The South Lebanon conflict, designated by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

as the Security Zone in Lebanon Campaign,IDF to recognize 18-year occupation of south Lebanon as official campaign
Times of Israel, Nov 4, 2020. Accessed Nov 5, 2020. was a protracted armed conflict that took place in southern Lebanon from 1985 to 2000. It saw fighting between the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

-dominated South Lebanon Army (SLA) and

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

-led Muslim guerrillas within the Israeli-occupied "Security Zone";"Hezbollah makes explosive return: Israel's proxy militia under fire in south Lebanon"
Charles Richards, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''. 18 August 1993. Retrieved 15 August 2009. the SLA had military and logistical support from the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

over the course of the conflict and operated under the jurisdiction of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon provisional administration, which succeeded the earlier Israeli-backed State of Free Lebanon. It can also refer to the continuation of the earlier conflict in this region that began with the Palestinian insurgency in southern Lebanon, which targeted Christian Lebanese factions and Israel following the expulsion of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...

(PLO) from

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

after

Black September Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; ''Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein ...

. Historical tensions between

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exodu ...

and Lebanese factions fomented the violent internal political struggle between the latter. In light of these factors, the South Lebanon conflict can be seen as a part of the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

. In earlier conflicts prior to the

1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

, including the 1978 South Lebanon conflict, Israel attempted to eradicate PLO bases from Lebanon and provided support to Maronite Christian militias in the country amidst the Lebanese Civil War; the 1982 invasion resulted in the PLO's departure from Lebanon. Israel's subsequent establishment of the Security Zone in southern Lebanon successfully shielded Israeli civilians from cross-border attacks by

Palestinian militants Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence perpetrated for political ends in relation to the State of Palestine or in connection with Palestinian nationalism. Common political objectives include self-determination in and sovere ...

, but came at a great cost to Lebanese civilians and Palestinians. Despite Israel's success in eradicating PLO bases in Lebanon and its partial withdrawal in 1985, the invasion increased the severity of conflict with local Lebanese militias and resulted in the consolidation of several local Shia Islamic movements (including Hezbollah and Amal) from a previously unorganized guerrilla movement in the Shia-majority south. Over the years, combined casualties grew higher as both sides used more modern weaponry and as Hezbollah progressed in its tactics. By the early 1990s, Hezbollah, with support from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, emerged as the leading group and military power, monopolizing guerrilla activity in southern Lebanon. With no clear end-game in Lebanon, the Israeli military was unfamiliar with the type of warfare that Hezbollah waged, and while it could inflict losses on Hezbollah, there was no long-term strategy. With Hezbollah increasingly targeting the

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...

with rockets, the official purpose of the Security Zone—to protect Israel's northern communities—seemed contradictory. Hezbollah also excelled at psychological warfare, often recording their attacks on Israeli troops. Following the 1997 Israeli helicopter disaster, the Israeli public began to seriously question whether the military occupation of southern Lebanon was worth maintaining. The ''

Four Mothers 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

'' movement rose to the forefront of the public discourse, and played a leading role in swaying the public in favour of a complete withdrawal. It was common knowledge in Israel that the Security Zone was not permanent, but the Israeli government hoped that a withdrawal could be carried out in the context of a wider agreement with Syria and, by extension, Lebanon. However, talks with Syria failed. By 2000, following up on his promise during the 1999 Israeli general election, the newly elected Israeli prime minister

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( he-a, אֵהוּד בָּרָק, Ehud_barak.ogg, link=yes, born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until Jan ...

unilaterally withdrew Israeli forces from southern Lebanon within the year,Online NewsHour:
Final Pullout – May 24, 2000
'' (Transcript). "Israelis evacuate southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation." Retrieved 15 August 2009. in accordance with

United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, adopted on 19 March 1978, five days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War, called on Israel to withdraw im ...

of 1978; Israel's withdrawal consequently resulted in the immediate and total collapse of the SLA, with many of its members escaping to Israel. The Lebanese government and Hezbollah still consider the withdrawal incomplete until Israel withdraws from Shebaa Farms. In 2020, Israel retrospectively recognized the conflict as a full-scale war.

Background

Following the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

, the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,tri-point on the Hasbani River. From this tri-point on the Hasbani the boundary follows the river northward to the village of

Ghajar Ghajar ( ar, غجر, he, ע'ג'ר or ) is an Alawite-Arab village on the Hasbani River, on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied portion of Syria's Golan Heights. In , it had a population of . History Early history Control ov ...

