| 1978 South Lebanon conflict (First Israeli invasion of Lebanon) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of thePalestinian insurgency in South Lebanon, theLebanese Civil War, and theIsraeli–Lebanese conflict | |||||||||
 Israeli soldiers during the invasion | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Israel SLA |  PLO | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Yasser Arafat | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 18 killed 113 wounded[1] | 300–550 killed[1][2][3] | ||||||||
| 1,100[2][3] to 2,000[4][5] killed in total (both combatants and civilians) 100,000 to 250,000 internally displaced[4][5] | |||||||||
The1978 South Lebanon conflict, also known as theFirst Israeli invasion of Lebanon[6][7] and codenamedOperation Litani byIsrael, began when Israel invadedsouthern Lebanon up to theLitani River in March 1978. It was in response to theCoastal Road massacre nearTel Aviv byPalestinian militants based in Lebanon. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 1,100–2,000Lebanese andPalestinians, 20Israelis, and the internal displacement of 100,000 to 250,000 people in Lebanon. TheIsrael Defense Forces gained a military victory against thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the latter was forced to withdraw from southern Lebanon, preventing it from launching attacks on Israel from acrossits land border with Lebanon. In response to the outbreak of hostilities, theUnited Nations Security Council adoptedResolution 425 andResolution 426 on 19 March 1978, which called on Israel to immediately withdraw its troops from Lebanon and established theUnited Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Israel launched asecond invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Though it took the form of an invasion by theIsraeli military ofsouthern Lebanon, Operation Litani arose from the long-runningIsraeli–Palestinian conflict. After 1968, militant groups that formed thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) andother Palestinian groups established aquasi-state in southernLebanon, using it as a base forattacks against civilian targets in northernIsrael as well as terror attacks on diaspora Israelis and other targets worldwide. This violence was exacerbated by an influx of some 3,000 PLO militants who had fledJordan following the defeat of Palestinian groups toJordanian forces during theBlack September conflict; the Palestinian political cause began to regroup in southern Lebanon and re-shifted the focus of its attacks to Israeli targets, and did so via theIsrael–Lebanon border. Israel responded to Palestinian attacks from Lebanon with extensive air raids against PLO bases of operations.
As a consequence of Israeli aerial attacks from 1968 to 1977, some of thePalestinian towns and camps in southern Lebanon were totally leveled. It is estimated that by October 1977, about 300,000 refugees—mainlyLebanese Shia Muslims—had fled southern Lebanon.[8]
In November 1977, an exchange of gunfire led to the deaths of several people on both sides of the Israel–Lebanon border and led to Israel's bombing of targets in southern Lebanon that killed 70 people, mainlyLebanese.[9]
The proximate cause of the Israeli invasion was theCoastal Road massacre that took place nearTel Aviv on 11 March 1978.[10] On that day, 11 PalestinianFatah members led by the 18-year-old female fighterDalal Mughrabi travelled from Lebanon to Israel, where they killed anAmerican tourist at a beach before hijacking a bus on the Coastal Road nearHaifa; the group later also hijacked a second bus that was bound forTel Aviv. After a lengthy chase and shootout, 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed and 76 were wounded.[11]
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On 14 March 1978, Israel launched Operation Litani, after the Coastal Road Massacre. Its stated goals were to push Palestinian militant groups, particularly thePLO, away from the border with Israel, and to bolster Israel's ally at the time, theSouth Lebanon Army, because of the attacks against Lebanese Christians and Jews and because of the relentless shelling into northern Israel. The area south of theLitani River, exceptingTyre, was invaded and occupied in a week long offensive.
