The Lebanese Civil War lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 200,000 civilian fatalities and 1 million people wounded (1/3 of the population) , half of whom were left with lifetime disabilities (10-15% of the population).

The Lebanese political scene prior to 1975 - Lebanon a crisis of Identity

In July 1958, Lebanon was on the verge of a civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslims.
Lebanese Muslims pushed the government to join the newly created United Arab Republic ( UAR = Egypt + Syria), while the Christians wanted to keep Lebanon aligned with Western Powers.
A Muslim rebellion was allegedly supplied with arms by the United Arab Republic through Syria caused President Chamoun to complain to the U.N. Security Council. The United Nations sent a group of inspectors did not find any evidence of significant intervention from the United Arab Republic.

Tensions with Egypt had escalated earlier in 1956 when pro-western President Camille Chamoun, a Christian, did not break diplomatic relations with the Western powers that attacked Egypt during the Suez Crisis, angering Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. These tensions were further increased when Camille Chamoun showed closeness to the Baghdad Pact. Nasser felt that the pro-western Baghdad Pact posed a threat to Arab Nationalism. As a response, Egypt and Syria united into the United Arab Republic. Lebanese Sunni Muslim Prime Minister Rashid Karami supported Nasser in 1956 and 1958.

The toppling of a pro-Western government in the Iraq 14 July Revolution, along with the internal instability, caused President Chamoun to call for U.S. assistance.

The U.S. sent approximately 14,000 men. The presence of the troops successfully quelled the opposition and the U.S. withdrew its forces on October 25, 1958.

The U.S. presence and the resignation of Chamoun as President of Lebanon and his replacement by Fuad Chehab, led to the stabilization of the situation.
Prime Minister Karami formed a national reconciliation government after the 1958 crisis ended.

The Saints of the East and its Demons
One of the main elements that led to the Lebanese civil war was the presence of a religion based militia in this case christian militia that will later engage the Palestinians and ignite the Lebanese civil war.

The influence of the Phalangists was very limited in the early years of Lebanon's independence, but came to prominence in the 1958 crisis. In the aftermath of the crisis, Pierre Gemayel was appointed to the cabinet, and two years later, was elected to the National Assembly.

In 1968, the party joined The Helf Alliance formed with the two other big mainly Christian parties in Lebanon, and won 9 seats (of 99) in the parliamentary elections held that year.

By the end of the decade, the party created its own militia and soon clashes began with the rising Palestinian militant guerrillas.

What caused more instability in Lebanon prior to 1975

The establishment of the state of Israel and the expulsion of a hundred thousand Palestinian refugees from their lands in Israel to Lebanon (around 10% of the total population of the country) changed the demographics of Lebanon and created political tensions in a country that already has a delicate power balance between different religious groups.

With the creation Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (founded in 1964), The Palestinians in Lebanon had hopes of taking back their lands in Israel.

The defeat of Syria, Jordan and Egypt in the Six Day War of 1967 destroyed the credibility of Arab states that had sought to be patrons for the Palestinian people and their nationalist cause.

The way was opened, for Yasser Arafat to rise to power. He advocated guerrilla warfare and successfully sought to make the PLO a fully independent organization.

The PLO were fighting Israel from Jordan, This have led to the creation of a state inside a state and led to the expulsion of the PLO following the events of Black September in Jordan.

In 1971 the PLO and Yasser Arafat were expelled to Lebanon, where the same procedures led to the creation of a state within the state of Lebanon.



The Lebanese civil war reasons

Similarities and differences between Palestinian presence in Jordan and in Lebanon :
In Jordan where the arms were in the hands of the Jordanian Army when the crisis with the PLO started.
While in Lebanon the Arms were in the hands of militias and mainly the Phalangists (a religion based militia : christian militia).

The same scenario that have already taken place in jordan, started to take place in Lebanon.
The arrival of the PLO to Lebanon in 1971 have led to the creation of a state within a state.

Yasser Arafat began trying to influence the interior and foreign policies of Lebanon,and there was a gradual buildup in the assertion by Yasser Arafat's PLO of its right to fight Israel from the Lebanese south, in spite of Lebanese sovereignty. The situation have angered the christian leaders and especially the Gemayel the head of the Phalangists (also known as kataeb).

Several incidents have taken place (Palestinian roadblocks, Israeli retaliation to Palestinian attack, Lebanese army air force bombing the Palestinian camps trying to disarm Palestinians fighters ), that led to build-up that erupted in an all-out conflict.



A situation too difficult for a democracy to handle

In Jordan the king had the power, the full power over the military. But in Lebanon the president is chosen and can not put much pressure on the PLO especially that half the Lebanese population is supportive for their cause.
Taking advantage of this the Phalangists have grown and armed themselves more and more.


The Point of no return - Lebanese civil war ignited by the by the Ain El-Remmaneh bus attack

In April 1975 unidentified gunmen opened fire on members of the Kataeb Party (Phalange) in a drive-by shooting. Pierre Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb Party and one of the most powerful men in Maronite Lebanon, was beleived to be the target. Pierre Gemayel blamed the Palestinians, hours later his militiamen (the Phalangist) retaliated by killing 27 Palestinian traveling on a bus through Ain El Remmaneh on the way to the Palestinian refugee camp Tel el-Zaatar.

The Ain El Remmaneh Bus massacre, is commonly considered as the spark that set-off the Lebanese Civil War. In the following days, the 8,000-strong Phalangists party militia, together with its other right wing Christian allies, was heavily engaged in street fights against the Palestinians militias and the Lebanese National Movement.

The street fights were accompanied by massacres (Black Saturday massacre, Karantina massacre, Damour ...) which made the appeasement of the situation virtually impossible.


A summary to the causes and beginning of the Lebanese civil war

April 13. 1975: Ain El-Remmaneh bus, 27 Palestinians were assasinated by the Kataeb militia. The responsibility laid on Pierre Gemayel who spread his ideas for decades among poor Christians claiming that the Lebanese Muslims & the Palestinians were inferior people vowed to destroy the Christian Lebanon.
What fueled Gemayel theory is that the Muslims in general supported the Palestinian armed struggle from Lebanon & saw the Palestinians as a counter balance to the Christian dominated Lebanese state.
The war could have been avoided if the Maronites accepted to give up some of their power, if the Muslim had refrained from supporting the Palestinian armed presence in Lebanon & if Soleiman Franjiyyeh had not been elected president in 1970. Also, the Palestinians PLO did not learn the Jordanian Lesson & brought to themselves hardship due to their arrogant armed presence & their disregard to Lebanese sovereignty.

A Video of the political situation during the Lebanese civil war : dated 19/06/1984


to be continued

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Posted on 09 Oct 2009 by SubmitedArticles