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| War of the Camps | |||||||
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| Part of theLebanese Civil War andPalestinian internal political violence | |||||||
 Syrian troops in Beirut during War of the Camps. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Yasser ArafatAbu AbbasNayef Hawatmeh |  Nabih Berri Isaam al-Mahayri Ahmed JibrilAbu MusaIsam al-Qadi | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Between 4,500 and 6,500 dead | |||||||
| Part ofa series on | |
| Hezbollah | |
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People
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Related topics
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TheWar of the Camps (Arabic:حرب المخيمات,romanized: Ḥarb al-Mukhayimat), was a subconflict within the1984–1990 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, in which theSunniPalestinian refugee camps inBeirut were besieged by theShiaAmal militia.[1]
The "War of the Camps" was a struggle for control overWest Beirut and was considered an extension of the political struggle betweenSyria and thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It took place between May 1985 and July 1988.
During the1948 Arab–Israeli War and the subsequentNakba (catastrophe) of thePalestinian people, hundreds of thousands ofPalestinian refugees fled toSouthern Lebanon.[2] A few Palestinians with skills and capital were allowed to reside in cities ; the majority, however were destitute peasants who could only offer their unskilled work to the Lebanese economy, and mostly lived in squalidrefugee camps near the main cities. Upon arriving in Southern Lebanon, the locals sympathized with their catastrophic conditions, and many were sheltered inAbdul Husayn Sharaf ad-Dine'sal-Ja'fariyya school until the authorities dealt with the situation. Sharaf ad-Dine also introduced a Palestinian curriculum known as "Matriculation", to allow Palestinian students to finish what they had started in Palestine.[3] The sympathy was shared by the depopulatees of theShia villages in Palestine, many of whom were massacred.[3][4]
Even before the establishment of thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, exiled Palestinian intellectuals residing in Lebanon and other Arab countries began to form clandestine paramilitary groups in the late 1950s. In 1956, Sharaf ad-Dine'sal-Ja'fariyya school organized a guerrilla group consisting of 25 Lebanese and Palestinian students with the sole purpose of launching strikes in Israel.[citation needed] Moreover, prior to theCairo Agreement in 1969, PLO's chairmanAhmad Shukeiri (1964–1967) had set up a PLO training camp in the southern village ofKafr Dunin. As such, pro-Palestinian sentiment among some Lebanese, in particular the Shiites, was high.[3] However, this unconditional support was disrupted following clashes between the Palestinians and the Lebanese Army in April 1969. Israeli retaliation against Palestinian operations mostly affected the local civilians, and in 1970 had led to the migration of more than 50,000 from the south. Actions of rogue factions further contributed to the alienation of the locals, such as setting up checkpoints throughoutBeirut and the South, actions whichMusa Sadr denounced as unrepresentative of the mainstream PLO.[3]
Israel'ssecond invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 succeeded in driving thousands of Palestinian fighters under the command of PLO ChairmanYassir Arafat out of Southern Lebanon and WestBeirut. Under international auspices, PLO forces were evacuated to northern Lebanon and re-settled in the port city ofTripoli. By this time, however, Syrian PresidentHafez al-Assad proceeded to expel Arafat and the Palestinian factions allied to him from Lebanon. Israel's 1982 invasion led to its beginning a20-year-long occupation of a shallow fringe of southern Lebanon (10 to 15 kilometers) as a security zone for its border, allied with a local force – theSouth Lebanon Army, which was originally purely Christian but gradually added local Shiites and Druze to its ranks. Meanwhile, with permission from Syria, Iran sent a contingent ofRevolutionary Guards to Lebanon, tasked with amalgamating, reorganizing and building up the small Shiite religious factions into a new organization –Hezbollah.
Assad sought to control both the PLO and Lebanon. He worried that Palestinian guerrilla activities would invite another Israeli invasion and that his minorityAlawite regime inSunni-majority Syria would be endangered by the advancement of the (mostly Sunni) Palestinians. Initially, the Syrian government encouraged its favoured Palestinian groups to compete for influence, facilitating the entrance ofas-Sa'iqa,PFLP-GC, and the pro-Syrian dissident Fatah faction under ColonelSaid al-Muragha (Abu Musa). However, Syria's allies were strong only in the areas controlled by theSyrian Army, such as theBeqaa valley. In the areas beyond Syria's control, however, it soon became apparent that Palestinian organizations such asFatah,PFLP andDFLP had far stronger support.
