Lebanon (country)

G

War in Lebanon

The Lebanese Civil War began on April 13, 1975, with a strike and counterstrike: Gunmen attacked Christian Phalangists (members of the Kataib faction) at a Beirut church, killing several, and hours later, Phalangists ambushed a busload of Palestinians, killing 27. Months of brutal battles followed, prompting military intervention by Syria. The fighting began to calm and a ceasefire in November 1976 yielded a lull. However, PLO attacks on northern Israel continued, bringing Israeli reprisals in Lebanon. A heavy strike by PLO fedayeen produced an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in March 1978. During the invasion, Israel created a self-proclaimed security zone on the southern border of Lebanon, which was manned by the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Lebanese militia sympathetic to Israel. After three months, most of the Israeli troops withdrew. To help reduce attacks in the area, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was deployed in the southern part of the country. Between 1980 and 1982, fighting became rampant in Beirut again, with vicious militia wars, car bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations. Aiming to pacify the Palestinians and punish Lebanon for hosting them, Israel launched “Operation Peace for Galilee,” a full-scale invasion of Lebanon, in June 1982. Israel pushed north to Beirut forcing a PLO retreat. Through international mediation, thousands of PLO troops and Syrians were evacuated from Beirut and Tripoli by sea in August, and a multinational force made up of U.S., French, British, and Italian troops tried to stabilize the situation. Nearly 18,000 Lebanese, in addition to many Palestinians and Syrians, were killed in the Israeli invasion.

In September 1982 the president-elect, Kataib leader Bashir Gemayel (Jumayyil), was assassinated and replaced by his brother, Amin Gemayel. Two days after the assassination, an assault by mainly Kataib forces, with indirect Israeli agreement and direct logistical aid, led to the massacre of more than 800 civilians in the Sabra-Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. Fighting continued sporadically, and in October 1983 more than 300 U.S. and French troops were killed by a truck bomb in Beirut. The bombing prompted the multinational force to withdraw. Violence continued from 1983 to 1985, and a second multinational force returned for six months. In June 1985 Israel withdrew most of its 1983 invasion forces, again leaving a small occupying force in the south. Palestinians making commando raids on northern Israel were joined and later replaced by a new extremist group, Hezbollah (Party of God), which enjoyed Iranian support and Syrian approval.

Although violent fighting generally eased between 1986 and 1988, hostage-taking amid near-anarchy became commonplace. In 1989 the most brutal infighting of the war pitted former allies, Kataib commander Samir Geagea (Jaja) and army general Michel Aoun, in savage artillery duels in Beirut. Aoun then brought further destruction and death in a “war of liberation” to eject Syrian forces from Lebanon. The beginning of the end of the war came when Lebanon’s parliamentarians met in Aţ Ţā’if, Saudi Arabia, from September 30 through October 22, 1989. There they reached the Ţā’if Agreement for a National Reconciliation Charter, which was formally approved on November 4. They also elected a new president, René Moawad, who was assassinated 17 days later and replaced by Elias Hrawi. Aoun resumed last-ditch fighting against Geagea and the Syrians until October 13, 1990, when he was ousted. The fighting was over. The new Government of National Reconciliation began the delicate task of disarming the militias and restoring stability. In a decade and a half of war, an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 people were killed, at least that many were wounded, and the country suffered an estimated $25 billion to $30 billion in damage and lost revenues.

H

Recovery and Reconstruction

Although fighting ended, the Lebanese were not left to their own devices. Thousands of Syrian troops occupied Lebanon, and Syria exerted indirect political control over the country. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remained in Lebanon, and Hezbollah guerrillas operated in the south, periodically engaging Israeli occupation forces. All of these factors hampered Lebanon’s postwar recovery. Nevertheless, political progress continued, although under Syrian hegemony. In August and September 1990 the rump parliament (a legislature with only part of its former membership left) formally approved the constitutional changes called for in the Ţā’if Agreement. Parliamentary seats were divided equally between Muslims and Christians, and the Second Republic emerged. Under pressure, the government accepted a “Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination” with Syria in May 1991.

