Israel and Lebanon: 77 Years of Conflict (Part 2)

Hezbollah's Rise to Power in Southern Lebanon and the End of Israel's Security Zone

In our previous article on Israel’s relations with Lebanon since the founding of the State in 1948, we learned about how powerful foreign actors turned a weak Lebanese state into a battleground between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Efforts by the dominant Lebanese Christian community to resist Palestinian influence were one of the factors which precipitated the Lebanese Civil War. You can read that article by clicking below.

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Hezbollah Keeps its Weapons

The first article in this series left off as the Lebanese civil war ended under the terms of the Taif Agreement. Under the terms of Taif, Syria replaced the Lebanese Christians as the dominant force in Lebanese politics. The many Lebanese militias which had fought in the civil war were disarmed and dissolved and the Lebanese army was reconstituted as a non-sectarian force representing the Lebanese state.

Israel remained in control of a security zone in the south, governed as the Free State of South Lebanon by a Christian controlled force called the South Lebanon Army (SLA). The period from 1985 to 1992 was relatively tranquil in the Israeli controlled zone, in contrast with the chaos of the Lebanese Civil War which gripped the rest of the country. However the dissolution and disarming of Lebanese sectarian militias after 1990 under the Taif agreement did not include the Iranian sponsored Hezbollah. The Islamist militia emerged from the civil war as the second most powerful force in southern Lebanon after Israel itself, controlling the area to the north of Israel’s security zone.

Image: SLA Military Post in Southern Lebanon ———Source: By Oren1973 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31093591

Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi insisted that giving up their weapons was a “red line that they would not cross”. Hezbollah won an exemption from the requirement to disarm as laid out in the Taif accord, by insisting its only mission was driving Israel out of Lebanese territory. Accordingly, it was classed as a “resistance movement” rather than a militia and their right to keep their arms and “conduct resistance” was formally recognized by the Lebanese government. Achievement of a key goal of the Taif accord, that the Lebanese army would be the only armed Lebanese force, was thwarted.

According to this article in Wikipedia: South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000), as late as 1991, the reconstituted Lebanese army conducted operations to enforce the disarmament of the PLO under the provisions of the Taif accord. Ten thousand Lebanese troops attacked 5000 PLO fighters in Tyre, and forced the Palestinian militia to give up their heavy weapons. The Palestinians kept their rifles, but agreed to carry them only inside the Palestinian refugee camps. This contributed to Hezbollah’s effective monopoly on power in the south.

New Efforts at Peace Between Israel and its Arab Neighbours

The early 1990’s were marked by attempts to reach a comprehensive Israeli Arab peace in the region. This Wikipedia article on Israel Lebanon Relations reports that:

In October 1991, under the sponsorship of the United States and the then Soviet Union, Middle East peace talks were held in Madrid, where Israel and a majority of its Arab neighbors conducted direct bilateral negotiations to seek a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 (and 425 on Lebanon) and the concept of "land for peace." Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and representatives of the Palestinians continued negotiating until the Oslo interim peace accords were concluded between Israel and the Palestinians in September 1993 and Jordan and Israel signed an agreement in October 1994. In March 1996, Syria and Israel held another round of Madrid talks; the Lebanon track did not reconvene.

While Israel was conducting talks that would lead to the Oslo accords with the PLO and a peace agreement with Jordan, Hezbollah was escalating its activities in Lebanon against the Israeli presence in the south. Hezbollah acquired Soviet Katyusha rockets which it used to attack Israelis in the security zone as well as Israeli towns and villages near the Lebanese border. At the same time, Hezbollah entered Lebanese electoral politics, winning ten of the 128 seats in the 1992 Lebanese Parliamentary election.

Operation Accountability

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in the security zone in 1992. Hezbollah infiltrated the zone and killed Israelis and South Lebanon Army troops. On February 16, 1992, Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s leader, al-Musawi. Al-Musawi was replaced by Hassan Nasrallah, whose name we would all come to know well.

In July of 1993, Israel staged a major attack, lasting one week, called Operation Accountability, in an attempt to curtail Hezbollah attacks. According to the account in the Wikipedia article linked in the previous sentence, Israel attacked 90 villages, displacing three to four hundred thousand people. The article omits any mention that these villages were being used by Hezbollah as military bases for attacking Israeli forces. In this respect it suffers from the same defect as much of the western press coverage of Israel’s activities in the current war.