, then northeast, forming the Lebanese–Syrian border. (The southern line from the tri-point represents the Palestine–Syria border of 1923.) Israeli forces captured and occupied 13 villages in Lebanese territory during the conflict, including parts of

Marjayun Marjayoun ( ar, مرج عيون: Lebanese Arabic, Lebanese pronunciation), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a Lebanon, Lebanese town and an administrative district, th ...

, Bint Jubayl, and areas near the Litani River,Naseer H. Aruri, Preface to the 3rd(?) edition, ''Israel's Sacred Terrorism'', Livia Rokach, Association of Arab-American University Graduates, but withdrew following international pressure and the armistice agreement. Although the Israel–Lebanon border remained relatively quiet, entries in the diary of Moshe Sharett point to a continued territorial interest in the area. On 16 May 1954, during a joint meeting of senior officials of the defense and foreign affairs ministries,

Ben Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...

raised the issue of Lebanon due to renewed tensions between Syria and Iraq, and internal trouble in Syria. Dayan expressed his enthusiastic support for entering Lebanon, occupying the necessary territory and creating a Christian regime that would ally itself with Israel. The issue was raised again in discussions at the Protocol of Sèvres. The Israeli victory in the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

vastly expanded their area occupied in all neighboring countries, with the exception of Lebanon, but this extended the length of the effective Lebanon–Israel border, with the occupation of the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

. Although with a stated requirement for defense, later Israeli expansion into Lebanon under very similar terms followed the 1977 elections, which for the first time, brought the Revisionist

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel S ...

to power.

Emerging conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants

Beginning with the late 1960s and especially in the 1970s, following the defeat of PLO in

Black September in Jordan Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; ''Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein ...

, displaced Palestinians, including militants affiliated with the

Palestinian Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...

, began to settle in South Lebanon. The unrestrained buildup of Palestinian militia, and the large autonomy they exercised, led to the popular term "

Fatahland The Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon was a conflict initiated by Palestinian militants based in South Lebanon upon Israel from 1968 and upon Christian Lebanese factions from the mid-1970s, which evolved into the wider Lebanese Civil War ...

"''Urban Operations: An Historical Casebook.''
Siege of Beirut
, by George W. Gawrych. US Army

Combat Studies Institute The U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (USACAC) is located at Fort Leavenworth and provides leadership and supervision for leader development and professional military and civilian education; institutional and collective training; functional training; ...

, Fort Leavenworth, KS. 2 October 2002. Available at globalsecurity.org. for South Lebanon. Since the mid 1970s the tensions between the various Lebanese factions and Palestinians had exploded, resulting in Lebanese Civil War. Following multiple attacks launched by Palestinian organizations in the 1970, which increased with the Lebanese Civil War, the Israeli government decided to take action. Desiring to break up and destroy this PLO stronghold, Israel briefly invaded Lebanon in 1978, but the results of this invasion were mixed. The PLO was pushed north of the Litani River and a buffer zone was created to keep them from returning, with the placement of the

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( ar, قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان, he, כוח האו"ם הזמני בלבנון), or UNIFIL ( ar, يونيفيل, he, יוניפי״ל), is a UN peacekeeping m ...

(UNIFIL). In addition and despite earlier covert support, Israel established a second buffer with renegade Saad Haddad's Christian Free Lebanon Army enclave (initially based only in the towns of

Marjayoun Marjayoun ( ar, مرج عيون: Lebanese pronunciation), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a Lebanese town and an administrative district, the Marjeyoun District, in ...

and Qlayaa); the now-public Israeli military commitment to the Christian forces was strengthened. For the first time however, Israel received substantive adverse publicity in the world press due to damage in South Lebanon, in which some 200,000 Lebanese (mostly Shia Muslims) fled the area and ended up in the southern suburbs of Beirut; this indirectly resulted in the Syrian forces in Lebanon turning against the Christians in late June and complicated the dynamics of the ongoing

.Major George C. Solley
''The Israeli Experience in Lebanon, 1982–1985''
US Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Marine Corps Development and Education Command, Quantico, Virginia. 10 May 1987. Available from GlobalSecurity.org

1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon

In 1982, the Israeli military began " Operation Peace for Galilee",1982 Lebanon Invasion