Assad recruited Said al-Muragha to drive Arafat and his loyalist fighters out of Lebanon. Musa, himself a former member of Fatah, used Arafat's public willingness to negotiate with Israel as a pretext for war. In November 1983, Musa'sFatah al-Intifada (Fatah-Uprising) faction fought the Arafatist Fatah for a month at Tripoli, until Arafat once again was on his way to Tunisia by December. Unfortunately for Assad, Arafat's Fatah forces quietly returned to Lebanon over the next two years, ensconcing themselves in the many refugee camps in Beirut and the South.
As more Palestinians regrouped in the South, Assad's anxiety grew, as he did not want to give Israel a pretext for another invasion. This time, Assad recruited the more powerful ShiaAmal Movement militia headed byNabih Berri to dislodge Arafat's loyalists. Assad benefited from this alliance, which enabled him to exert a greater degree of control over Lebanese affairs through his local Lebanese allies. The benefit for Amal was revenge for decades of Palestinian arrogance and the opportunity of gaining further control over Shia-populated areas of Lebanon.
By mid-1985 Amal was also in conflict with theDruzeProgressive Socialist Party (PSP) and its militia, thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA), led byWalid Jumblatt in the mountainousChouf region. As Amal-PSP relations severely deteriorated, the Palestinian alliance with the Druze PSP was re-established. Unlike the majority of other Lebanese leftist militias, theCommunist Action Organization in Lebanon (OCAL), led by Muhsin Ibrahim, refused to cooperate with Syria in its attempts to vanquish Arafat. This refusal brought the wrath of the Syrians on the OCAL, forcing them to operate underground from 1987 onwards.
Allied with the pro-ArafatPalestinian refugee camp militias were the LebaneseAl-Mourabitoun,Sixth of February Movement,Communist Action Organization in Lebanon (OCAL),DruzeProgressive Socialist Party (PSP) andKurdish Democratic Party – Lebanon (KDP-L), who faced a powerful coalition ofLebanese Communist Party (LCP), andShia MuslimAmal movement militia forces backed bySyria,[5] theLebanese Army, and the anti-ArafatFatah al-Intifada,As-Sa'iqa,Palestine Liberation Army, andPopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP–GC) dissident Palestinian guerrilla factions.Some Palestinian fighters were able to return to the camps viaCyprus. The journey involved paying substantial sums of money to theLebanese Forces militia who controlled the port atJounieh. On 2 January 1987 the ferry fromLarnica with 164 passengers was turned back by theIsraeli Navy. The fighters were not arriving in large numbers; one estimate suggests 3-4,000 arrived in 1985.[6]
TheFebruary 6 Intifada forced theMultinational Force (MNF) to withdraw fromBeirut in February–March 1984. Amal took control of West Beirut, establishing a number of outposts and checkpoints around the camps (mostly in Beirut, but also to the south). On 15 April 1985, an alliance of Amal, the PSP, and theLebanese Communist Party (LCP) militia, thePopular Guard, attacked theAl-Mourabitoun, the mainSunniNasserite militia and the closest ally of the PLO in Lebanon. The Al-Mourabitoun was vanquished after a week of street-fighting and their leader,Ibrahim Kulaylat sent into exile.[7]
On 19 May 1985, heavy fighting erupted between Amal Movement and Palestinian camp militias for the control ofSabra and Shatila andBurj el-Barajneh camps in Beirut. Amal was supported by the predominantly ShiaSixth Brigade of theLebanese Army commanded by GeneralAbd al-Halim Kanj[8] and by the 87th Infantry Battalion from the predominantlyChristian MaroniteEighth Brigade loyal to GeneralMichel Aoun stationed in East Beirut.[5][8] Virtually all the houses in the camps were reduced to rubble.