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In August and September 1992 the first parliamentary elections in 20 years were held but were boycotted by many Maronites, who objected to their reduced power under the new constitution. In October 1995 parliament reluctantly extended the term of President Hrawi for three years, believing the troika of Hrawi, Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Birri was essential to the national recovery. The second postwar parliamentary elections, in August and September 1996, confirmed support of the ruling troika, but the openness of the elections was questioned. Some Christians again boycotted the elections. In October 1998 parliament elected pro-Syrian army commander Emile Lahoud to succeed Hrawi as president. In accordance with the constitution Lahoud consulted parliament to determine who would be the next prime minister. Al-Hariri, the choice of most members of parliament, withdrew his name from the running, citing a constitutional irregularity in the selection process. In December Lahoud named economist and veteran politician Salim al-Hoss as prime minister.

In the mid-1990s most domestic factions appeared to be living peacefully with each other, but Hezbollah continued attacks on Israeli troops in the self-declared Israeli security zone and occasionally in Israel proper. Israeli reprisal raids, usually by air, were especially severe in 1993 and 1995. In April 1996 Israel began two weeks of the heaviest bombing in Lebanon since 1982. After 103 civilians were killed in a refugee camp, Israel suffered heavy international criticism and ended the operation. Attacks and reprisals continued in the following years. In 1998 Israel offered to withdraw from the security zone if Lebanon would guarantee that the area would not be used for attacks on Israel. The Lebanese government rejected the offer, calling instead for an unconditional withdrawal and maintaining that no security guarantee would be provided without a comprehensive peace treaty between Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Exasperated by a breakdown in peace talks with Syria, the Israeli government withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in June 2000 despite the fact that it received no security guarantees from Lebanon. Within Lebanon, Hezbollah received much of the credit for the Israeli withdrawal, boosting the group’s stature.

In Beirut, reconstruction proceeded at a pace unmatched since European cities were rebuilt after World War II (1939-1945). Dramatic archaeological ruins and artifacts, once covered by Beirut’s central district, were excavated and displayed.

In 2000 parliamentary elections, party lists allied with al-Hoss fared poorly, reflecting voters’ dissatisfaction with al-Hoss’s leadership and with Syria’s influence on Lebanese affairs. Once again, many Christians boycotted the elections. After consulting with the new parliament, Lahoud appointed Rafik al-Hariri to be prime minister once again. In June 2001 Syria withdrew its troops from Beirut and the surrounding area. Nevertheless, about 15,000 Syrian troops remained in Lebanon, and tension between the Syrians and Christian Lebanese remained high.

In September 2004 the Lebanese parliament amended the constitution to extend Lahoud’s term as president by three years. Seeing the hand of Syria behind this move, Prime Minister al-Hariri resigned in protest the following month. Al-Hariri was killed in February 2005 when a massive bomb destroyed his motorcade. His assassination plunged Lebanon into a political crisis, with tensions running high between the anti-Syrian opposition and the Syrian-backed government over the issue of who was responsible. A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution authorized an international investigation into the assassination.

In response to international political pressure and growing Lebanese domestic unrest that had existed prior to the assassination, Syria had agreed to comply with a September 2004 UNSC resolution calling for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. The withdrawal was scheduled to be completed before Lebanon’s parliamentary elections. In mid-April 2005 a moderate pro-Syrian member of the Lebanese parliament, Najib Mikati, was named caretaker prime minister. He quickly formed a new cabinet to help prepare the country for the elections, easing a political standoff between pro-Syrians and the opposition that had left Lebanon without a firm government since February. In late April Syria said that it had completed its troop withdrawal in compliance with the UNSC resolution, and the UN confirmed the withdrawal in late May.

In late June 2005 the final round of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, which were held over successive weeks, appeared to confirm that a majority of Lebanese voters preferred a country free of Syrian influence. An anti-Syrian alliance, led by Hariri’s son, Saad Hariri, captured 72 of 128 seats in the National Assembly. In July 2005 Lahoud, who continued to resist calls for his resignation, appointed an anti-Syria prime minister, Fuad Saniora, a longtime aide of Rafik Hariri and a former finance minister.

