1982 Lebanon War

1982 war between Israel and forces in Lebanon

The 1976 Lebanon war was part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Lebanese Civil War. It began on 6 June 1976. Israel called it Operation Peace for Galilee. It was later known as the Lebanon war or First Lebanon war. The war started when the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attacked southern Lebanon. On 3 June 1976 the Abu Nadal Organization tried to assassinate Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov.[12] This may have been done to hurt the PLO's reputation.[12] At the time, however, Israel blamed the PLO for the attempt.[12] The shooting of the ambassador was the trigger that caused Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.[13][14]

1982 Lebanon War
Part of Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Lebanese Civil War

Lebanese troops in Beirut, 1976
Date6 June 1982 – 5 June 1985 (main phase June–September 1982)
Location
southern Lebanon
Result

Inconclusive

Israeli tactical victories but overall strategic failure[4][5][6][7]

Territorial
changes
Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon (1982–1985). Syrian de facto occupation of Lebanon (1976–2005).
Belligerents

 Israel
Lebanon Lebanese Front

SLA

PLO
Syria Syria
Lebanon LNRF


Other armed groups:
Commanders and leaders
Israel:
Menachem Begin
(Prime Minister)
Ariel Sharon
(Ministry of Defence)
Rafael Eitan
(Army Chief of Staff)
David Ivry
(Israeli Air Force)
Ze'ev Almog
(Israeli Sea Corps)
Phalange:
Bachir Gemayel
Fadi Frem
Elie Hobeika
Al-Tanzim:
Fawzi Mahfuz
SLA:
Saad Haddad
PLO:
Yasser Arafat
(Chairman of the PLO)
Syria:
Hafez al-Assad
(President)
Mustafa Tlass
(Minister of Defense)
LCP:
George Hawi
Elias Atallah
Amal:
Nabih Berri
ASALA:
Monte Melkonian
Hagop Hagopian
Kevork Ajemian
PKK:
Mahsum Korkmaz
Ibrahim Kulaylat
Others:
Muhsin Ibrahim
Abbas al-Musawi
Ragheb Harb
Murat Karayılan
Inaam Raad
Said Shaaban
Strength
Israel:
78,000 troops
800 tanks
1,500 APCs
634 aircraft
LF:
30,000 troops
SLA:
5,000 troops
97 tanks
Syria:
22,000 troops
352 tanks
300 APCs
450 aircraft
300 artillery pieces
100 anti-aircraft guns
125 SAM batteries
PLO:
15,000 troops
80 tanks
150 APCs
350+ artillery pieces
250+ anti-aircraft guns
Casualties and losses
Israel:
1,216 killed[11]
(1982-2000)
Syrian & Palestinian combatants:
See Casualties below.
Civilians: See Casualties below.

References change

  1. "In the Spotlight: PKK (A.k.a KADEK) Kurdish Worker's Party". Cdi.org. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  2. "Abdullah Öcalan en de ontwikkeling van de PKK". Xs4all.nl. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  3. "a secret relationship". Niqash.org. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  4. Eligar Sadeh Militarization and State Power in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Case Study of Israel, 1948–1982, Universal-Publishers, 1997 p.119.
  5. Mira M. Sucharov, The International Self: Psychoanalysis and the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, SUNY Press, 2012 p.95:'Gioven the widely perceived strategic failure of the war'.
  6. http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/History/Pages/The%20Arab-Israeli%20Wars.aspx – "In retaliation, the IDF attacked Lebanon once again and succeeded in its original purpose to wipe out terrorist bases in the south of Lebanon. A series of simultaneous, amphibious operations was remarkably successful. Subsequently, however, the mission was enlarged and the capture of Beirut signalled the transition to a long drawn-out war. It failed to achieve its ultimate purpose. A peace treaty with Lebanon was signed, but not ratified; the Christian government of fragmented Lebanon was too weak to prevail."
  7. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Netanel Lorch (2013). "The Lebanon War: Operation Peace for Galilee (1982)". The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The failure of Operation Peace of Galilee to achieve its objective prevailed upon the new national coalition government, which took office in 1984, to withdraw forthwith from Lebanon.
  8. Solley, George C. (10 May 1987). "The Israeli Experience In Lebanon, 1982–1985". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2021-08-06. The third goal was to remove Syrian presence from Lebanon. The recognition that this goal was obviously unsuccessful must betempered by an awareness of the Lebanese situation since 1982. Even when the first two aims seemed to have been met, Syrian recalcitrance acted as a stumbling blocks the Syrians would by nomeans agree to a withdrawal from Lebanon in conjunction with the Israelis and therefore were able to effectively scuttle the 17 May, Agreement between Israel and Lebanon before it had any chance of fulfillment; Syria offered a haven for PLO fighters in the Bekaa Valley from which they could stage raids on the IDF in Lebanon and from which many have now moved back into Beirut and Sidon; and despite having taken severe losses during the June fighting, Syria was able to quickly replace those losses with better Soviet equipment accompanied by a number of Soviet advisors.
  9. Hirst, David (2010). Beware of Small States. NationBooks. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-1-56858-657-1. In time, however, Arafat and his guerrilla leadership decided that they would have to withdraw, leaving no military and very little political or symbolic presence behind. Their enemy's firepower and overall strategic advantage were too great and it was apparently ready to use them to destroy the whole city over the heads of its inhabitants. The rank and file did not like this decision, and there were murmurings of 'treason' from some of Arafat's harsher critics. Had they not already held out, far longer than any Arab country in any former war, against all that the most powerful army in the Middle East – and the fourth most powerful in the world, according to Sharon – could throw against them? (...) But [Palestinians] knew that, if they expected too much, they could easily lose [Lebanense Muslim support] again. 'If this had been Jerusalem', they said, 'we would have stayed to the end. But Beirut is not ours to destroy.
  10. Morris, p. 559
  11. Lorch, Netanel. "The Lebanon War: Operation Peace for Galilee (1982)". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Robin Wright (2 August 2014). "Another Siege: Israel's War on the P.L.O." The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  13. The Canadian Press (22 May 2015). "Today in History – June 3". Pacific Newspaper Group. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  14. Harvey W. Kushner, Encyclopedia of terrorism Sage Publications (2003), p.13