Home » Lebanon’s Trauma Renewed: Israel’s Assault Echoes the Devastation of 1982

Lebanon’s Trauma Renewed: Israel’s Assault Echoes the Devastation of 1982

The recent escalation of Israeli strikes in Lebanon has brought back painful memories for many, particularly the horrors of the 1982 siege of Beirut, which left an indelible mark on the country’s history.
During Lebanon’s protracted civil war (1975-1990), Israel launched a military invasion in June 1982, led by then-Defence Minister Ariel Sharon, with the declared objective of dismantling the Palestine Liberation Organization, which had established a stronghold in Beirut and was conducting attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon.
The ensuing siege of West Beirut, which lasted from June to August, resulted in a dire humanitarian crisis, with residents facing severe shortages of food, water, electricity, and fuel.
The most vulnerable victims of this tragic sequence of events were Palestinians residing in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, many of whom had already been displaced from their ancestral homes during the 1948 Nakba, the catastrophic mass displacement that accompanied the creation of Israel.
After surviving one calamity, they were confronted with another.
Between September 16 and 18, the right-wing Phalange militia, in collaboration with Israeli forces, perpetrated a heinous massacre, killing between 2,000 and 3,500 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were brutally stabbed to death.

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