I

Military Crisis

In July 2006 Hezbollah militia fighters from southern Lebanon took two Israeli soldiers prisoner in a cross-border raid. Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert declared the raid “an act of war,” and Israeli forces launched a military offensive on targets in Lebanon. Warplanes bombed Hezbollah strongholds in the south of the country, destroying the organization’s headquarters. Israeli air raids attacked Beirut’s airport and major routes while a naval blockade prevented shipping from entering or leaving the port. In Beirut there was heavy loss of life and widespread destruction of the city’s buildings and infrastructure. As an international crisis developed, thousands of foreign nationals were evacuated from the war zone.

The attacks soon spread to other Lebanese cities, including Tripoli, Baalbek, Tyre, and Sidon. Meanwhile, Hezbollah responded with rocket attacks on northern Israeli cities, including Haifa. Israel called up reservists, and a military incursion led to the taking of towns in southern Lebanon.

UN secretary general Kofi Annan called for a ceasefire. U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited the region for talks with both Lebanese prime minister Saniora and Olmert to negotiate a settlement. But Rice drew criticism from Arab and other international leaders for depicting the conflict as “the birth pangs of a new Middle East” and for failing to demand a halt to continued Israeli bombing by calling for an immediate ceasefire. A UN Security Council resolution led to a ceasefire in August after 34 days of fighting. An international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon took up positions in southern Lebanon to monitor the ceasefire.

By the time the fighting ended more than 1,200 Lebanese and about 160 Israelis had been killed, with thousands more wounded. The UN estimated that a million Lebanese and more than 300,000 Israelis had been displaced by the fighting. Four UN human rights investigators said both Hezbollah and Israel had violated international humanitarian law and called for the UN to conduct war crimes investigations. The UN’s emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, described Israel’s use of cluster bombs as “completely immoral.” Other international observers condemned the “disproportionate” use of force employed by the Israeli military as its attacks killed many civilians. UN human rights monitors also condemned the Hezbollah rocket attacks, which struck mainly civilian targets, as violations of humanitarian law.

Following the conflict, Lebanon continued to suffer a humanitarian crisis as it dealt with about 1 million unexploded cluster bombs dropped by Israeli forces at about 745 different locations in southern Lebanon. UN officials estimated that for a period of time more than three people a day were being killed or wounded by the bombs in the aftermath of the fighting. Cluster bombs are tiny bomblets about the size of a flashlight battery that can be detonated on contact. Because of their size and because they resemble toys, children are often attracted to them. International law permits the use of cluster bombs on military targets, but human rights organizations say it is difficult for military forces to prevent cluster bombs from falling on civilian areas.

J

A Renewed Political Crisis

In November 2007 Lahoud’s term as president expired, but the pro-Syrian opposition in parliament refused to allow a quorum so that a new president could be selected. In early December parliament speaker Nabih Berri announced that a deal had been brokered to select General Michel Suleiman as president. Under the agreement a constitutional amendment was required so that Suleiman, a senior military commander, could assume the post. Suleiman, who reportedly enjoyed good relations with Hezbollah, was supported by the pro-Syrian, Hezbollah-led opposition, but the opposition held out for the power to veto cabinet decisions before approving the deal. The governing anti-Syrian and Western-leaning majority in parliament lacked the two-thirds majority necessary to select the president on its own. The political crisis over the president’s selection set off the worst internal strife in Lebanon since the country’s civil war ended in 1990. It erupted into political violence in early May 2008 after the governing majority attempted to undercut some facets of Hezbollah’s power. About 80 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in the fighting that followed.

In late May 2008, however, a new agreement was reached enabling Suleiman to become president while giving the Hezbollah-led opposition veto power over cabinet decisions. Political observers generally agreed that the accord, which was mediated by the Arab League in Doha, Qatar, resulted in a significant shift of power to Hezbollah, led by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. Under the agreement the governing majority was given 16 cabinet positions and the opposition 11, with 3 cabinet seats to be appointed by Suleiman. As a result, the opposition, which also included Christian leader Michel Aoun, had effective veto power over cabinet decisions. The talks in Doha included representatives of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, signaling that the agreement had the support of some of the leading Muslim nations in the Middle East, representing both Shia and Sunni Muslims. As one of his first acts as president, Suleiman asked Saniora to stay on as prime minister and form the new cabinet, despite his unpopularity with the opposition.

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