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

. a full-scale invasion of Lebanese territory. The invasion followed the 1978 Litani Operation, which gave Israel possession of the territory near the Israeli–Lebanese border. This follow-up invasion attempted to weaken the PLO as a unified political and military forceNorton, Augustus Richard; ''Journal of Palestine'', 2000 and eventually led to the withdrawal of PLO and Syrian forces from Lebanon. By the end of this operation, Israel got control over Lebanon from Beirut southward, and attempted to install a pro-Israeli government in Beirut to sign a peace accord with it. This goal had never realized, partly because of the assassination of President Bashir Gemayel in September 1982, and the refusal of the Lebanese Parliament to endorse the accord. The withdrawal of the PLO forces in 1982 forced some Lebanese nationalists to start a resistance against the Israeli army led by the Lebanese Communist Party and Amal movement. During this time, some Amal members started the formation of an Islamic group supported by

that was the nucleus of the future "Islamic Resistance", and eventually become

Chronology

1982–1985 occupation and emergence of Hezbollah

Increased hostilities against the US resulted in the April 1983 United States Embassy bombing. In response, the US brokered the May 17 Agreement, in an attempt to stall hostilities between Israel and Lebanon. However, this agreement eventually failed to take shape, and hostilities continued. In October, the United States Marines barracks in Beirut was bombed (usually attributed to the Islamic Resistance groups). Following this incident, the United States withdrew its military forces from Lebanon. Suicide bombings became increasingly popular at this time, and were a major concern of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) both near Beirut and in the South. Among the most serious were the two

suicide bombings A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

against the Israeli headquarters in Tyre, which killed 103 soldiers, border policemen, and Shin Bet agents, and also killed 49–56 Lebanese. Israel believes those acts were among the first organized actions made by Shi'ite militants, later forming into Hizbullah. Subsequently, Israel withdrew from the Shouf Mountains, but continued to occupy Lebanon south of the Awali River. An increased number of Islamic militias began operating in South Lebanon, launching guerrilla attacks on Israeli and pro-Israel militia positions. Israeli forces often responded with increased security measures and airstrikes on militant positions, and casualties on all sides steadily climbed. In a vacuum left with eradication of PLO, the disorganized Islamic militants in South Lebanon began to consolidate. The emerging

, soon to become the preeminent Islamic militia, evolved during this period. However, scholars disagree as to when Hezbollah came to be regarded as a distinct entity. Over time, a number of Shi’a group members were slowly assimilated into the organization, such as Islamic Jihad members, Organization of the Oppressed on Earth, and the Revolutionary Justice Organization.

Israeli withdrawal to southern Lebanon

IDF military patrol near ayshiyeh Lebanon

Israeli tank position in Shamis al urqub near Aaichiye sounth lebanon 1997

On 16 February 1985, Israel withdrew from

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

and turned it over to the Lebanese Army, but faced attacks: 15 Israelis were killed and 105 wounded during the withdrawal. Dozens of SLA members were also assassinated. Under the

Iron Fist policy The Iron Fist policy, also known as Operation Iron Fist, was a policy involving series of raids carried out in 1985 by the Israeli Defence Force during the 1985-2000 South Lebanon conflict and First Intifada against Palestinian and Lebanese t ...

, Israel retaliated in a series of raids. On March 11, Israeli forces raided the town of Zrariyah, killing 40 men. On March 10, a suicide bomber killed twelve Israeli soldiers from a convoy near Metula, inside Israel. From mid-February to mid-March, the Israelis lost 18 dead and 35 wounded. On 9 April, a Shiite girl drove a car bomb into an IDF convoy, and the following day, a soldier was killed by a land mine. During that same period, Israeli forces killed 80 Lebanese guerrillas in five weeks. Another 1,800 Shi'as were taken as prisoners. Israel withdrew from the Bekaa valley on 24 April, and from Tyre on the 29th, but continued to occupy a security zone in Southern Lebanon. Shakuf El-Hardun military post in south lebanon

Shakuf El-Hardun military post in south lebanon

Beginning of the Security Zone conflict

In 1985 Hezbollah released an open letter to "The Downtrodden in Lebanon and in the World", which stated that the world was divided between the oppressed and the oppressors. The oppressors were named to be mainly the United States and Israel. This letter legitimized and praised the use of violence against the enemies of Islam, mainly the West. Israeli and SLA forces in the security zone began to come under attack. The first major incident occurred in August 1985, when Lebanese guerrillas believed to have been from Amal ambushed an Israeli convoy: two Israeli soldiers and three of the attackers were killed in the ensuing firefight. Lebanese guerrilla attacks, mainly the work of Hezbollah, increased. Fighting the Israeli occupation included hit-and-run guerrilla attacks, suicide bombings, and the Katyusha rocket attacks on civilian targets in Northern Israel, including Kiryat Shmona. The Katyusha proved to be an effective weapon and became a mainstay of Hezbollah military capabilities in South Lebanon. The attacks resulted in both military and civilian casualties. However, a considerable number of Lebanese guerillas were killed fighting Israeli and SLA troops, and many were captured. Prisoners were often detained in Israeli military prisons, or by the SLA in the Khiam detention center, where detainees were often tortured.

