ISRAEL AND THE LEBANON CIVIL WAR
This intervention escalated in 1978 with Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon under “Operation Litani”. Presented as an effort to dislodge the PLO and halt cross border operations, the underlying goal, however, was far more extensive. Over the course of a single week, around 2,000 Lebanese and Palestinians were killed, and approximately 250,000 people were displaced. Although Israel withdrew following a United Nations Security Council resolution, it left behind a proxy militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), to maintain its influence, working in coordination with right wing forces such as the Phalange to achieve the objectives of expelling the PLO from Lebanon. When this strategy failed to eliminate the PLO, Israel launched a far more extensive invasion in 1982. Israeli forces advanced all the way to Beirut, killing at least 20,000 people. Electricity, water, and food supplies were cut, while widespread bombings of the city killed hundreds of civilians, often under the guise of a “targeted” assassination of a PLO leader or the destruction of “PLO infrastructure”. These tactics - siege, largescale air bombing campaigns, and so-called “targeted” assassinations and “targeted” dismantling of “terrorist” infrastructure - which in practice meant widespread destruction, reflected a broader pattern of colonial military strategy that would later be deployed against Palestinians elsewhere.
In August 1982, an agreement was reached for the PLO to withdraw from Lebanon. Just one month later, with the PLO gone and the Palestinian refugee camps left unprotected, the Israeli military surrounded the Sabra and Shatila camps in West Beirut, permitting the Phalange forces to enter the camps and kill up to 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians. The Sabra and Shatila massacares were subsequently taken as a lesson by resistance forces about the dangers of disarmament.
1978 Operation Litani Israeli forces occupied Lebanese territory right up until the Litani River, killing around 2,000 Lebanese and Palestinians over the course of a single week and displacing around 250,000 people.
1982 Invasion of Beirut
Israeli forces advanced all the way to Beirut, killing at least 20,000 people and occupying the city to a three month siege. August 1982 An agreement was reached for the PLO to withdraw from Lebanon.
September 1982 Sabra and Shatila Massacre
Israeli military surrounded the Sabra and Shatila camps in West Beirut, permitting the Phalange forces to enter and kill up to 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians.
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