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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
As the tension in the Biqa Valley subsided, IDF chief of staff
Rafael Eitan urged Begin to mount an artillery bombardment of
Palestinian bases in Lebanon. Israel routinely conducted preemptive
artillery attacks and air strikes to deter PLO terrorist attacks
against Galilee settlements in northern Israel. Then, on July 10,
1981, the IDF commenced five days of air strikes and naval
bombardments against PLO strongholds in southern Lebanon.
The PLO fought back by shelling the Israeli resort town of
Nahariyya on the Mediterranean coast. The conflict escalated as
Israel launched a devastating air raid against the heavily
populated Palestinian neighborhood of Fakhani in West Beirut,
killing over 100 people and wounding over 600. By Israeli
estimates, only thirty of those killed were terrorists. For ten
days, the PLO then unleashed artillery fire against the upper
Galilee. Although only six Israeli citizens were killed, many
Israelis were shocked and stunned by the PLO's capability to
sustain such an attack.
On July 24, Ambassador Habib returned to Israel to negotiate an
end to the artillery duel. Because the PLO was almost out of
ammunition and most of its guns had been silenced, the IDF wanted
to prolong the fighting until it could win a clear-cut victory. But
the Israeli cabinet was eager to comply with Habib's cease-fire
proposal, and Israel entered into a truce with the PLO.
PLO leader Yasir Arafat was determined not to break the ceasefire . On a political level, the truce enhanced the PLO's diplomatic
credibility. Tactically, it allowed the PLO time to reinforce its
military strength in southern Lebanon. The Soviet Union refused to
provide the PLO with weapons, but PLO emissaries purchased arms
from East European countries and the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea (North Korea), acquiring Grad and Katyusha artillery
rockets and antiquated but functional T-34 tanks. More significant,
Arafat reorganized the command and control structure of his forces,
transforming the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) from a
decentralized collection of terrorist and guerrilla bands to a
disciplined standing army. By 1981 the Kastel, Karami, and Yarmuk
brigades were established, and seven new artillery battalions were
organized.
But on June 3, 1982, terrorists of the Abu Nidal Organization,
a group that had split off from the PLO, attempted to assassinate
Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to Britain. Israel seized on
the attack as the pretext for launching its long-planned offensive.
On June 4, IDF aircraft bombed Palestinian targets in West Beirut,
and the PLO resumed artillery fire on Israeli settlements in the
northern Galilee.
The Israeli cabinet convened and voted to authorize an
invasion, named Operation Peace for Galilee, but it set strict
limits on the extent of the incursion. The IDF was to advance no
farther than forty kilometers, the operation was to last only
twenty-four hours, Syrian forces were not to be attacked, and
Beirut was not to be approached.
Data as of December 1987
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