Lebanese prisoners in Israel Lebanese prisoners in Israel have been a source of contention between Lebanon and Israel and were an issue in the 2006 Lebanon War. The number of such detainees is disputed. According to the Lebanese paramilitary and political party Hezbollah, there ...

were arrested and detained for participating in guerrilla movements, and many were held for long periods of time. Military post birkat hukan south lebanon

Military post birkat hukan south lebanon

In 1987 Hezbollah fighters from the Islamic Resistance stormed and conquered an outpost in Bra’shit belonging to the South Lebanon Army in the security zone. A number of its defenders were killed or taken prisoner and the Hezbollah flag was raised on top of it. A Sherman tank was blown up and a M113 Armored Personal Carrier was captured and driven triumphantly all the way to Beirut. In September of that year, Israeli aircraft bombed three PLO bases on the outskirts of the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, killing up to 41 people. An Israeli spokesman said the targets were being used by terrorist cells that were planning raids against Israel. On 2 January 1988, Israeli airstrikes on Ain al-Hilweh and along the coast North of Sidon left some 19 dead and 14 wounded. Three members of PFLP-GC and three from PSP were amongst those killed. Seven children and one woman were also killed. It was reported that the raids were retaliation for the 25 November 1987 PFLP-GC hang-glider attack in which six IDF soldiers were killed. In the previous two years there had been about forty Israeli air strikes on Lebanon. In May, Israel launched an offensive codenamed Operation Law and Order in which 1,500–2,000 Israeli soldiers raided the area around the Lebanese village of Meidoun. In two days of fighting, the IDF killed 50 Hizbullah fighters while losing 3 dead and 17 wounded. On 18 October 1988 eight Israeli soldiers were killed by a Hizbullah suicide car bomb. The Israelis responded with extensive air and land attacks. After Israel destroyed Hezbollah's headquarters in the town of Marrakeh, a Hezbollah suicide bomber destroyed an Israeli transport truck carrying soldiers on the Israel-Lebanon border. In response, Israeli forces ambushed two Hezbollah vehicles, killing eight Hezbollah fighters. On 27 July 1989 the Hizbullah leader in South Lebanon, Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and two of his aides, were abducted from his home in Jibchit, by

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces *Irish Defence Forces *Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 *Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations *Israeli Diving Federation *Interaction ...

commandos. The night-time raid was planned by then Minister of Defence Yitzhak Rabin. Hizbullah responded by announcing the execution of Colonel Higgins, a senior American officer working with

UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( ar, قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان, he, כוח האו"ם הזמני בלבנון), or UNIFIL ( ar, يونيفيل, he, יוניפי״ל), is a UN peacekeeping m ...

, who had been kidnapped in February 1988. The Obeid kidnapping led to the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 638, which condemned all hostage takings by all sides.

1989 Taif Agreement

The Lebanese Civil War officially came to an end with the 1989

Ta'if Accord The Taif Agreement ( ar, اتفاق الطائف), officially known as the ( ar, وثيقة الوفاق الوطني, label=none'')'', was reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Le ...

, but the armed combat continued at least until October 1990, and in South Lebanon until at least 1991.
Tension grows in South Lebanon as Israel bombs guerrilla targets.
' New York Times, 8 November 1991. In fact, the continued Israeli presence in South Lebanon resulted in continued low-intensity warfare and sporadic major combat until the Israeli withdrawal in 2000. On 29 March 1991 a car bomb in

Antelias Antelias ( ar, أنطلياس) is a city in Lebanon in the Matn District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate. It is located around 5 km to the north of Beirut. Etymology The name is originally Greek, ἀντήλιος – from ἀντί(an ...

district of East Beirut killed 3 people. On 30 December 1991 a car bomb killed 15 bystanders and injured over 100 in West Beirut. The attack took place in the mainly

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

Basta quarter.

Outbreak of hostilities after the Lebanese Civil War

Aaichiye to Rayhan military patrol in south lebanon

Beaufortnorthern military post south lebanon 1995

Beaufort Castle IDF Military post south Lebanon

Carcom IDF military post in Lebanon 1998

IDF tank near Shreife IDF military post in lebanon

Galagalit IDF military patrol south lebanon

Though the majority of the Lebanese civil war conflicts ended in the months following the

, Israel kept maintaining a military presence in South Lebanon. Consequently, the Islamic Resistance, by now dominated by

, continued operations in the South. Several days of Israeli air raids ended on 4 June 1991. Targets, in the biggest attack since 1982, included buildings belonging to Fateh, PFLP,

DFLP The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ar, الجبهة الديموقراطية لتحرير فلسطين, ''al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn'') is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organiz ...