The IDF account of Operation Accountability provides the missing information.

In the days that followed, the IDF attacked villages that terrorists used as headquarters, while taking the necessary measures to minimize harm to civilians. The civilians had been warned beforehand, and were given forty days to evacuate their homes. Only after these 40 days did the IDF start bombarding the open areas near the villages, and then the villages themselves.

After six days, Operation Accountability ended on July 31.

During the operation, 50 terrorists were killed, and 40 were wounded. Two Israeli civilians and one IDF were killed and nine other soldiers were wounded.

During the fighting, Hezbollah fired 150 rockets into northern Israel, targeting towns and villages in the region.

After a week of fighting, a truce was arranged by the Americans. Under the terms of the truce, Israel agreed to stop attacking Hezbollah north of the security zone and Hezbollah agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel.

The UN security council met and reaffirmed resolution 425, first passed in 1978. Resolution 425 called on Israel to withdraw completely from Lebanese territory. It also called for the restoration of Lebanese control over all of its territory. In order to supervise implementation of its provisions, 425 called for the creation of a peacekeeping force, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The text of the resolution below is taken from the web site of the United Nations Security Council.

Resolution 425

Israel-Lebanon

Abstract

Resolution 425 (1978) of 19 March 1978
The Security Council,

Taking note of the letters from the Permanent Representative of Lebanon and from the Permanent Representative of
Israel,
Having heard the statements of the Permanent Representatives of Lebanon and Israel,
Gravely concerned at the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East and its consequences to the maintenanceof international peace,
Convinced that the present situation impedes the achievement of a just peace in the MiddleEast,
1. Calls for strict respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized boundaries;
2. Calls upon Israel immediately to cease its military action against Lebanese territorial integrity and withdraw forthwith its forces from all Lebanese territory;
3. Decides, in the light of the request of the Government of Lebanon, to establish immediately under its authority
a United Nations interim force for Southern Lebanon for the purpose of confirming the withdrawal of Israeli forces, restoring international peace and security and assisting the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area, the force to be composed of personnel drawn from Member States;
4. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council within twenty-four hours on the implementation of the present resolution.

Adopted at the 2074th meeting by 12 votes to none, with 2 abstentions (Czechoslovakia, Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics).

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Operation Grapes of Wrath

Israel had already waited 15 years for the implementation of the Lebanese obligations described in UN Security Counsel Resolution 425 without seeing any progress. in 1993, as before, Israel did not withdraw from the security zone and Hezbollah did not yield control over the territory it controlled in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army.

The ceasefire negotiated after Operation Accountability did not hold for more than a few weeks. In February of 1994, Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers. They said they did it to mark the anniversary of the assassination of al-Mussawi. The Wikipedia article linked above includes the following description of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah:

In May 1994, Israeli commandos kidnapped an Amal leader, Mustafa Dirani. 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.^[60][61]

On 31 March 1995, Rida Yasin, also known as Abu Ali, a senior Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, was killed by a single rocket fired from an Israeli helicopter while in a car near Derdghaya in the Israeli security zone, 10 km east of Tyre. An aide who had been riding with him was also killed. An Israeli civilian was killed and fifteen wounded in the retaliatory rocket fire.^[62][63] In May 1995, four Hezbollah fighters were killed in a firefight with Israeli troops while trying to infiltrate an Israeli position.^[64]

In the spring of 1996, Hezbollah mortars and rockets were again fired into northern Israel. On April 11, 1996, Israel launched Operation Grapes of Wrath. Prior to launching the operation, Israel published warnings to the inhabitants of 44 Lebanese villages and the city of Tyre to evacuate for their own safety.

Israel then bombarded the villages, beginning with the outskirts to encourage anyone who remained to evacuate. The operation displaced 400,000 in Lebanon and also resulted in the evacuation of 16,000 people from the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmonah. In one notorious incident, Israel shelled a UN peacekeeping base in Qana, resulting in the deaths of 105 people. The Qana incident drew criticism of Israel from international human rights groups.

