A conflict chronicle: Israel’s legacy of invasions and incursions in Lebanon through the years

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A funeral procession of villagers killed in an Israeli strike on residential buildings in Maaysrah, north of Beirut, Lebanon, September 27, 2024. — Reuters pic

BEIRUT, Oct 1 — Israel, which has engaged in border warfare with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement for a year in parallel with the Gaza conflict, has a long history of military incursions and invasions in Lebanon.

After assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut airstrikes last week, Israel has indicated it is preparing for a full-fledged invasion of Lebanon to stabilise the border region for its citizens who have fled fighting.

Here is a look at Israel’s incursions and invasions of Lebanon:

1948

Lebanon fights alongside other Arab countries against the nascent state of Israel. Around 100,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in what had been British-ruled Palestine during the war arrive in Lebanon as refugees. Lebanon and Israel agree to an armistice in 1949.

1968

Israeli commandos destroy a dozen passenger planes at Beirut airport in response to an attack on an Israeli airliner by Palestinian guerrillas.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) relocates to Lebanon two years later after its expulsion from Jordan, leading to more cross-border flare-ups.

1973

Disguised Israeli special forces shoot dead three Palestinian guerrilla leaders in Beirut in retaliation for the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Palestinian guerrilla raids into Israel and Israeli military reprisals on targets in Lebanon intensify during the 1970s, leading many Lebanese to flee their country’s south and aggravating sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where civil war is starting.

1978

Israel invades south Lebanon and sets up a narrow occupation zone in an operation against Palestinian guerrillas after a militant attack near Tel Aviv. Israel backs a local Christian militia called the South Lebanon Army (SLA).

1982

Israel invades Lebanon all the way to Beirut in an offensive that followed tit-for-tat border fire.

Thousands of Palestinian fighters are evacuated by sea after a bloody 10-week siege of the Lebanese capital involving heavy Israeli bombardment of West Beirut.

Hundreds of civilians in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila are massacred by Christian militiamen allowed in by Israeli troops after Lebanon’s newly elected Maronite Catholic president is killed by a car bomb.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards establish the Shi’ite Muslim armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon to counter the Israeli invasion.

1985

Israel pulled back from central Lebanon in 1983 but retained forces in the south. It establishes a formal occupation zone in southern Lebanon, about 15 km deep, controlling the area with its SLA ally. Hezbollah wages guerrilla war against Israeli forces.

1993

Israel launches in July “Operation Accountability”, a week-long attack by its forces against Lebanon. Israel says the aim is to strike directly at Hezbollah, to make it difficult for the group to use southern Lebanon as a base for striking Israel, and to pressure the Lebanese government to intervene against the group.

1996

With Hezbollah regularly attacking Israeli forces in the south and firing rockets into northern Israel, Israel mounts 17-day “Operation Grapes of Wrath” offensive that kills more than 200 people in Lebanon, including 102 who die when Israel strikes a UN base near the south Lebanon village of Qana.

2000

Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon, after continued attacks on Israeli military positions in occupied Lebanese territory by Hezbollah, ending 22 years of occupation.

2006

In July, Hezbollah crosses the border into Israel, kidnaps two Israeli soldiers and kills others, sparking a five-week war involving heavy Israeli strikes on both Hezbollah strongholds and national infrastructure.

While Israeli ground forces move into southern Lebanon, much of the conflict is conducted by Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket fire. It ends without Israel achieving its military objectives and with Hezbollah declaring it a “divine victory”.

At least 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 158 Israelis, mostly soldiers, are killed.

2024

On October1, the Israeli military says it has had begun “limited, localised and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence” against Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon villages close to the border that pose “an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel”.

It says the air force and artillery are supporting the ground forces with “precise strikes”. — Reuters