Battle of the Hotels
Encyclopedia
The Battle of the Hotels, also known as the “Hotel front” or “Front des Hotels” in French
, was a subconflict within the 1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred in the Minet-el-Hosn hotel district of downtown Beirut. This area was one of the first fronts of the war that opened up in 1975.
The first truly large-scale confrontation between the Christian-conservative Lebanese Front
and the Leftist-Muslim
Lebanese National Movement
(LNM) militias and PLO fighters. The battle was fought for the possession of a small Hotel complex adjacent to the gilded Corniche
seafront area on the Mediterranean, in the north-western corner
of downtown
district of Beirut
. It quickly spread to other areas of central Beirut. The often fierce battles that ensued were fought with heavy exchanges of rocket and artillery fire from the various hotel rooftops and rooms. Sniper fire was often commonly utilized.
This episode of the civil war resulted in pushing the Christian militias out of the area, and, in particular the numerous hotels in the vicinity, including the St. George, Holiday Inn, Palm Beach, Normandie, Alcazar, and Phoenicia Hotels.
, St George’s, Phoenicia, Melkart, Palm Beach, Excelsior, and Alcazar Hotel
s, some of them high-rise and not all of which had been completed when the civil war broke out in April 1975. Another tactically valuable multiple-storey building was the yet unfinished 30-story Murr Tower (Arabic: Burj El-Murr) and the Rizk Tower (Arabic: Burj Rizk Achrafieh), Beirut’s tallest buildings at the time which, together with the neighbouring hotels, towered over the residential quarters in adjacent areas, both Christian
and Muslim
.
So far this district had been spared the effects of the ongoing conflict, and most of the hotels were able to continue functioning normally.
occupied the empty Murr Tower and began firing rockets from the upper floors into the Christian-held neighbourhoods below. During the battle, the Al-Murabitoun reportedly committed some 200-300 fighters, though other sources cite a higher number of 500. The majority of the buildings were usually defended by a even smaller number of fighters, with no more than 60 militiamen participating on any given day.
As a counter-move, Christian fighters of the Phalange
’ Kataeb Regulatory Forces
(KRF) militia headed by William Hawi
and Bashir Gemayel began to take positions between and around the main hotels, but quickly found themselves at a disadvantage as they were under constant observation and heavy machine gun
fire from the Murr Tower. The Phalangists then moved into three of the hotels – Holiday Inn, St George’s Hotel and the Phoenicia – and a fierce five-day gun-battle between the INM and Phalange ensued.
The situation deteriorated further on October 28, when a shooting incident occurred on the steps of the Parliament House at Nejmeh Square (aka Place de la Étoile in French
) in Christian-controlled territory. One car filled with Muslim militiamen from West Beirut managed to reach the Parliament building and after shouting over loudspeaker
slogans against the members of the Assembly, they opened fire on the deputies leaving the building after attending a parliamentary session. Two men were killed, one being a bodyguard of Phalange
Leader Pierre Gemayel
, who was standing nearby at that moment, but was not harmed.
Nevertheless, a ceasefire was called upon the belligerents by Prime Minister
Rachid Karami on October 29, in order to allow the evacuation of the staff and residents trapped in the hotels, such as the Holiday Inn which held more than 200 people alone, mostly tourists. The evacuation operation was carried out by a motorized Gendarmerie
detachment sent by the Internal Security Forces
(ISF), using their Chaimite V200 armoured personnel carrier
s (APCs), and fighting resumed as soon as the operation and been completed. Another ceasefire was arranged in October 31 to enable the evacuees to return to collect their belongings, if they wished to do so.
to withdraw its fighters from the Murr Tower, no identical move was ever made by the Phalange
militiamen who remained at their positions.
rocket launchers and vehicle-mounted 106mm recoilless rifles were employed in the direct fire support role for the first time in Lebanon
.
The operation was led by Ibrahim Kulaylat
, the Al-Murabitoun leader, who planned to occupy the district and inflict a crushing defeat on the Phalangist KRF militia that would eventually force them to sue for peace. On 8–9 December there was a seesaw, savage close-quarter battle for the Phoenicia Hotel, and although the Phalangists were eventually forced out from some of the hotel buildings, they managed to hold firmly to their main stronghold at the Holiday Inn.
Kulaylat’s operation failed to deliver the expected results however, and on December 10 it was the Muslims who were trying desperately to hold on at the Alcazar Hotel
, even though parts of the building had gone up in flames. Nevertheless, the Muslim militiamen were able to storm and secure the disputed Phoenicia Hotel, and in the next day they mounted another assault against Christian militia’ and ISF Gendarmerie
positions. While the Christian militiamen repulsed the attacks on their own positions, the Gendarmes’ avoided confrontation and withdrew to the unfinished Hilton Hotel. Fighting came to a temporary near-halt on December 12 when the exhausted combatants of both sides realised that they had more or less retained their original positions.