and Fateh-Revolutionary Command. Twenty-two people were killed and 82 wounded. A month later, 4 July 1991, following the failure of disarmament negotiations, as required by the Taif agreement, the

Lebanese Army ) , founded = 1 August 1945 , current_form = 1991 , disbanded = , branches = Lebanese Ground Forces Lebanese Air ForceLebanese Navy , headquarters = Yarze, Lebanon , flying_hours = , websit ...

attacked Palestinian positions in Southern Lebanon. The offensive, involving 10,000 troops against an estimated 5,000 militia, lasted 3 days and ended with the Army taking all the Palestinian positions around

. In the agreement that followed all heavy weapons were surrendered and infantry weapons only allowed in the two refugee camps, Ain al-Hilweh and Mieh Mieh. 73 people were killed in the fighting, and 200 wounded, mostly Palestinian. Hezbollah’s leader Abbas al-Musawi had announced that they would not give up their weapons. “Our guns are a red line that cannot be crossed”. On 16th July 1991 they ambushed an Israeli patrol north of the security zone in Kufr Huna. Three Israeli soldiers, including 2 officers, were killed and four wounded. One Hizbollah fighter was killed. The following day the South Lebanon Army destroyed 14 houses and burnt crops in neighbouring Majd al-Zun. Prior to their disbandment militiamen from Amal were also active in South Lebanon. On 29 July 1991 they killed three members of the South Lebanon Army (SLA). Israel responded with shelling that killed two villagers. On 23 August 1991 two members of the SLA were killed by members of Amal. The

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

responded the following day with shelling which killed one civilian. Two Irish soldiers serving with

were amongst the wounded. There was further violence at the end of 1991 with an Irish soldier serving with UNIFIL killed by the SLA on the 15th November and three Lebanese Army soldiers killed by an Israeli rocket on 25th November. On 16 February 1992, al-Musawi was assassinated, along with his wife, son and four others when an Israeli AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships fired three missiles at his motorcade. The Israeli attack came in retaliation for the killings of three Israeli soldiers two days earlier when their camp was infiltrated. Hezbollah responded with rocket fire onto the Israeli security zone, and Israel then fired back and sent two armored columns past the security zone to hit Hezbollah strongholds in Kafra and Yater. Musawi was succeeded by

Hassan Nasrallah Hassan Nasrallah ( ar, حسن نصر الله ; born 31 August 1960) is a Lebanese cleric and political leader who has served as the 3rd secretary-general of Hezbollah since his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated by the Israel D ...

. One of Nasrallah's first public declarations was the "retribution" policy: If Israel hit Lebanese civilian targets, then Hezbollah would retaliate with attacks on Israeli territory. Meanwhile, Hezbollah continued attacks against IDF targets within occupied Lebanese territory. In response to the attack, Ehud Sadan, the chief of security at the Israeli Embassy in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

was assassinated by a car bomb. Islamic Jihad (Lebanon) is reported to have claimed that the

1992 attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires The attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was a suicide bombing attack on the building of the Israeli embassy of Argentina, located in Buenos Aires, which was carried out on 17 March 1992. 29 civilians were killed in the attack and 24 ...

, in which 29 people were killed, was their response. Three months after the assassination the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...

launched five air raids on Lebanon in six days. Some of the targets struck were as far north as

Baalbek Baalbek (; ar, بَعْلَبَكّ, Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In Greek and Roman ...

. On the final day, 26 May 1992, there were more than 40 missile strikes. Over 20 civilians were killed during the offensive. In 1993, hostilities flared again. After a month of Hezbollah shelling on Israeli towns and attacks on its soldiers, Israel conducted a seven-day operation in July 1993 called Operation Accountability in order to hit

. One Israeli soldier and 8–50 Hezbollah fighters were killed in the operation, along with 2 Israeli and 118 Lebanese civilians. After one week of fighting in South Lebanon, a mutual agreement mediated by the United States prohibited attacks on civilian targets by both parts. The end of Operation Accountability saw a few days of calm before light shelling resumed. On 17 August, a major artillery exchange took place, and two days later, nine Israeli soldiers were killed in two Hezbollah attacks. Israel responded with airstrikes against Hezbollah positions, killing at least two Hezbollah fighters.

Continued fighting in the late 1990s

In May 1994, Israeli commandos kidnapped an Amal leader, Mustafa Dirani, and in June, an Israeli airstrike against a training camp killed 30–45 Hezbollah cadets. Hezbollah retaliated by firing four barrages of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel. On 31 March 1995, Rida Yasin, also known as Abu Ali, was killed by a single rocket fired from an

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

helicopter while in a car near Derdghaya in the Israeli security zone 10km east of Tyre. Yasin was a senior military commander in southern Lebanon. His companion in the car was also killed. An Israeli civilian was killed and fifteen wounded in the retaliatory rocket fire. In May 1995, four Hezbollah fighters were killed in a firefight with Israeli troops while trying to infiltrate an Israeli position.

