixty-two Maronite villages, slaughtered 1,500 people and drove another 50,000 out of their homes in the mountainous areas east and west of Beirut.
When the Lebanese Army was forced to pull back on September 12, in order to strengthen their position around Souk el-Gharb, the Druze moved forward to fill the gap. This allowed their artillery point-blank line of sight to the US Marine position at Beirut Airport, overlooked by mountains of strategic value on three sides—designated the ‘three 8’ hills—and on September 15, Druze forces and their allies massed on the threshold of Souk el-Gharb.
The battle of Souk el-Gharb
At Souk el-Gharb and Khalde however, it was the Lebanese Army and not the LF who confronted the Druze militias; for the next three days the army's Eighth Brigade led by ColonelColonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Michel Aoun
Michel Aoun
Michel Naim Aoun is a former Lebanese Army Commander and he is one of the allies of Hezbollah. From 22 September 1988 to 13 October 1990, he has served as Prime Minister of the legal one of two rival governments that contended for power. He declared "The Liberation War" against the Syrian...
bore the brunt of the attacks, fighting desperately to retain control of the town.
The revived Lebanese Air Force
Lebanese Air Force
The Lebanese Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The seal of the air force is constituted of a Roundel with two wings and a Lebanese Cedar tree, surrounded by two laurel leaves on a blue background.-History:...
(FAL, in the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
acronym) was also thrown into the fray for the first time since the 1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, in a form of a squadron of ten repaired British-made Hawker Hunter
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a subsonic British jet aircraft developed in the 1950s. The single-seat Hunter entered service as a manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, and later operated in fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles in numerous conflicts. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary...
fighter jets sent to support the beleguered Lebanese Army units in the Chouf. Because the main air base at Rayak had been shelled by the Syrian Army
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army, officially called the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the...
, the Hunters had to operate from an improvised airfield at Halat, near Jbeil, built by the Americans by using part of the coastal highway. The last combat sortie of the FAL was flown in September 17, when three Lebanese ‘Hunters’, backed by a squadron of French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
’s Super Etandards from the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
Clemenceau
Clemenceau (R 98)
Clemenceau , often affectionately called "le Clem'", was the lead ship of her class, and the 6th aircraft carrier of the French Navy, serving from 1961 to 1997. She was the second French warship to be named after Georges Clemenceau, the first one being a battleship of the Richelieu class, laid...
made an attempt to bomb and strafe Druze and Syrian gun emplacements in the Chouf. However, the Druze were awaiting for them with SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles and AA autocannons. One ‘Hunter’ was shot down by a SAM missile and the pilot barely managed to eject himself into the sea. The second Hunter was heavily damaged by ground fire and made a forced landing at Halat. The third did not return to the base but flew straight to the RAF air base at Akrotiri, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, were the pilot eventually requested political asylum upon arrival.
United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
warships shelled Druze positions and helped the Lebanese Army hold the town until an informal cease-fire was declared on September 25 at Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, the day the battleship USS New Jersey
USS New Jersey (BB-62)
USS New Jersey , is an , and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of New Jersey. New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and is the only U.S...
arrived to the scene.
Although the Lebanese Army had beaten the Druze forces on the battlefield, it was a pyhrric victory, for it marked the beginning of a confessional split in its ranks. Just prior to the cease-fire, Gen. al-Hakim, the LAF Chief-of-Staff and commander of the predominantely Druze Seventh Brigade
7th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon)
The 7th Infantry Brigade was composed of 1,700 men in 1987. A contingent of the Seventh Brigade was stationed in the Jbeil district, north of Beirut. This contingent was regarded as loyal to former President Suleiman Frangieh, whose feudal seat, Zgharta, is a few kilometers southwest of Tripoli...
, fled into PSP-held territory, but he would not admit he had actually defected. After linking up at Khalde with their Shiite Amal allies, the Druze PSP militia forces drove the mixed Fourth Brigade 3½ miles south to the vicinity of Damour
Damour
Damour is a Lebanese Christian town that is 24 kilometres south of Beirut. The name of the town is derived from the name of the Phoenician god Damoros who symbolized immortality ....
, in the Iqlim al-Kharrub coastal enclave, as they attempted to create a salient from Aley to the coast at Khalde, south of Beirut. Surrounded and badly mauled, the Brigade disintegrated when approximately 900 Druze enlisted men, plus 60 Officers and NCOs, deserted the Brigade to join their coreligionists of Jumblatt’s PSP or SSNP militias. The remaining 1,000 or so Christian Maronite Officers and men fled south across the Awali River, seeking protection behind Israeli lines while leaving behind some US-made Tanks and armored personnel carriers, Jeeps and ammunition. After reaching Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
, the soldiers were evacuated by sea to East Beirut, where they enrolled in other Christian-dominated army elite units.
The Geneva Conference
The September 25th cease-fire temporarily stabilized the situation. The Gemayel government maintained its jurisdiction over the West Beirut districts, the Shia Amal movement had not yet fully committed itself in the fighting, and Jumblatt’s PSP remained landlocked in the Chouf Mountains. The Lebanese government and opposition personalities agreed to meet in GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, for a national reconciliation conference under the auspices of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and chaired by President Gemayel to discuss political reform and the May 17 Agreement
May 17 Agreement
The May 17 Agreement of 1983 was a failed U.S.-backed attempt to create peace between Lebanon and Israel during the Lebanese Civil War, after Israel invaded Lebanon and besieged Beirut in 1982...