Although Prime-Minister Karami had announced another truce two days earlier, it did not became truly effective until December 15 when Syria
, As-Saiqa and the PLO put pressure on the LNM political and military leaders to accept the ceasefire proposal. A Syrian delegation led by General
Hikmat Chehabi arrived in Beirut on December 18 to mediate peace talks between the warring factions, the day in which 40 or 50 bodies were recovered from the Phoenicia Hotel.
Ahmed al-Khatib – launched an all-out offensive against rightist positions in central Beirut.
On March 21, a major assault by special Palestinian PLO ‘Commando
’ units using armoured vehicles lent by Lt. Khatib’s LAA and supported by the leftist-Muslim militias finally managed to dislodge the Phalange from the Holiday Inn. However, the leftist militiamen who had been handed the hotel by the Palestinians for propaganda purposes got so carried away celebrating that the Phalangists were able to sneak back in at dawn the next day.
The Palestinians therefore had to do the job all over again, and on March 22, leftist-Muslim LNM forces backed by PLO guerrillas mounted a counter-attack in downtown Beirut, determined to eliminate any remaining Phalangist presence west of the Martyrs' Square. Over the next two days and amid intense shelling, the Phalange were gradually pushed back to their defensive positions at Martyrs’ Square and Rue Allenby, after a costly battle that resulted in 150 dead and 300 injured.
By March 23, the new front was established on the axis Starco-Hilton, while Phalangist militiamen faced assaults launched from the Riad El Solh Square and the Nejmeh Square towards the Port area and the Rue de Damas.
That same day, the Al-Murabitoun recaptured the Holiday Inn from the Phalangists, which meant that LNM militias now dominated most of the strategic points around central Beirut.
Although the Christians had virtually lost the control of the Hotel district, it was not quite the end of the fighting in downtown Beirut. As the weeks went by, it was becoming painfully apparent to the Lebanese Front
leadership that they were at risk of losing the war as the LNM-PLO-LAA alliance forced them to retreat farther into East Beirut. To counter this threat, the Lebanese Front finally agreed to form a ‘Unified Command’ for the Christian rightist militias headed by Pierre Gemayel
, who issued an appeal to his supporters to rally to the defense of the Christian areas.
Thus by March 26, the Kataeb Regulatory Forces
alone were able to mobilize some 18,000 fighters to defend the eastern sector of the Lebanese Capital and the upper Matn.
The new Christian Command felt it imperative to retain control of Beirut’s port district and began raising an elaborate defence barricade at Rue Allenby. As the allied Lebanese Front’ militia forces tried to stave off the Muslim-Leftist-Palestinian assault on the port district, units of the predominantely Christian Army of Free Lebanon
(AFL) – another ex-Lebanese Army dissident faction led by the right-wing Maronite Colonel
Antoine Barakat – now entered the fray. Officers and enlisted men from the AFL’s Fayadieh barracks in south-east Beirut came to the aid of their beleaguered co-religionists, bringing with them much-needed armoured vehicles and heavy artillery. The LNM-PLO advance was finally stopped on March 31 at Rue Allenby and after Syria
threatened to cut the arms shipments to the Muslim factions, both the LNM and Lebanese Front leaders agreed to a ceasefire, which came to effect on April 2.
, as well as the political and logistical support they would receive from some Arab countries.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, was a subconflict within the 1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred in the Minet-el-Hosn hotel district of downtown Beirut. This area was one of the first fronts of the war that opened up in 1975.
The first truly large-scale confrontation between the Christian-conservative Lebanese Front
Lebanese Front
The Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
and the Leftist-Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Lebanese National Movement
Lebanese National Movement
The Lebanese National Movement or Mouvement National Libanais in French, was a front of parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War...
(LNM) militias and PLO fighters. The battle was fought for the possession of a small Hotel complex adjacent to the gilded Corniche
Corniche Beirut
The Corniche Beirut is a seaside promenade in Beirut, Lebanon. Lined with palm trees, the waterfront esplanade offers visitors a magnificent view of the Mediterranean and the summits of Mount Lebanon to the east...
seafront area on the Mediterranean, in the north-western corner
Beirut Central District
The Beirut Central District or Centre Ville is the name given to Beirut’s historical and geographical core, the “vibrant financial, commercial, and administrative hub of the country.” At the heart of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut Central District is an area thousands of years old, traditionally a...
of downtown
Downtown
Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....
district of Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
. It quickly spread to other areas of central Beirut. The often fierce battles that ensued were fought with heavy exchanges of rocket and artillery fire from the various hotel rooftops and rooms. Sniper fire was often commonly utilized.