In terms of sheer numbers, the Shi'ites outnumbered the Palestinians 5:1. Amal was heavily backed by Syria and indirectly supported by Israel, whereas the PLO did not enjoy much outside support. Amal also had the advantage over the PLO in terms of military equipment, especially artillery pieces and armored vehicles.[9]
Although the PSP/PLA and LCP/Popular Guard joined forces with Amal in defeating the Al-Mourabitoun, they remained militarily neutral in the fight against the PLO. Despite prodding from Syria, these political parties and their respective militias contributed nothing more than verbally expressing support for Amal and demanding that Arafat step down. The PSP/PLA even allowed the PLO to station their artillery on Druze-controlled areas. This left Amal to do the work of dislodging the Arafat loyalists, with some help from Syria's anti-Arafat Palestinian allies, such as As-Sa'iqa, PFLP-GC and Fatah al-Intifada. The alliance between Amal and most of the pro-Syrian Palestinian groups eventually soured however, and clashes would later break out between them. While some dissident Palestinian commanders such asAhmed Jibril and Abu Musa still supported Amal against the PLO, many anti-Arafat fighters battled Amal in defense of the camps.
On 30 May 1985, much of Sabra fell to its attackers. Amid Arab and Soviet political pressure on Syria and an emergency meeting ofArab League foreign ministers scheduled to discuss the issue on 8 June, Amal declared a unilateralceasefire the next day. Despite this, lower-scale fighting continued. In Shatila, the Palestinians only retained the part of the camp centered around the mosque. Burj al-Barajneh remained under siege as Amal prevented supplies from entering or its population from leaving.The death toll remains uncertain, but is likely to have been high. International pressures led to a ceasefire being signed between Amal and thePalestinian National Salvation Front on 17 June inDamascus. Sporadic clashes erupted again in September 1985.
The situation remained tense and fighting occurred again between September 1985 and March 1986. Fighting broke out for a third time on 27 March 1986, coinciding with a rocket attack onKiryat Shimona; it lasted for three days. In Sidon, Amal issued a stern warning to Palestinian factions who tried to reorganize in southern Lebanon. At the time it was estimated that there were more than 2,000 PLO fighters in Lebanon.[10] Exactly one year after the first battle, on 19 May 1986, heavy fighting erupted again. Bolstered by newly received heavy weaponry (including Soviet-made artillery pieces[11] andT-55A tanks[12] loaned by Syria), Amal tightened its siege on the camps. Many ceasefires were announced but most of them did not last more than a few days.
Meanwhile, throughoutWest Beirut, Amal continued to suppress the remaining predominately Sunni, pro-Palestinian militias such as the smallNasseriteSixth of February Movement in June 1986. The PLO was also aided byLebanese-Kurdish fighters from theKurdish Democratic Party – Lebanon (KDP–L), who lived with their families alongside the Palestinians in the refugee camps. Many leftist Lebanese-Kurdish militants joined Palestinian guerrilla movements during the 1975-76 Lebanese civil war, and these militiamen now fought to protect their homes from Amal, as well as supporting their Palestinian comrades. The situation began to cool on 24 June 1986, when the Syrians deployed some of theirCommando troops, assisted by a special task-force of 800Lebanese Army soldiers and Gendarmes from theInternal Security Forces.[13]
The tension due to this conflict was also present in the South, where the presence of Palestinian guerrillas in the predominantly Shia areas led to frequent clashes. The third and deadliest battle began on 29 September 1986, when fighting broke out around theRashidieh camp inTyre betweenAmal and locally based PLO groups. Amal surrounded and blockaded the camp, though some supplies arrived by sea. All the smaller Palestinian camps were destroyed and hundreds of homes set on fire. A thousand Palestinian men were kidnapped.[14] By December 7,500 Palestinian civilians had fled from Tyre to Sidon which was not under Amal’s control. Thousands of others fled inland. Around 7,000 non-combatants remained in the camp.[15] A month after the break-out of fighting in Tyre Amal laid siege to the camps in Beirut. On 24 November a force consisting of most of the Palestinian factions in Sidon launched an offensive against Amal positions in the Christian town ofMaghdouché[16] on the eastern hills of Sidon, in order to re-open the road to Rashidieh. In a week of fighting they managed to take control of most of the town.[17] During the offensive theIsrael Air Force (IAF) launched several air strikes against Palestinian positions around the Sidon area. As before, the Arab League pressured both parties to stop the fighting. On 1 December KingFahd of Saudi Arabia is quoted as saying the attacks on the camps “wounded the Arabs everywhere”.[18] A cease-fire was negotiated between Amal and pro-Syrian Palestinian groups on 15 December 1986, but it was rejected by Arafat's Fatah, who tried to appease the situation by giving some of its positions to the Al-Mourabitoun militia in exchange for supplies to the camps.