.
For its part, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
had clearly inherited Israel's role of shoring up the precarious Lebanese government. On September 29, 1983, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, by a solid majority, adopted a resolution declaring the 1973 War Powers Resolution to apply to the situation in Lebanon and sanctioned the United States military presence for an eighteen-month period.
November 1983
The Israeli Air ForceIsraeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
(IAF) frequently carried attacks on hostile targets in the Chouf, losing a fighter jet to ground anti-aircraft fire over Bhamdoum on November 21, 1983.
December 1983
In early December, the PSP leader Walid Jumblatt, ostensibly as a gesture of goodwill on humanitarian grounds and without any preconditions, offered to lift the sieges of Souk el-Gharb and Deir el-Qamar, which had been cut off since September and had to rely on weekly International Red Cross (IRC) relief convoys for food and medical supplies.The Israelis underscored the extent of their responsibility for their Lebanese allies on December 15 when they stepped in to help the IRC in the evacuation of some 2,500 Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) militiamen and 5,000 civilians from Deir el-Qamar and Souk el-Gharb. IDF armor and mechanized infantry units provided cover for the exodus towards the Israeli-controlled Awali River line. There were some tense moments as Druze militiamen, waving their rifles, jeered the LF fighters, who had been bundled into Israeli military trucks. The Christian fighters and the civilian refugees were eventually taken by ship by the Israeli Navy from the Israeli-occupied port of Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
to Christian-controlled areas around Beirut.
At West Beirut, violent clashes erupted on December 24 when Lebanese Army detachments attempted to occupy positions just vacated by the departing French MNF contingent. This time the Druze PSP joined the Amal Movement
Amal Movement
Amal Movement is short for the Lebanese Resistance Detachments the acronym for which, in Arabic, is "amal", meaning "hope."Amal was founded in 1975 as the militia wing of the Movement of the Disinherited, a Shi'a political movement founded by Musa...
in the fighting, forcing the battered government forces to withdraw to East Beirut after a five-day street battle.
January 1984
On January 5, the Lebanese Government announced that a disengagement plan to demilitarize Beirut and its environs, had been approved by IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, the Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
, and the Shia Amal and Druze PSP militias. However, implementation of the plan was delayed by continual inter-factional fighting in and around the Lebanese Capital, but also in Tripoli
Tripoli, Lebanon
Tripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in Lebanon. Situated 85 km north of the capital Beirut, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Geographically located on the east of the Mediterranean, the city's history dates back...
.
As sporadic fighting broke out again on January 16, there were fears that the informal cease-fire that has generally prevailed since late September 1983 was breaking down. Druze artillerymen again shelled Christian-controlled East Beirut and the Marines positions around the International Airport, with Amal and the Lebanese Army joining at the fringes. This in turn provoked a response from the 5-inch naval guns of the battleship USS New Jersey
USS New Jersey (BB-62)
USS New Jersey , is an , and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of New Jersey. New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and is the only U.S...
and the destroyer USS Tattnall
USS Tattnall (DDG-19)
USS Tattnall was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile-armed destroyer of the United States Navy. She was named for Commodore Josiah Tattnall, Jr...
, firing at Druze gun emplacements in the hills surrounding Beirut.
February 1984
Following an open appeal by Nabih Berri, the predominantely Shiite Sixth Brigade deserted en bloc to Amal.March 1984
On March 5, 1984 the Lebanese Government canceled the May 17 agreement; the US Marines departed a few weeks later.See also
- Battle of the HotelsBattle of the HotelsThe Battle of the Hotels, also known as the “Hotel front” or “Front des Hotels” in French, was a subconflict within the 1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred in the Minet-el-Hosn hotel district of downtown Beirut...
- Damour massacreDamour massacreThe Damour massacre took place on January 20, 1976 during the 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War. Damour, a Christian town on the main highway south of Beirut, was attacked by the Palestine Liberation Organisation units...
- Israeli invasion of LebanonIsraeli invasion of LebanonThe Israeli invasion of Lebanon could refer to:*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1978 South Lebanon conflict;*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War;*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1993 Lebanon War;...
- Lebanese Civil WarLebanese Civil WarThe Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
- Lebanese Armed ForcesLebanese Armed ForcesThe Lebanese Armed Forces or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the Lebanese Army according to its official Website The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) (Arabic: القوات المسلحة اللبنانية | Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa al-Lubnāniyya) or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the...
- Lebanese ForcesLebanese ForcesThe Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
- Sabra and Shatila massacreSabra and Shatila massacreThe Sabra and Shatila massacre took place in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon between September 16 and September 18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the camp...
- 1983 Beirut barracks bombing1983 Beirut barracks bombingThe Beirut Barracks Bombing occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen...
Further reading
- Denise Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990, Fayard, Paris 2005. ISBN 978-2213615219 (in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) - Itamar Rabinovich, The war for Lebanon, 1970-1985, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1989 (revised edition). ISBN 0-8014-9313-7
- Jean Sarkis, Histoire de la guerre du Liban, Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. ISBN 978-2130458012 (in French)
- Samir Kassir, La Guerre du Liban: De la dissension nationale au conflit régional, Éditions Karthala/CERMOC, Paris 1994. (in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
)