Modern Era · Middle East · War

1982

Israel invades Lebanon

June 6, 1982

Israeli tanks rolled north across the Lebanese border to eject the PLO from its Beirut strongholds. They besieged the capital through the summer and Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon until 2000. In September, Christian Phalangist militiamen entered the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps under Israeli watch and massacred perhaps two thousand Palestinian civilians. The occupation would incubate Hezbollah.