Operation Grapes of Wrath Operation Grapes of Wrath ( he, מבצע ענבי זעם ''Mivtsa Enavi Zaam''), known in Lebanon as the April Aggression (), is the seventeen-day campaign of the Israeli Defense Forces against Hezbollah in 1996 which attempted to end rocket att ...

in 1996 resulted in the deaths of more than 150 Lebanese civilians, most of them in the shelling of a United Nations base at Qana. After seventeen days of bombing a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...

was agreed between Israel and Hezbollah, committing to avoid civilian casualties; however, combat continued for at least two months. A total of 14 Hezbollah fighters, about a dozen Syrian soldiers, and 3 Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting. Brig. Gen. Eli Amitai, the IDF commander of the security zone, was lightly injured 14 December 1996 when an IDF convoy he was travelling in was ambushed in the eastern sector of the security zone. Less than a week later Amitai was again lightly injured when Hezbollah unleashed a mortar barrage on an SLA position near Bra'shit he was visiting together with Maj. Gen. Amiram Levine, head of the IDF's Northern Command. In December 1996, two SLA soldiers were killed in three days of fighting, and a Hezbollah fighter was also killed by Israeli soldiers. On 4 February 1997, two Israeli transport helicopters collided over

She'ar Yashuv She'ar Yashuv ( he, שְׁאָר יָשׁוּב) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located in the Upper Galilee in the northeastern Hula Valley, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council. In it had a population of . The ...

in Northern Israel while waiting for clearance to fly into Lebanon. A total of 73 IDF soldiers were killed in the disaster. On 28 February one Israeli soldier and four Hezbollah guerrillas were killed in a clash. Throughout 1997, Israeli special forces, particularly the Egoz Reconnaissance Unit, hampered Hezbollah's ability to infiltrate the security zone and plant roadside bombs by staking out Hezbollah infiltration trails. Encouraged by these successes, Israeli commandos began conducting raids north of the security zone to kill Hezbollah commanders. In one particular raid, carried out on the night of 3–4 August 1997,

Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גּוֹלָנִי) is an Israeli military infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigade ...

soldiers raided the village of

Kfeir Kfeir ( ar, الكفير) is a small village nestled 900 m above sea level, in Hasbaiya District (Qada'a), an administrative division of Nabatiyeh Governorate (Mohafazah) along the steep slopes of the top of the Jebel Sheikh in Lebanon. The vil ...

and left behind three roadside bombs packed with ball bearings that were detonated from an

UAV hours later, killing five Hezbollah members including two commanders. However, on 28 August, a major

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while en ...

incident occurred in Wadi Saluki during a clash between IDF troops from the

, together with air and artillery support, and Amal militants. Although four Amal militants were killed, Israeli shelling started a fire that engulfed the area, killing four soldiers. On 5 September 1997, a seaborne raid by 16 Israeli

Shayetet 13 Shayetet 13 ( he, שייטת 13, lit. ''Flotilla 13'') is a unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary sayeret ''(reconnaissance)'' units of the Israel Defense Forces. Shayetet 13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, ...

naval commandos failed after the troops stumbled into a Hezbollah and Amal

ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind moun ...

. As the force headed towards the coastal town of Ansariye, it was ambushed with IEDs and subjected to withering fire that killed the commander, Lt. Col. Yossi Korakin, and caused bombs being carried by another soldier to explode, killing more of the force. The survivors radioed for help, and Israel immediately dispatched a rescue team from

Unit 669 Airborne Combat Rescue And Evacuation Unit 669 ( he, יחידת החילוץ והפינוי הקרבי בהיטס 669,''Yechidat HaHilu'tz VeHaPinu'i HaKravi Behetes 669'') is the Israel Defense Forces heliborne Combat Search and Rescue extracti ...

and Sayeret Matkal in two CH-53 helicopters. A rescue force of helicopters and missile boats arrived to provide support as the rescuers evacuated the dead and survivors, conducting airstrikes. Lebanese Army anti-aircraft units put up anti aircraft fire and fired illumination rounds at the helicopters, and an Israeli

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successf ...

subsequently attacked an anti-aircraft position. Hezbollah put up mortar fire, killing a

