Lebanese Civil War: Encyclopedia II - Lebanese Civil War - First phase of the war 1975-77

Lebanese Civil War - First phase of the war 1975-77

Lebanese Civil War - Sectarian violence and civilian massacres

Throughout the Spring of 1975, minor clashes had been building up towards all-out conflict, with the LNM pitted against the Phalange, and the ever-weaker national government wavering between the need to maintain order and cater to its Christian constituency. On the morning of April 13, 1975, unidentified gunmen in a speeding car fired on a group of Phalangist leaders leaving Church in the Christian Beirut suburb of Ain Rumaneh, killing four people in what was probably an attempt on the life of Pierre Gemayel. Hours later, Phalangists led by the Gemayels, killed 27 Palestinian workers travelling on a bus in Ein Al-Rumaneh; citywide clashes erupted. On December 6, 1975, four Christians were killed in East Beirut. In retaliation, the Phalange erected roadblocks throughout the city, where identification cards were inspected for religious belonging. Any Palestinian or Muslim caught was murdered by having his throat cut. Opposing militias retaliated, and in growing reprisals, some 600 Muslims and Christians were butchered, on what became known as Black Saturday. After this point, there was no going back, and all-out fighting began between the militias.

In a vicious spiral of sectarian violence, civilians were an easy target. On January 18, 1976 about 1,000 people were killed by Christian forces in the Karantina Massacre, immediately followed by a Palestinian retaliatory strike on Damour. Those inhabitants who did not manage to flee the village as it was assaulted by motley crew of militias led by Abu Musa, were gunned down or killed with knives; hundreds perished. These two massacres prompted a mass exodus of Muslims and Christians, as people fearing retribution fled to areas under the control of their own sect. The ethnic/religious layout of the residential areas of the capital encouraged this process, and East and West Beirut were increasingly transformed into what was in effect Christian and Muslim Beirut. Also, the number of Christian leftists who had allied with the LNM, and Muslim conservatives with the government, dropped sharply, as the war revealed itself as an utterly sectarian conflict. Another effect of the massacres were to bring in Yassir Arafat's well-armed Fatah and thereby PLO on the side of the LNM, as Palestinian sentiment was by now completely hostile to the Lebanese Christian forces.

Lebanese Civil War - Syrian intervention

In June, 1976, with fighting throughout the country and the Maronites on the verge of defeat, President Suleiman Frangieh called for Syrian intervention. Christian fears had been greatly exacerbated by the Damour massacre, and both sides felt the stakes had been raised above mere political power. Syria responded by ending its prior affiliation with the Palestinian Rejectionist Front and begin supporting the Maronite-dominated government. This technically put Syria on the same side as Israel, as Israel had already begun to supply Maronite forces with arms, tanks, and military advisors in May 1976. (Smith, op. cit., 354.). Syria had its own political and territorial interests in Lebanon, which harbored cells of the Islamist and anti-Ba'thist Muslim Brotherhood, and was also a possible route of attack for Israel.

At the President's request, Syrian troops entered Lebanon, occupying Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley, easily brushing aside the LNM and Palestinian defences. A cease-fire was imposed (Fisk, pp. 78-81), but it ultimately failed to stop the conflict, so Syria added to the pressure. With Damascus supplying arms and artillery, Christian forces finally managed to break through the defenses of the Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp in East Beirut, which had long been under siege. A massacre of about 2,000 Palestinians followed, but this unleashed heavy criticism against Syria from the Arab world.

In October 1976, Syria accepted the proposal of the Arab League summit in Riyadh. This gave Syria a mandate to keep 40,000 troops in Lebanon as the bulk of an Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) charged with disentangling the combatants and restoring calm. Other Arab nations were also part of the ADF, but they lost interest relatively soon, and Syria was again left in sole control, now with the ADF as a diplomatic shield against international criticism. The Civil War was officially ended at this point, and an uneasy quiet settled over Beirut and most of the rest of Lebanon. In the south, however, the climate began to deteriorate as a consequence of the gradual return of PLO combatants, who had been required to vacate central Lebanon under the terms of the Riyadh Accords.

Lebanese Civil War - An uneasy quiet

The nation was now effectively divided, with southern Lebanon and the western half of Beirut becoming bases for the PLO and Muslim-based militias, and the Christians in control of East Beirut and the Christian section of Mt. Lebanon. The main confrontation line in divided Beirut was known as the Green Line.

In East Beirut, in 1977, Christian leaders of the National Liberal Party (NLP), the Kataeb Party and the Lebanese Renewal Party joined in the Lebanese Front, a political counterpart to the LNM. Their militias - the Tigers, Phalange and Guardians of the Cedars - entered a loose coalition known as the Lebanese Forces (LF), to form a military wing for the Lebanese Front. From the very beginning, the Kataeb/Phalange, under the leadership of Bashir Gemayel, dominated the LF. Through absorbing or destroying smaller militias, he both consolidated control and strengthened the LF into the dominant force on the Christian side.

In March the same year, Lebanese National Movement leader Kamal Jumblatt was assassinated. The murder was widely blamed on the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), acting on behalf of the Syrian government. While Jumblatt's role as leader of the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) was filled surprisingly smoothly by his son, Walid Jumblatt, the LNM disintegrated after his death. Although the anti-government pact of leftists, Shi'a, Sunni, Palestinians and Druze would stick together for some time more, their wildly divergent interests tore at opposition unity. Sensing the opportunity, Hafez al-Assad immediately got to work, to split up both the Christian and Muslim coalitions in a game of divide and rule.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "First phase of the war 1975-77", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki