1982+War+in+Lebanon

**Introduction**
The 1982 War on Lebanon happened when the Israeli Army invaded Southern Lebanon in response to an assassination attempt. The Israelis found that this gave them an excuse to attack Lebanon. The Israeli Defensive Forces withdrew after two months of war, leaving behind many Lebanese casualties. The IDF won the war by a landslide, only a small fraction of their men dying, while Lebanon suffered a great deal of casualties and reparation costs. The war was a result of a smattering of internecine battles between Israel and Lebanon.

media type="youtube" key="slUZdNddjPE" height="344" width="425"

**Important Figures**
- Israeli government ordered the invasion because of the assassination attempt against the Israeli Ambassador, Shlomo Argov
 * Abu Nidal** - was a radical who led assassinations and was the head of ANO (Abu Nidal Organization). He was one of the most dangerous terrorists and died in open fire in Baghdad.


 * Bashir Gemayel** - Lebanese President who was assassinated on September 14, 1982 after the war.

Prime Minister **Menachim Begin**, ordered Israeli Defense Force (IDF) troops into south Lebanon to destroy the Palestinain Liberation Organization (PLO).


 * Yasser Arafat -** He was the Palestinian leader, Chairman of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), and the first president of the PNA (Palestine National Authority). He was a freedom fighter, who fought alongside the Arab side against the Israelis. While considered a hero who struggled for peace and independence among the Arabs, he was deemed a radical terrorist by the Israelis.



**Key Events**
The war began on June 6, 1982 when Israel Defenses invaded Lebanon

During the war...

Israel had a war strategy that was to push back their enemies by forty kilometers.They were successful and proceed to try to push them out of Southern Lebanon. The Israelis bombed Beirut, Lebanese capital, and left it heavily damaged. The Israeli air force shot down 86 of its enemies war crafts. They suffered no personal losses.



 A precursor to the war was in 1981, when Northern Israel was shelled by the PLO. In 1978, Israeli's were attacked again by the PLO, in which an American was murdered and a bus was hijacked. About thirty-four people were killed.

In June 1978, before the war, the Americans forced the Israelis to withdraw their Litani River Operation forces from Northern Lebanon.

**Details of Conflict **
The Israeli terrorist group attempted to carry out an assassination against Shlomo Argov who was against the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and that's the juncture in the battles when the war began and the Israelis invaded Southern Lebanon.

**Outcome On The Region**
After the war, a total of 17,825 Lebanese were killed by the Israelis. On the Israeli side, 675 soldiers were killed. Civilians were not counted in this consensus, but it is estimated that over 900 were killed and even more injured by the bombings.

The reparation costs from the war totaled to about two billion dollars in Lebanese currency.



**Analysis From Israeli Perspective **
The invasion could only be viewed as a limited success from the Israeli perspective. While the casualties were scarce, they did not entirely accomplish what they set out to do. Mainly, all they effectively did was drive out PLO forces from Lebanon, and take out certain anti-Israeli organizations. They caused damage to buildings and infrastructure in Lebanon totaling upwards of 2 billion U.S. dollars, and weakened the Lebanese forces. However, the invasion failed, and only led to deep tensions between the two nations for many years to follow. 

**Analysis From Arab Perspective**
====The invasion on Lebanon could only be considered tragic from the Arab perspective. With nothing but an assassination attempt as reasoning for the attack, the war devastated many aspects of life in Lebanon. With casualties near twenty thousand for both troops and civilians, and tremendous damage and destruction to its cities and regions, especially Beirut, the invasion would have lasting impacts on both Lebanon's economic and political situation. The governemnt had to pay over two billion U.S. dollars to fix and repair all its damaged infrastructure, weakening its economy and plummeting them into debt, and also had to make sure something like this never happened again from a political standpoint. This led to many years of tension-filled discussions and arguements between the two nations in an attempt to find a peaceful solution.==== 

**Final Analysis From Group **
The invasion on Lebanon led by Israeli forces created only more problems for the two nations and the entire region. Fueled by only a failed assassination attempt on a political figure, the Israelis seized the opportunity and invaded from the southern part of Lebanon. Because of this one action, Israel and Lebanon suddenly became overwhelemd by chaos and fighting. While the Israelis did accomplish some of their objectives, such as expelling Palestinian Liberation Organization and its forces out of Lebanon, they only ended up killing both civilians and soldiers alike. While the invasion had many negative immediate effects on these two nations and the region, such as causing economic and political disarray, it also caused a variety of long-term problems that had to be addressed in the future lest more fighting broke out. The invasion only strengthened the tension between Israel and Lebanon, which would inevitably lead to many other problems in the future.

**3 Essential Questions **
1. What were some the causes that led to the eventual invasion in 1982? What specific events brought the tension between the two nations to a boiling point?

2. Who were the key figures that led their individual sides during the invasion? What role did they play in the outcome?

3. What short term effects did the invasion have on these two nations? Long term? How did it impact the entire region?

**Works Cited **
"Israeli Invasion of Lebanon 1982." __Welcome to Palestine Facts__. 23 Apr. 2009 . "The Lebanon War." __Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage__. 23 Apr. 2009 . __ Online Jewish Directory and Information. __ 20 Apr. 2009 <http://www.jewishsearch.com/images/articles/article-id-899.jpg>. Parkinson, Brian, and Spencer C. Tucker. "1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon: Arab-Israeli Wars." __United States at War__. ABC-CLIO. MICDS, St. Louis. 23 Apr. 2009 <http://www.usatwar.abc-clio.com>. __ San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center __. 21 Apr. 2009 <http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2006/07/30/1qana.jpg>.