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

army doctor with the rescue force and damaging a helicopter and Israeli missile boats fired at the source of the mortar fire. The battle ended when Israel, by means of contacting the US government and delivering a message to be passed on to Syria and from there to Hezbollah, threatened to respond with massive force if Hezbollah tried to stop the rescue mission, causing Hezbollah and Amal to cease fire while the Lebanese Army moved in. Twelve Israelis were killed, along with six Hezbollah and Amal fighters and two Lebanese soldiers. A woman in a passing car was also killed. In 2010 Hassan Nasrallah claimed that Hezbollah had managed to hack into Israeli UAV:s flying over Lebanon and thus learn which route the commandos were planning to take and thus prepared the ambush accordingly. On September 13–14, IDF raids in Lebanon killed a further four Hezbollah fighters and six Lebanese soldiers. On 12 September 1997, three Hezbollah fighters were killed in an ambush by Egoz commandos on the edge of the security zone. One of them was Hadi Nasrallah, the son of Hezbollah leader

. On 25 May 1998 the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the failed commando raid were exchanged for 65 Lebanese prisoners and the bodies of 40 Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese soldiers captured by Israel. Among the bodies returned to Lebanon were the remains of Hadi Nasrallah. In the autumn of 1997 Hizbollah began using Sager missiles. On 8 October two IDF soldiers were killed when their tank was hit. There were six other casualties, two of them serious. The attack took place 300 metres from the border with Israel. Ten days later another soldier was killed when his tank was hit. This brought the number of Israeli soldiers killed in 1997 up to thirty nine, twelve more than in 1996. The new tactics resulted in

Centurion tank The Centurion was the primary British Army main battle tank of the post- World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seei ...

s being withdrawn and the armour of the Merkava being upgraded. At the time it was reported that Hizbollah had five hundred fighters in the field at one time, whilst the IDF had 1,000 troops in the security zone alongside the SLA’s 2,000. During 1998, 21 Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon. Israel undertook a concerted campaign to hamper Hezbollah's capabilities, and in December 1998, the Israeli military assassinated Zahi Naim Hadr Ahmed Mahabi, a Hezbollah explosives expert, north of Baalbek. 23 February 1999 an IDF paratrooper unit on a night time patrol was ambushed in south Lebanon. Major Eitan Balahsan and two lieutenants were killed and another five soldiers were wounded. Less than a week later (28 February) a roadside bomb exploded on the road between Kaukaba and Arnoun in the Israeli-occupied security zone. Brigadier General Erez Gerstein, commander of the

and head of the IDF Liaison Unit in Lebanon, thus the highest ranking Israeli officer serving in Lebanon at the time, as well as two

Israeli soldiers and one Israeli journalist were killed in the blast. In May 1999 Hezbollah forces simultaneously attacked 14 Israeli and SLA outposts in south Lebanon. The outpost in Beit Yahoun compound belonging to the SLA was overrun and one SLA soldier was taken prisoner. The Hizbullah fighters made off with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC). The area was bombed by the Israeli Air Force. The captured APC was paraded through the southern suburbs of Beirut. In one notable battle, Hezbollah saboteurs surprised an IDF force from the

stationed in an old fort. Two Israeli soldiers and three Hezbollah fighters were killed. In August 1999, Hezbollah commander Ali Hassan Deeb, better known as Abu Hassan, a leader in Hezbollah's special force, was assassinated in an Israeli military operation. Deeb was driving in

when two roadside bombs were detonated by a remote signal from a UAV overhead. Overall, in the course of 1999, several dozen Hezbollah and Amal fighters were killed. Twelve Israeli soldiers and one civilian were also killed, one of them in accident.

2000 Israeli withdrawal and collapse of South Lebanon Army

In July 1999,

became Israel's Prime Minister, promising Israel would unilaterally withdraw to the international border by July 2000. Prior to his actions, many believed that Israel would only withdraw from South Lebanon upon reaching an agreement with Syria. In January 2000, Hezbollah assassinated the commander of the South Lebanon Army's Western Brigade, Colonel

Aql Hashem Aql Hashem ( ar, عقل هاشم; 1952 – January 30, 2000), also spelled Akel Hashem, was a Colonel in the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and served under Colonel Saad Haddad and later Lieutenant General Antoine Lahad. He was killed in a remote-contro ...

, at his home in the security zone. Hashem had been responsible for day-to-day operations of the SLA and was a leading candidate to succeed General

Antoine Lahad Antoine Lahad (1927 – 10 September 2015) was the leader of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) from 1984 until 2000, when the army withdrew from Southern Lebanon and was dissolved. Early life Born into a Maronite Catholic family in 1927 in the vill ...