Israel’s goal in both Operation Accountability and Operation Grapes of Wrath was to put pressure on the Lebanese and Syrian governments, which Israel held responsible for acts of aggression by Hezbollah. Israel believed that it was up to legitimate authorities to curtail the activities of armed irregulars, whether Palestinians or Lebanese. Therefore there were attacks on civilian infrastructure such as power and water stations, in an attempt to impose costs on the authorities. The IDF article on Operation Grapes of Wrath says that Israel began to recognize that this policy let Hezbollah off the hook because they were not the main target of the operation.

Shortly after the start of the operation, it was decided that it was unfair to create a situation in which the Lebanese and Syrian governments would suffer while Hezbollah, the direct originator of the rocket fire and thus the reason for this operation, was left unscathed.

The Wikipedia article states that fourteen Hezbollah fighters and about twelve Syrians were killed during Operation Grapes of Wrath. It also states that three Israeli soldiers died in action. During the operation, Hezbollah fired 650 rockets into Israel.

Operation Grapes of Wrath ended in another American brokered truce in which both sides agreed to refrain from targeting civilians. The language of the agreement also said both sides would refrain from attacking from civilian areas. This reflected Israel’s argument then, as now, that civilians are hurt in its attacks on its terrorist adversaries, only because terrorists surround themselves with civilians when they attack Israel in order to try to shield themselves from Israel’s attempt to stop them from attacking. This strategy is contrary to the laws of war (a war crime) and is described in brief as using “human shields”.

In the aftermath of the operation, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres tried to make the case to the Lebanese authorities that it was in their interest to disarm Hezbollah. However Hezbollah’s political influence ensured that this would not happen. All Lebanese parties supported Hezbollah’s continued activities against the Israeli presence in southern Lebanon.

Fighting Between 1996 and 2000

The truce negotiated by the Americans in the wake of Grapes of Wrath proved as ephemeral as the one that followed Operation Accountability.

In 1995, Israel established the Egoz Unit, a special forces unit within the Golani Brigade, charged with curtailing Hezbollah activities within the security zone. During 1996 the unit killed 16 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.

On February 4, 1997, two Israeli helicopters collided while awaiting instructions to enter Lebanon. Israel lost 73 dead soldiers in this disaster. During 1997, the Egoz unit developed new tactics which succeeded in killing Hezbollah infiltrators. This prevented Hezbollah soldiers from getting into the security zone. Hezbollah resorted to shelling the SLA and Israeli units from outside the zone. The Israelis launched raids into Lebanese villages north of the zone to kill the Hezbollah personnel who had been doing the shelling.

From the Wikipedia article on the South Lebanon Conflict (1985-2000):

In one particular raid, carried out on the night of 3–4 August 1997, Golani Brigade soldiers raided the village of Kfeir and left behind three roadside bombs packed with ball bearings that were detonated from an Israeli Air Force UAV hours later, killing five Hezbollah members, including two commanders. Faced with roadside bomb attacks and deep-penetration raids by Israeli special forces, Hezbollah was increasingly kept on the defensive and forced to reexamine its tactics.^[72]

As fighting intensified in 1997, Israeli casualties rose. On September 5, Hezbollah ambushed an Israeli naval commando unit that had landed to stage a raid. The resulting rescue operation involved Israeli airport helicopters and drew the Lebanese army into the fighting. Israel sent a message through the Americans that interference with th4e rescue operation would be met with devastating force. As a result Hezbollah stood down. Twelve Israelis were killed in the battle along with six Hezbollah and two from the Lebanese army.

Hezbollah started using Sager anti-tank missiles in September of 1997 which was a new threat to Israel’s armoured units. Two Israelis were killed in their tank within 300 meters of the Israeli border. Israel withdrew its Centurion tanks from Lebanon. Also in September, Hadi Nasrallah, the sone of Hezbollah’s leader, was killed by the Israelis and his body taken back to Israel. In all, Israel lost 39 killed in Lebanon during 1997.

Israel intensified its attacks on Hezbollah in 1998. They assassinated a Hezbollah explosives expert, Zahi Naim Hadr Ahmed Mahabi. Israel lost 21 dead in Lebanon during the year.

In May of 1999, Hezbollah showed a dramatic increase in its capabilities attacking 14 military installations in Southern Lebanon simultaneously. Israel responded with air strikes. A captured Armoured Personnel Carrier was paraded by Hezbollah through the suburbs of Beirut.

In June of 1999, Hezbollah fired katyushas into Israel and Israel responded by bombing Beirut. Hezbollah fired more Katyushas, killing two people in Kiryat Shmonah. Israeli bombing knocked out power in Beirut and destroyed five bridges leading south from the city. Israel killed dozens of Hezbollah fighters during its activities during 1999, including senior leaders. Israel lost 12 dead in fighting in Lebanon during the year.

Israel Withdraws from Southern Lebanon

In 1999, Israeli Labor Party leader Ehud Barak won an election, defeating the first government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak ran on a platform calling for a renewed effort at peace with the Palestinians. As part of his program he promised to remove Israeli forces from Southern Lebanon.

This shift in Israeli policy did not change the position of Hezbollah, which was determined to take credit for Israel’s departure from the south. In January of 2000, Hezbollah assassinated a leader of the South Lebanon Army in his home. They filmed the entire operation and broadcast it on the television station that they operated in Southern Lebanon. In the Wikipedia article this is described as a devastating blow to the morale of the SLA.

In May of 2000, Israel pulled the last of its forces from Southern Lebanon. The South Lebanon Army collapsed and Hezbollah advanced to take control of the territory. Barak insisted that by complying with resolution 425, Israel was maintaining its international legitimacy and removing the pretext used by some in the global community for supporting Hazbollah in its “resistance activities.”

In the aftermath of the Israeli withdrawal, ten thousand Lebanese fled the advancing Hezbollah forces for sanctuary in northern Israel. Many were granted Israeli citizenship in appreciation of the service they had performed for Israel during the years of Israel’s presence in the south.

It did not take long for the failure of Israel’s strategy of unilateral withdrawal to become evident. Hezbollah insisted that Israel had not completely withdrawn from Southern Lebanon, claiming a small patch of formerly Syrian territory which had been held by Israel since 1967. The Lebanese government refused to participate in a demarcation of the border.

On October 7 2000, Hezbollah staged a raid across Israel’s northern border killing three soldiers and taking their bodies back into Lebanon. This was followed by two months of artillery exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah along the Lebanese border with the Israeli Golan.

Israel’s presence in southern Lebanon, which had begun in an attempt to remove PLO terrorists from its border had ended. In the place of the PLO, the border was now controlled by Islamic terrorists sponsored by Iran. This set the stage for a new phase in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, which we will detail in the third part of this series on the history of Israel’s conflicts in Lebanon.

This brings us to the end of the second installment in our series of articles on the history of Israel’s involvement in Southern Lebanon. In the next part we will look at the events of the 2000’s including the Second Lebanon War.

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Quick Update

Over the weekend we marked the anniversary in the Jewish Calendar of Shabbat Shachor, (Black Shabbat), the disaster which started the war between Israel and the Iranian proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah as well as the Houthis in Yemen and the militias in Syria and Iraq.

We also saw the implementation of Israel’s long awaited attack on Iran, which was a response to the second large barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles launched on October 1. The Israeli raid on Iran was implemented using over 100 fighter jets. Israel destroyed the Iranian air defense around a number of sensitive installations, including the capital, the main oil export terminal and nuclear research facilities. Some reports say that Israel hacked into Iranian radar systems which left these air defenses useless and vulnerable to attack.

In a second wave, Israel destroyed Iran’s ballistic missile production facility and two plants which were dedicated to producing fuel for the missiles. A nuclear research facility and an oil refinery were also damaged. Israel has demonstrated that it can put precision munitions onto any target it chooses within Iran. The spokesman for the Israel armed forces stated that Israel has a large target bank from which to choose if Iran provokes another Israeli attack.

We also note with grief the continued loss of life among the heroic Israeli forces currently fighting against Hezbollah along the entire Lebanese border with Israel. We are happy to read today that some Hezbollah forces are abandoning their positions rather than die fighting the Israelis. As Shimon Peres did in 1998, Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken recently of an opportunity for Lebanon to reclaim full sovereignty over its territory and escape the influence of Iran which has been imposed through the power of Hezbollah. We will see if today’s Lebanese leaders are more ready to seized the opportunity today than they were twenty six years ago.

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