Lebanese Civil War
During the 1960, Lebanon’s capital Beirut was known as the Paris of the Middle East. It was a prosperous city that attracted many tourists. All this became a thing of the past when civil war broke out in the 1980s. What caused it? Some say that the country’s ethnic and religious diversity was poorly managed by the government then. However, it certainly wasn’t the only factor. The Arab-Israeli conflict had the most significant role in bringing Lebanon to its knees.
Since independence in 1943, Lebanon’s politics have been based on a confessional (sectarian) power-sharing system called the National Pact. Positions in government were reserved for individuals from certain religious groups.
The President had to be a Maronite Christian
The Prime Minister had to be a Sunni Muslim
The Speaker of Parliament had to be a Shia Muslim
The Deputy Speaker dad to be a Greek Orthodox Christian
The Army Chief had to be someone from the Druze faith.
Other Parliamentary seats and government posts were distributed based on religious quota. According to a 1932 census, Lebanon had a 51% Christian majority followed by Sunni Muslims, then Shia Muslims. These were just the three main religious groups in the country. Overall, there were 18 recognised religious sects in Lebanon. This system was designed to ensure that each main religion was proportionately represented. Clearly, there were difficulties on the ground. Without too much effort to build a national identity regardless of religion, sectarian identity became entrenched within the Lebanese population.De
Demographic Changes
By the 1960s, the Shia Muslim population saw rapid growth and their numbers grew larger than the other two groups. The electoral quotas, however, remained unchanged. Christians held 6 seats for every 5 Muslim seats in Parliament (6:5 ratio). The Shia community began to voice its resentment. Even though the discrepancy was obvious, the Maronite Christian elites were reluctant to let more Shia Muslims get into Parliament. The perception of inequality was strong and coalition governments were weak. A disaster was waiting to happen and a catalyst soon arrived.
After 1948, there were already 100,000 Palestinian refugees (unarmed) who fled into Lebanon. They were housed in UNRWA refugee camps such as Sabra, Shatila, and Ain al-Hilweh around central Lebanon. Lebanese authorities forbade the refugees from working certain jobs or obtaining citizenship (to preserve Lebanon’s sectarian balance). As a result, Palestinians in Lebanon remained marginalised. Tension was brewing.
In 1970, there was another influx of Palestinian refugees from Jordan after Black September. This time, they were militants organised under the PLO and led by Yasser Arafat. Instead of joining the first batch of refugees settled by the UN, Yasser Arafat led his men into Southern Lebanon near the Israel border and established bases and guerilla training camps in this area. The feydayeen continued their attacks on Israel, just like what they did while they were in Jordan. The Christians saw this as a threat to both their sovereignty and their national security. The Muslims stood with the Palestinians and supported them.
On April 13, 1975, a Maronite Christian family was having a Baptism in a church in East Beirut. The church was attacked by Muslim gunmen in an attempt to assassinate the leadership of the Kataeb Christian party. Later that day, a bus passing through Ain Al-Remmaneh, transporting Arab Liberation Front guerilla fighters and Palestinians returning from a festival, heading to their camp in Tel al-Zaatar, was gunned down by militiamen of the Kataeb (Phalangist Christian) party, killing all the 27 passengers. Muslims retaliated and the entire political system collapsed. The army split along sectarian lines. The government was replaced by warring militias.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the PLO established a “state within a state”, seizing control of West Beirut and Southern Lebanon. The Christians formed their own militias and fought against the occupying PLO which was allied with leftist and Muslim Lebanese groups. Together, they formed the Lebanese National Movement. The Christians formed the Lebanese Front, but their numbers were smaller and they were unable to regain control of their own country.
Operation Litany
11 March 1978, when Palestinian militants hijacked a bus on the Coastal Highway of Israel and murdered its occupants; 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed as a result of the attack while 76 more were wounded.
The IDF unleashed Operation Litany on Southern Lebanon, forcing the PLO to abandon positions which allowed it to launch attacks against Israel. The IDF occupied territories all the way to the Litany River. The UN ordered Israel to withdraw and deployed peacekeeping forces. A ceasefire was announced by Israel but the PLO repeatedly violated the ceasefire.
Israeli Invasion
In 1982, gunmen from the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. In June 1982, Israel invaded Southern Lebanon in an attempt to destroy the PLO threat once and for all. The IDF, with help from their Christian allies, overran Southern Lebanon amd ploughed through the country all the way to the PLO headquarters in Beirut. They also defeated Syrian forces that crossed the border to support the PLO. Realising that defeat was certain, PLO fighters called on the UN to broker a ceasefire and fled to Tunisia and Yemen. Meanwhile, the Israelis helped install Christian President Bachir Gemayel in Lebanon, hoping to get some peace from the country. Barely had he warmed his seat, Bachir was assassinated. In retaliation, the Christians attacked Palestinians and Syrians. In September 1982, they massacred some 3,000 Palestinians and Syrians in the towns of Sabra and Shatila.
Smaller Palestinian factions remain in camps like Ain al-Hilweh. Some of them are armed. The PLO’s departure leaves a terrorist group Hezbollah to rise in southern Lebanon (with Iranian and Syrian backing). It was established in 1983, after the Islamic revolution of Iran. A Shia organisation, Hezbollah was also supported by Lebanese Shia Muslims. Hezbollah’s agenda was to destroy Israel, drive Western peacekeepers out of Lebanon and establish an Islamic state in Lebanon modelled after Iran. Their opening moves included suicide bombings to destroy the U.S. Embassy and U.S./French Marine barracks in Beirut. 299 Western servicemen were killed. Following that they kidnapped foreign journalists and academics.
The Lebanese Civil War officially ended in with the Taif Agreement in 1989, but it’s unlikely that there would be any real peace. All militias were to disarm — except Hezbollah, which Syria (the main enforcer of the accord) allowed them to keep their weapons as a “resistance force” against Israeli occupation in the south! By 1990, Hezbollah is an established political and military actor: It operates schools, hospitals, and welfare networks. It controls the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahieh) and much of the south close to the border with Israel for obvious reasons.
Parliamentary seats redistributed equally: 50% Christian, 50% Muslim. Some presidential powers shifted from the Maronite President to the Sunni Prime Minister and Cabinet. Called for eventual abolition of political sectarianism (still not achieved). Hezbollah has evolved into both a political party (with seats in parliament) and a state-within-a-state backed by Iran.