The operation began with air, artillery, and naval bombardment, after which IDF infantry and armor forces, comprising about 25,000 soldiers, entered south Lebanon. The Israelis first captured a belt of land approximately 10 kilometers deep, by launching a ground attack on all PLO positions along the Lebanese border with Israel. The ground forces were led by two division commanders, and attacked simultaneously along the entire front. Paratroopers landed from helicopters to capture all the bridges on the Litani River, cutting off the possibility of retreat by the PLO, and later expanded north to the Litani River.Shayetet 11 vessels were used as carrier platform forhelicopters to attack targets on the northern Lebanese coast.[12]
The IDF did not succeed in engaging large numbers of PLO forces, who retreated to the north.[13] Many Lebanese civilians were killed by heavy Israeli shelling and air strikes, which also caused extensive property damage andinternal displacement.[13] According toAugustus Richard Norton, professor ofinternational relations atBoston University, the IDF military operation killed approximately 1,100 people, most of them Palestinian and Lebanese. According to IDF reporting and internal investigation, at least 550 of the casualties were Palestinian militants initially holding the front line and killed by the IDF ground operation.[2][3] According to other sources about 2000 Lebanese and Palestinian were killed.[4][5]
Estimates for the number of people displaced by the military operations range from at least 100,000 to 250,000.[4][5] Syrian troops deployed inside Lebanon, some of which were within visual range of the IDF, but did not take part in the fighting.[14] ThePLO retreated north of the Litani River, continuing to fire at the Israelis. The IDF usedcluster bombs provided by the United States. According to U.S. PresidentJimmy Carter, this use of the cluster bombs violated the legal agreement between Israel and the U.S. because the weapons had been provided for defensive purposes against an attack on Israel.[15] Israel also transferred American weapons to Saad Haddad's Lebanese militia, a violation of American law.[15] Carter's administration prepared to notifyCongress that American weapons were being used illegally, which would have resulted in military aid to Israel being cut off.[15] The American consul in Jerusalem informed the Israeli government of their plans and, according to Carter, Prime Minister Begin said that the operation was over.[15]
In response to the invasion, the UN Security Council adoptedResolution 425 andResolution 426 calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon were both adopted on 19 March 1978. TheUN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was created to enforce this mandate, specifically "for the purpose of confirming the withdrawal of Israeli forces, restoring international peace and security and assisting the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area".[14][16] UNIFIL forces arrived in Lebanon on 23 March 1978, setting up headquarters inNaqoura.
Resolution 425 didn't result in an immediate end to hostilities.[14] The Israelis continued military operations for 2 more days until they ordered a ceasefire.[14] The PLO's initial reaction was that the resolution didn't apply to them because it didn't mention the PLO.[14] The PLO leadership finally ordered a ceasefire on 28 March 1978, after a meeting between UNIFIL commander GeneralEmmanuel Erskine and Yasser Arafat in Beirut.[14]Helena Cobban has described the agreement as "a turning-point in the history of the Palestinian resistance moment" because it was the first open acceptance of a ceasefire agreement with Israel that was endorsed by all official PLO bodies.[14]
Parts of the Palestinian resistance movement opposed the agreement and tried to violate the ceasefire.[14] In April 1978, second-level Fatah leaderMohammad Daoud Oudeh (Abu Daoud) organized cells of about 70 to 80 fighters with the intention of breaking the ceasefire.[14] Arafat andKhalil Wazir ordered the arrest of all involved and Abu Daoud was later accused of collaborating with Fatah renegadeAbu Nidal to break the ceasefire.[14]
Israeli forces withdrew later in 1978, turning over positions inside Lebanon to their ally, theSouth Lebanon Army (SLA) militia under the leadership of Maj.Saad Haddad. On 19 April 1978, the SLA shelled UNIFIL headquarters, wounding 8 UN soldiers (Fisk, 138). In April 1980,three Irish UN soldiers (Privates Barrett, Smallhorne and O'Mahoney) were kidnapped and two of them murdered by Christian gunmen. Private O'Mahoney survived (being shot by a sub-machine gun during the incident) in SLA territory; in a separate incident another Irish soldier, Private S. Griffin, was shot by Haddad's men, and wasevacuated to Israel where he subsequently died during medical treatment. The Israeli press at the time, particularlyThe Jerusalem Post, accused the Irish of pro-PLO bias. (Fisk, 152–154).
Palestinian factions also attacked UNIFIL, kidnapping an Irish UNIFIL soldier in 1981 and continuing to occupy areas in southern Lebanon.[17]
Hostilities continued as the Lebanese civil war escalated as fighting intensified in the south. Continued attacks in Israel from the Lebanese based PLO[18][19][20] culminated in asecond Israeli invasion in 1982 resulting in aflare-up that persisted over the next decade.
In 2000, theUN Security Council concluded that, as of 16 June 2000, Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon in accordance withResolution 425.[21]
Lebanon has not extended control oversouth Lebanon, though it was called on to do so byResolution 1391 of 2002 and urged byResolution 1496. Israel has lodged multiple complaints regarding Lebanon's conduct.[22]
Hezbollah's claim that Israel has not fully withdrawn (seeShebaa Farms) was explicitly rejected by the UN's Secretary-General's report which led toResolution 1583. TheSyrian occupation of Lebanon led toUN Security Council Resolution 1559 demanding the remaining 14,000 (of 50,000 originally) Syrian troop withdrawal and the dismantling of Hezbollah andPalestinian militias. On 26 April 2005, after 29 years of Syrian military presence in Lebanon, the last of the Syrian troops withdrew in accordance with the resolution.
The operation was called Operation Peace for Galilee and was launched in reply to ongoing PLO attacks from its Lebanese bases.