Lebanese Civil War

The Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) had its origin in the conflicts and political compromises of Lebanon's colonial period and was exacerbated by the nation's changing demographic trends, Christian and Muslim inter-religious strife, and the involvement of Syria, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). After a short break in the fighting in 1976 due to Arab League mediation and Syrian intervention, civil strife continued, with the focus of the fighting primarily in south Lebanon, controlled first by the PLO, then occupied by Israel.

By the time of the Taif Agreement in 1989, Israel held southern Lebanon, but was challenged by fierce opposition from Hizbullah, a Shi'a Islamist group which arose during the course of the war. The Israeli Army eventually withdrew in 2000, but only to see Syria fill the void from positions it had held in northern Lebanon since the mid-70s. Syria did not withdraw its troops before 2005, when it was forced out by the joint pressure created by Lebanese protest and powerful diplomatic intervention from the USA, France and the UN.

Colonial roots
Main article: French Mandate of Lebanon

Lebanon in its modern borders was established in 1920, as a French mandate granted by the League of Nations after the Conference of San Remo. It had been carved out of the Ottoman Empire, but there existed a unique history of Christian-dominated autonomy in the Mount Lebanon area ("Little Lebanon") under Ottoman government, partly as a result of French pressures on behalf of the Maronites. During its mandate, France added several districts to the mutasarrifiya of Mount Lebanon to form "Greater Lebanon". These districts included heavily Sunni and Shi'a Muslim areas, which diluted the previous Maronite and Druze majority of Mount Lebanon. When independence was gained from France in 1943, an unwritten power-sharing agreement (known as the National Pact) was forged among the three major ethnic and religious groups: Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Shi'a Muslims. The balance was heavily tilted towards the Christian side, who although only about half of the population, was guaranteed the powerful Presidency and a permanent Parliamentary majority.

After independence

Soon after the nation's birth, it saw the arrival of about 100,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. Most were settled into refugee camps in southern Lebanon and excluded from mainstream society. This was because the Palestinian presence was strongly resented by most Christian sects, who believed an influx of the mainly Sunni Muslim Palestinians would dilute their claim to power.

As the Palestinians were prevented from returning to what was now Israel, tensions grew, and the anti-Palestinian sentiment of many Christians became conflated with the Christian-Muslim tension underlying the republic's power structure. Needless to say, a number of non-religious power struggles within the government added to the already complex web of political conflict; and the pull of much more powerful neighbouring states, as well as of the Cold War, strained Lebanon near the breaking point.

These tensions dominated Lebanese politics under the surface, and occasionally exploded in brief bursts of conflict and violence. The most serious disruption came in the Lebanon Crisis of 1958, with months of open rebellion by a Muslim-leftist coalition aided by the United Arab Republic (UAR, a temporary Pan-Arab union of Syria and Egypt). The fighting was eventually ended in favor of the Christian-dominated Chamoun government by U.S. intervention. The 1958 disturbances are now often referred to as a "practice round" for the civil war.

For more on the background to the tensions in pre-war Lebanon, see Demographics of Lebanon and History of Lebanon.

Formation of militias

Constitutionally guaranteed Christian control of the government had come under increasing fire from Muslims and secular left wing groups in the 1960s, leading them to join forces as the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) in 1969. The LNM called for the taking of a new census (the last one had been conducted in 1932) and the subsequent drafting of a new governmental structure that would reflect the actual population balance. This was perceived as a mortal threat for Christian (especially Maronite) power in Lebanon, although alliances were admittedly much more complex than the "Muslims versus Christians" rubric posited by some Maronite leaders and many outside observers.

The two sides were unable to reconcile their conflicts of interest and began forming militias, first for self-protection, but as things escalated ever more in parallel to the regular army. This rapidly undermined the authority of the central government. The government's ability to maintain order was also handicapped by the nature of the Lebanese Army. One of the smallest in the Middle East, it was composed based on a fixed ratio of religions. As members defected to sectarian militias, the army would eventually prove unable to contain the militant groups, rein in the PLO or monitor foreign infiltration. Also, since the government was Christian-dominated, and the officers' ranks especially so, trust among Muslims for central institutions including the army was low. The disintegration of the Lebanese Army was eventually initiated by Muslim deserters declaring that they would no longer take orders from the Maronite generals.

Throughout the war most or all militias operated with little regard for human rights, and the sectarian character of the conflict made non-combatant civilians a frequent target. As the war dragged on, the militias deteriorated ever further into mafia style organizations with many commanders turning to crime as their main preoccupation, rather than fighting. Finances for the war effort were obtained in one or all of three ways:

Outside support, generally from one of the rivalling Arab governments or Israel, or a superpower, often with strings attached. Alliances would shift frequently.
Preying on the population. Extortion, theft, bank robberies and random checkpoints at which "customs" would be collected, were commonplace on all sides. During cease-fires, most militias operated in their home areas as virtual mafia organizations.
Smuggling. During the civil war, Lebanon turned into one of the world's largest narcotics producers, with much of the hashish production centered in the Bekaa valley. But much else was also smuggled, such as guns and supplies, all kinds of stolen goods and regular trade - war or no war, Lebanon would not give up its role as the middleman in European-Arab business. Many battles were fought over Lebanon's ports, to gain smuggler's access to the sea routes.

Christian militias

The most powerful of the Christian militias was that of the Kataeb, or Phalange, under the leadership of Bachir Gemayel. The Phalange went on to help found in 1977 the Lebanese Forces which came under the leadership of Samir Geagea in 1986. A smaller faction was the extremist Guardians of the Cedars. These militias quickly established strongholds in Christian-dominated East Beirut, also the site of many government buildings.

In the north, the Marada Brigades served as the private militia of the Franjieh family and Zgharta.

Shi'a militias

The Palestinian radicals' secularism and arrogant behaviour had alienated the traditionalist Shi'a community, but simultaneously presented a model for revolutionary politics that appealed to the young of Lebanon's poorest and most downtrodden community. After many years without their own independent political organizations, there suddenly arose Musa Sadr's Amal Movement in 1974-75. Its moderate Islamist ideology immediately attracted the urban poor, and Amal's armed ranks grew rapidly. Later, in the early 1980s, a hard line faction would break away to join with Shi'a groups fighting Israel to form the Hizbullah guerrillas, whom to this day remain the most powerful militia of Lebanon. Hizbullah was initially aided and trained by Iran, and since the late 1980s, Hizbullah has also received backing from Syria.

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