Following the disappearance ofTerry Waite, January 1987, the dynamics in Beirut changed. The return of global media organisations to the city led to attention being focused on the sieges ofBourj el-Barajneh andShatila.[19] DrPauline Cutting, a British doctor in Bourj el-Barajneh, was amongst those who gave graphic descriptions, via radio telephone, of conditions in the camps. Deliverance of humanitarian aid of theUNRWA to the camps was severely restricted through the ongoing blockades of the Amal milita. Because of that, manyPalestinian refugees suffered, lacking needed medical care and supplies.[20] There had been no fresh food or medicines allowed in for eight weeks. On 13 February two trucks of supplies were allowed into Bourj el-Barajneh, but they were shelled on their arrival, six people were killed and twenty four wounded.[21] On 17 FebruaryNabih Berri, in Damascus, ordered an end to the sieges.
Simultaneously a major escalation of violence erupted in West Beirut, when the Druze PSP/PLA and Amal again turned against each other in what became known as the "War of the Flag". The conflict was started when a PSP/PLA fighter, acting on orders from their leaderWalid Jumblatt, walked to the Channel 7 TV station (French:Télé Liban – Canal 7) building in theTallet el-Khayat sector atMsaytbeh and replaced theLebanese national flag hoisted there by theDruze five-coloured flag,[22] which was interpreted by Amal militiamen as a deliberate act of provocation.[23] A new round of brutal fighting soon spread throughout western Beirut, and although Amal forces initially managed to restore the Lebanese national flag on the Channel 7 building, they were subsequently overpowered by an alliance of PSP/PLA, LCP/Popular Guard and SSNP militias, and driven out of large portions of West Beirut. On 21–22 February, the week of fighting was ended by the arrival in West Beirut of 7,000Syrian Commando troops under the command ofMajor generalGhazi Kanaan, assisted by LebaneseInternal Security Forces (ISF) gendarmes, who immediately closed over fifty militia "offices" and banned the carrying of weapons in public, detaining in the process many young men with beards suspected of being militiamen and began executing anyone found with unauthorised weapons.[24]
Anincident on 24 February in which over twentyHizbollah supporters were killed led to intense pressure on Syria from Iran and an end to the army’s advance into the Southern suburbs,Dahieh, with its 800,000 Shia residents.[25][26] Shortly afterwards Syria troops took over positions around the camps and began allowing medicines into them. Women were allowed to leave to find food. Men were not.[27][28] It was estimated that there were 200PLO fighters remaining inShatila Camp and 700 inBourj el-Barajneh. There were around 20,000 non-combatants. During the last bout of fighting around 240 people were killed and 1,400 wounded, many of the casualties were in the Shia districts which were shelled from theChouf.[29]
Internal fighting had happened before in the Muslim/leftist camp (the formerLebanese National Movement or LNM) but never on such a massive scale. This inflicted a severe blow in terms of public image for many Muslim militias and destroyed the perception of unity. The main Lebanese Sunni militia, the Al-Mourabitoun, was crushed and their leaderIbrahim Kulaylat sent into exile. The results were mitigated since the PLO retained control of some of the camps.
At the end of the war, an official Lebanese government report stated that the total number of casualties for these battles was put at 3,781 dead and 6,787 injured in the fighting between Amal and the Palestinians. Furthermore, the number of Palestinians killed in inter-factional clashes between pro-Syrian and pro-Arafat organizations was around 2,000. The real number is probably higher because thousands of Palestinians were not registered in Lebanon and the blockade meant that no officials could access the camps, so that all the casualties could not be counted.[30] As the Amal-initiated "War of the Camps" against the PLO ended, the religiously oriented Hezbollah and its rival the essentially secular Amal began clashing in South Lebanon and in Beirut's southern suburbs over control of the Shiite population of Lebanon.
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