. After this assassination there were doubts about the leadership of the South Lebanon Army (SLA). The pursuit and assassination of Hashim was documented step by step and the footage was broadcast on Hezbollah TV channel al-Manar. The operation and the way it was presented in media dealt a devastating blow to the morale in the SLA. During the spring of 2000, Hezbollah operations stepped up considerably, with persistent harassment of Israeli military outposts in occupied Lebanese territory. As preparation for the major withdrawal plan, Israeli forces began abandoning several forward positions within the security zone of South Lebanon. On 24 May, Israel announced that it would withdraw all troops from South Lebanon. All Israeli forces had withdrawn from Lebanon by the end of the next day, more than six weeks before its stated deadline of 7 July.Country Profile: Lebanon Timeline
. The Israeli pullout resulted in the collapse of the SLA and the rapid advance of Hezbollah forces into the area. As the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew, thousands of Shi'a Lebanese rushed back to the South to reclaim their properties. This withdrawal was widely considered a victory for Hezbollah and boosted its popularity in Lebanon. The completeness of the withdrawal is still disputed as Lebanese Government and Hezbollah claim Israel still holds Shebaa farms, a small piece of territory on the Lebanon-Israel-Syria border, with disputed sovereignty. As a Syrian-backed Lebanese government refused to demarcate its border with Israel, Israel worked with UN cartographers led by regional coordinator

Terje Rød-Larsen Terje Rød-Larsen (born 22 November 1947) is a Norwegian diplomat, politician, and sociologist. Rød-Larsen came to wide international prominence as a key figure in the 1990s negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords—the first-ever agreements ...

to certify Israel had withdrawn from all occupied Lebanese territory. On 16 June 2000, UN Security Council concluded that Israel had indeed withdrawn its forces from all of Lebanon, in accordance with

(1978). Israel considered this move as tactical withdrawal since it always regarded the Security Zone as a buffer zone to defend Israel's citizens. By ending the occupation, Barak's cabinet assumed it would improve its worldwide image.

has argued that "Hezbollah would have enjoyed international legitimacy in their struggle against a foreign occupier", if the Israelis had not unilaterally withdrawn without a peace agreement.

Aftermath

Upon Israel's withdrawal, an increasing fear that Hezbollah would seek vengeance against those thought to have supported Israel became widespread among the Christian Lebanese of the Southern Lebanon. During and after the withdrawal around 10,000 Lebanese, mostly

Maronites The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the lar ...

, fled into Galilee. Hezbollah later met with Lebanese Christian clerics to reassure them that the Israeli withdrawal was a victory for Lebanon as a nation, not just one sect or militia. The tentative peace, resulting from the withdrawal, did not last. On 7 October 2000 Hezbollah attacked Israel. In a cross-border raid, three Israeli soldiers, who were patrolling the Lebanese border were attacked and abducted. The event escalated into a 2-month fire exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, primarily at the Hermon ridge. The bodies of the abducted soldiers were returned to Israel in a January 2004 prisoner exchange involving 450 Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails. The long-time Lebanese prisoner Samir al-Quntar was excluded from the deal. The government of Israel, however, had agreed to a "further arrangement", whereby Israel would release Samir al-Quntar if it was supplied with "tangible information on the fate of captive navigator Ron Arad". According to Harel and Issacharoff the second phase of the prisoner exchange deal was only a "legal gimmick". Israel was not satisfied with the information supplied by Hezbollah and refused to release al-Quntar. "Cynics may well ask whether it was worth getting entangled in the Second Lebanon War just to keep Kuntar ��in prison for an extra few years." IDF bedouin memorial wall

In July 2006, Hezbollah performed a cross-border raid while shelling Israeli towns and villages. During the raid Hezbollah succeeded in kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing eight others. In retaliation Israel began the 2006 Lebanon War to rescue the abducted soldiers and to create a bufferzone in Southern Lebanon.Margaret Hall,
American Myopia
American Policy on Hizbollah''. The Muslim World: Questions of Policy and Politics. Cornell University undergraduate research symposium. 8 April 2006.''"...Hezbollah enjoys enormous popularity in Lebanon, especially in southern Lebanon..."'', Ted Koppel on NPR report:
Lebanon's Hezbollah Ties
'.

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

, 13 July 2006. BBC
"On This Day, May 26th"
CNN report:
Hezbollah flag raised as Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon
''. 24 May 2000.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Lebanon Conflict (1982-2000) South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000) 1980s in Lebanon 1990s in Lebanon 2000 in Lebanon 1980s in Israel 1990s in Israel 2000 in Israel Military history of Israel Iran–Israel proxy conflict Israeli–Lebanese conflict Hezbollah–Israel conflict