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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
Before the 1975 Civil War, Lebanon enjoyed generally good
official relations with the United States. In large measure, these
ties were promoted by the sizable Lebanese-American community. One
incident that weakened these relations was the United States role
in the 1958 Civil War. At that time, the administration of
President Dwight D. Eisenhower dispatched a unit of United States
Marines to aid the government of President Shamun. Shamun's regime
was under pressure from a part of the Muslim community to
strengthen ties to Egypt and Syria, which had just formed the
United Arab Republic and were considered by some to be in the
"radical Arab" camp. The Marines were never engaged in battle and
were withdrawn soon after their arrival. Even so, many Lebanese and
other Arab states viewed the United States action as interference
in Lebanon's internal affairs.
In the early 1980s, following the worst fighting of the 1975
Civil War, the United States became involved in Lebanon in several
ways. On the political level, it sought to bolster the presidency
of Amin Jumayyil and to broker a treaty between Lebanon and Israel.
On the military level, the United States hoped to keep peace as
part of the MNF
(see The Multinational Force
, ch. 5). On the
economic level, the United States planned to assist in Lebanon's
reconstruction
(see Aid and Reconstruction
, ch. 3). These tasks
were never completed, however. The United States support for the
pro-Jumayyil, Christian brigades of the Lebanese Army during the
1983-84 Mountain War turned into a fiasco
(see The Lebanese Armed Forces in the 1980s
, ch. 5). Not only did the United States lose
two aircraft to ground fire, but the shelling of Druze and Shia
population centers by the U.S.S. New Jersey convinced most
Lebanese Muslims that the United States had taken the Christian
side. Likewise, by 1984, in the face of renewed fighting, the
business of reconstruction became a faint hope. The attacks on the
United States embassy and annex, and on the MNF contingent, and the
kidnapping of United States citizens eventually forced the
administration of President Ronald Reagan to minimize United States
involvement in the increasingly ungovernable Lebanese state.
Data as of December 1987
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