| Siege of Beirut | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the1982 Lebanon War and theLebanese Civil War | |||||||
 Syrian T-62 tank destroyed by theIDF in Beirut area, 1982 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Israel SLA LF |  PLO Syria LNRF INM ASALA PKK | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Ariel SharonMenachem BeginRafael EitanSaad HaddadBachir Gemayel | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 76,000 | 12,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| 4,000–5,000 Lebanese civilians killed[1] | |||||||
During the1982 Lebanon War, the city ofBeirut was besieged byIsrael following the breakdown of the ceasefire that had been imposed by theUnited Nations amidst theLebanese Civil War. Beginning in mid-June, the two-month-long siege resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and the expulsion of thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Beirut and the rest ofLebanon.
ThePLO moved its primary base of operations to Beirut in the early 1970s, afterBlack September inJordan. The presence of Palestinian forces was one of the main reasons that led to a conflict in Lebanon in 1975–1976 which ended with the occupation of Lebanon bypeacekeeping forces (theUnited Nations Interim Force in Lebanon).[2] Over the next few years, theSyrians and the PLO gained power in Lebanon, surpassing the ability of the officialLebanese government to curtail or control their actions. Throughout this time, artillery and rocket attacks were launched againstIsrael. Israel bombed targets in Lebanon and in 1978 launched a military invasion into Southern Lebanon codenamed "Operation Litani".
In 1978, and again in 1981 and early 1982, theUnited Nations sponsored a ceasefire, and Israeli troops were withdrawn. In 1982 Israel re-invaded Lebanon following the attemptedassassination of itsambassador inLondon, despite being aware that the attack had been carried out by the Abu Nidal faction, which was at war withYasser Arafat's PLO. The architect of the war,Ariel Sharon (thenDefense Minister), presented it to theIsraeli government as a limited incursion into Southern Lebanon but took his troops to Beirut.The invasion was code-named "Operation Pines" or"Peace for Galilee", and was intended to weaken or evict the PLO and imposeBachir Gemayel, head of the ChristianPhalange party, asPresident of Lebanon in order to get Lebanon to sign apeace treaty with Israel and bring the country into Israel's sphere of influence. This plan failed when Gemayel was assassinated not long after being elected President by the Lebanese parliament under Israeli pressure.
The Israeli forces invaded in a three-pronged attack. One group moved along the coastal road to Beirut, another aimed at cutting the main Beirut-Damascus road, and the third moved up along theLebanon-Syria border, hoping to block Syrian reinforcements or interference. By the 11th of June, Israel had gained air superiority after shooting down a number of Syrian aircraft; Syria called for a cease-fire, and the majority of PLOguerrillas fledTyre,Sidon, and other areas for Beirut.
The ring around Beirut was closed by 13 June 1982, 7 days after the start of Israeli invasion to Lebanon. PLO and part of Syrian forces were isolated in the city.
Israel hoped to complete the siege as quickly as possible; their goal all along in invading Lebanon was for a quick and decisive victory. In addition, theUnited States, through their representativePhilip Habib, was pushing for peace negotiations; the longer the siege took, the greater Arafat'sbargaining power would be.
At first Israelis thought thatMaronite forces would eradicate the PLO quasi-government in Beirut, but it turned out that the Maronites were not prepared to undertake this task. For the IDF, the capture of Beirut in street-to-street fighting would have involved unacceptable level of casualties. This is why the method chosen, was the combination of military pressure andpsychological warfare to persuade the PLO that the only alternative to surrender was total annihilation.[3]
For seven weeks, Israel attacked the city by sea, air, and land, cutting off food and water supplies, disconnecting the electricity, and securing the airport and some southernsuburbs, but for the most part coming no closer to their goals. As with most sieges, thousands ofcivilians in the city were killed alongside PLO guerrillas. Israel was roundly accused of indiscriminately shelling the city in addition to the other measures taken to weaken the PLO. By the end of the first week of July 500 buildings had been destroyed by Israeli shells and bombs.[4]
On 14 July, Sharon and chief of staffRafael Eitan obtained Prime Minister Begin's support for a large scale operation to conquer West Beirut in order to achieve the eviction of the PLO. But the plan was rejected on 16 July by the full Israeli cabinet, out of concern for heavy loss of life. Some parties threatened to leave the ruling coalition if the plan was adopted.[5]
At the end of July, with negotiations still deadlocked and a 27 day lull in fighting, the IDF intensified its attacks.[6]Mossad, using theirPhalangist contacts, sent Arab agents into Beirut with car bombs in order to terrorize the Palestinians into submission and the Lebanese to increase pressure for their departure. Dozens of people were killed in these bombings. Some of the Israeli agents were caught and ultimately confessed.[5]
