Siege of Tel al-Zaatar

Tel al-Zaatar massacre
Part of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1977)
Date12 August 1976
LocationBeirut
Result Destruction of the camp
Displacement of Palestinian Refugees
Lebanese Front decisive and strategic victory
Belligerents

Lebanese Front

Syria Syria

Palestine Liberation Organization PLO

Commanders and leaders

Dany Chamoun
Etienne Saqr
William Hawi  †

Syria Hafez al-Assad
Syria Mustafa Tlass		 Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat
Ahmed Jibril
Strength
LF: ~ 3,000 PLO: ~ 1,200
Casualties and losses
LF: 200 1,500[1] to 3,000[2] Palestinians killed

The Tel al-Zaatar massacre (Arabic: مذبحة تل الزعتر‎‎) took place during the Lebanese Civil War on 12 August 1976. Tel al-Zaatar (The Hill of Thyme) was a UNRWA administered Palestinian Refugee camp housing approximately 50,000-60,000 refugees in northeast Beirut.[3][4][5]

Background

With the breakdown in authority of the Lebanese government the militancy of radical faction increased.[6]

After, Guardians of the Cedars and Tiger militia forces took control of the Karantina district on 18 January 1976 by committing a massacre known as the Karantina Massacre.[7]

On 4 January 1976, a thin cordon was established around the camp by 300 fighters from the Al-Tanzim and 100 fighters from the Maroun Khoury Group in an effort to contain the Palestinians. The Maroun Khoury Group was a Dikwaneh based militia. One road was left open to allow Palestinian evacuation towards Aley but the Palestinians refused to enter into dialogue with the Lebanese Front.

Ahrar forces surrounded and attacked Jisr al Basha and Kataeb and Guardian of the Cedars troops engaged the adjacent, mainly Shiite, area of Nabaa, which contained large numbers of leftist forces. The Battle for the Camps had started and was the final showdown between the Palestinian militias and the Lebanese Front in Beirut. It was one of the hardest battles fought during the war.

Syria put itself forwards as a "mediator" on the basis of historic claims.[6] Syrian forces with As-Sa'iqa units were intervening on behalf of hard presses right-wing militias by April. The influence of Syria led to the election of Elias Sarkis.[8]

By the first week of June, Syrian forces had applied a blockade of West Beirut, a predominantly Muslim section that contained the Palestinian headquarters, leaving only the southern route open.[9][10] From 22 June the Phalangist forces, many Christian residents of Ras el-Dekweneh and Mansouriye controlled by Maroun Khoury with Syrian backing intensified the blockade to a full-scale military assault that lasted 35 days.[1][10] The Lebanese right-wing militias had laid siege to the refugee camp for 3 months. When the camp fell, the Palestinian deaths numbered in the thousands.[11] The besieging militia's loss was around 200 armed men.

The battle and its aftermath

The battle is said to have contributed to the mounting Sunni Muslim dissent within Alawi-ruled Syria. As a result, Syria broke off its offensive on the PLO and the LNM, and agreed to an Arab League summit which temporarily ended the Civil War.

After killing and evicting the occupying Palestinians on January 20, 1976 the PLO used the Christian town of Damour to house survivors of the Tel al-Zaatar battle.[12]

The split in the PLO leadership was ended when the Syrian backed As-Sa'iqa movement was expelled from the PLO, leaving Fatah as the dominant party.[13]

Hafez al-Assad received strong criticism and pressure from across the Arab world for his involvement in the battle - this criticism, as well as the internal dissent it caused as an Alawite ruler in a majority Sunni country, led to a cease-fire in his war on the Palestinian militia forces.[14]

Estimations of the numbers of victims

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Cobban, Helena (1984), The Palestinian Liberation Organisation: People, Power, and Politics, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521272165 p 73
  2. ↑ Price, Daniel E. (1999). Islamic Political Culture, Democracy, and Human Rights: A Comparative Study. Greenwood Publishing Company, ISBN 9780275961879, p. 68.
  3. ↑ Lisa Suhair Majaj, Paula W. Sunderman, and Therese Saliba Intersections Syracuse University Press ISBN 0815629516 p 156
  4. ↑ Samir Khalaf, Philip Shukry Khoury (1993) Recovering Beirut: Urban Design and Post-war Reconstruction BRILL, ISBN 9004099115 p 253
  5. ↑ Younis, Mona (2000) Liberation and Democratization: The South African and Palestinian National Movements University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 0816633002 p 221
  6. 1 2 Kissinger, Henry (1999) Years of Renewal Simon Schuster, ISBN 1-84212-042-5 p 1022
  7. ↑ Karantina massacre#cite note-H1500-6
  8. ↑ Yair Evron (1987) War and Intervention in Lebanon: The Israeli-Syrian Deterrence Dialogue Routledge, ISBN 0709914512 p 13
  9. ↑ Amal Kawar (1996) Daughters of Palestine: Leading Women of the Palestinian National Movement SUNY Press, ISBN 0791428451 p 65
  10. 1 2 Walid Kazziha (1979) Palestine in the Arab dilemma Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0856648647 p 54
  11. ↑ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926327-2,00.html
  12. ↑ Robert Fisk (2002) Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192801309 p 98
  13. ↑ Barry M. Rubin (1994) Revolution Until Victory?: The Politics and History of the PLO, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0674768035 p 50
  14. ↑ Faces of Lebanon: sects, wars, and global extensions, William W. Harris, (NY 1997), pages 166-67

Bibliography

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