TheIsraeli Air Force intensified missions specifically designed to assassinate Palestinian leaders –Yassir Arafat,Abu Jihad and Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad). The Israelis were assisted by agents with transmitters on the ground. Although a number of apartment houses were destroyed with hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese killed or wounded, the leaders managed to evade bombings.[7]
On 10 August, when American envoyPhilip Habib submitted a draft agreement to Israel, Sharon, probably impatient with what he regarded as American meddling, ordered asaturation bombing of Beirut, during which at least 300 people were killed. That bombing was followed by a protest to theIsraeli government byPresidentRonald Reagan. Within 20 minutes of a phone call between Reagan and Begin, in which the former said the bombings were going too far and needed to stop, Begin ordered the bombings stopped.[8] On 12 August, theIsraeli cabinet stripped Ariel Sharon of most of his powers; he was not allowed to order the use of air force, armored force and artillery without agreement of the cabinet or prime minister.[9]
During the siege, the Israelis secured several key locations in other parts of Lebanon, but did not manage to take the city before a peace agreement was finally implemented. Although Syria had agreed on 7 August, Israel, Lebanon, and the PLO finally agreed, with US mediation, on the 18th. On 21 August, 350Frenchparatroopers arrived in Beirut, followed by 800US Marines andItalian Bersaglieri plus additional international peacekeepers (for a total force of 2,130) to supervise the removal of the PLO, first by ship and then overland, toTunisia,Yemen,Jordan, andSyria. Altogether 8,500 PLO men were evacuated to Tunisia, and 2,500 by land to other Arab countries.[9]
In the end, Israel succeeded in ending the rocket attacks for a very short period, and routed the PLO from Lebanon. The siege also saw theinsubordination and subsequent dismissal of the 211thArmor Brigade commander,Eli Geva, who refused to lead his forces into the city, arguing this would result in "the excessive killings of civilians."[10]
The conclusion to the conflict has been portrayed by analyst Jonathan F. Keiler as atactical victory for Israel, but astrategic victory for the PLO.[11]
United States: The siege was condemned by Israel's traditional close ally, theUnited States, who warned Israel that weaponry provided by the United States was only to be used for defensive purposes.[12] TheU.S. government at one point even considered threateningsanctions against Israel in order to stop Israel from launching an assault on West Beirut in August 1982. It was reported by theOttawa Citizen (originally from aNew York Times interview) that during one of two phone conversations on 12 August between US presidentRonald Reagan and Israeli Prime MinisterMenachem Begin, Reagan angrily described the bombing of West Beirut as a "holocaust".[13] Israel: While Prime Minister Begin did not deny that civilians were hurt, and he reportedly expressed regrets over the loss of innocent life, he stressed that their deaths were "...not the Israelis' fault".[13]
Soviet Union: The Soviet Union tried to pass aUnited Nations resolution calling for a worldwide arms embargo on Israel, which was vetoed by the U.S.[12][13]Bachir Gemayel, the Lebanese president-elect, was killed in Eastern Beirut a few weeks after the withdrawal of PLO forces. His death resulted in the Lebanese Forces entering the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps andslaughtering almost two thousand Palestinian civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly.[14] This occurred under the supervision of Israeli troops who illuminated the areas with flares and provided bulldozers for mass burials of the victims.
Following the siege of Beirut, Arafat left forGreece, and thenTunis, establishing a new headquarters there. PLOfedayeen continued to operate out ofYemen,Algeria,Iraq, and theSudan, as well as within Israeli-controlled territory.[citation needed]
In late 1983, 4,000 Arafat loyalists were evacuated fromTripoli on five Greek vessels.[15]
Decades later, the siege was cited byOsama bin Laden as a major reason for theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks.[16]
God knows it did not cross our minds to attackthe Towers, but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of theAmerican-Israeli alliance against our people inPalestine and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly werethose of 1982 and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by theU.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we were tasting and to stop killing our children and women.
— Osama bin Laden, 2004[17]
Dating from the siege of Beirut in 1982, Israel has practiced a complex and limited form of urban warfare. In Beirut, this involved a cordon around the city, accompanied by limited attacks with artillery, ground, and air forces to put pressure on the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Syrian forces inside. The IDF did not launch a general assault on the city; it awaited a political solution that resulted in evacuation of enemy forces under the auspices of outside powers. Despite the IDF's restraint, it was depicted as little short of barbaric by much of the international media. The PLO's evacuation was treated as a victory parade, rather than the retreat it was, and the PLO lived to fight another day. The battle was a tactical victory for Israel, but a strategic defeat.
33°53′23″N35°30′01″E / 33.8897°N 35.5003°E /33.8897; 35.5003