This episode of the civil war resulted in pushing the Christian militias out of the area, and, in particular the numerous hotels in the vicinity, including the St. George, Holiday Inn, Palm Beach, Normandie, Alcazar, and Phoenicia Hotels.
Background
Situated between the Jounblatt and Minet el-Hosn quarters, the complex grouped a number of modern hotels, comprising the Holiday InnHoliday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
, St George’s, Phoenicia, Melkart, Palm Beach, Excelsior, and Alcazar Hotel
Alcazar Hotel
-United States:* Lightner Museum, listed on the NRHP in Florida as Alcazar Hotel* New Alcazar Hotel , listed on the NRHP in Mississippi* Alcazar Hotel , listed on the NRHP in Ohio...
s, some of them high-rise and not all of which had been completed when the civil war broke out in April 1975. Another tactically valuable multiple-storey building was the yet unfinished 30-story Murr Tower (Arabic: Burj El-Murr) and the Rizk Tower (Arabic: Burj Rizk Achrafieh), Beirut’s tallest buildings at the time which, together with the neighbouring hotels, towered over the residential quarters in adjacent areas, both Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
.
So far this district had been spared the effects of the ongoing conflict, and most of the hotels were able to continue functioning normally.
October 1975
The first rounds were exchanged on October 24, 1975, when a detachment of fighters – nicknamed the “Hawks of Zeidani” – from the Al-Murabitoun, the militia of the Independent Nasserite Movement (INM) led by Ibrahim KulaylatIbrahim Kulaylat
Ibrahim Kulaylat is a lebanese political man.Head of the Nasserist Party, known under the name of al-Mourabitoun, established in 1958, he organized a multi-confessional militia, consisted specially of Sunni, Shiite Muslims and progressive Christians...
occupied the empty Murr Tower and began firing rockets from the upper floors into the Christian-held neighbourhoods below. During the battle, the Al-Murabitoun reportedly committed some 200-300 fighters, though other sources cite a higher number of 500. The majority of the buildings were usually defended by a even smaller number of fighters, with no more than 60 militiamen participating on any given day.
As a counter-move, Christian fighters of the Phalange
Kataeb Party
The Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
’ Kataeb Regulatory Forces
Kataeb Regulatory Forces
The Kataeb Regulatory Forces – KRF or RF , Forces Regulatoires du Kataeb in French were the military wing of the right-wing Lebanese Christian Kataeb Party, otherwise known as the Phalange, from 1961 to 1977...
(KRF) militia headed by William Hawi
William Hawi
William Amine Hawi , — , William Hawi joined the Kataeb Social Democratic Party in 1937 better known in English as the Phalangist party organization, a right-wing political party in Lebanon....
and Bashir Gemayel began to take positions between and around the main hotels, but quickly found themselves at a disadvantage as they were under constant observation and heavy machine gun
Heavy machine gun
The heavy machine gun or HMG is a larger class of machine gun generally recognized to refer to two separate stages of machine gun development. The term was originally used to refer to the early generation of machine guns which came into widespread use in World War I...
fire from the Murr Tower. The Phalangists then moved into three of the hotels – Holiday Inn, St George’s Hotel and the Phoenicia – and a fierce five-day gun-battle between the INM and Phalange ensued.
The situation deteriorated further on October 28, when a shooting incident occurred on the steps of the Parliament House at Nejmeh Square (aka Place de la Étoile in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) in Christian-controlled territory. One car filled with Muslim militiamen from West Beirut managed to reach the Parliament building and after shouting over loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
slogans against the members of the Assembly, they opened fire on the deputies leaving the building after attending a parliamentary session. Two men were killed, one being a bodyguard of Phalange
Kataeb Party
The Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
Leader Pierre Gemayel
Pierre Gemayel
Sheikh Pierre Gemayel , was a Lebanese political leader...
, who was standing nearby at that moment, but was not harmed.
Nevertheless, a ceasefire was called upon the belligerents by Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Rachid Karami on October 29, in order to allow the evacuation of the staff and residents trapped in the hotels, such as the Holiday Inn which held more than 200 people alone, mostly tourists. The evacuation operation was carried out by a motorized Gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
detachment sent by the Internal Security Forces
Internal Security Forces
The Internal Security Forces – ISF or Forces de Sécurité Intérieure in French, are the national police and security force of Lebanon. Modern police were established in Lebanon in 1861, with creation of the Gendarmerie...
(ISF), using their Chaimite V200 armoured personnel carrier
Armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...
s (APCs), and fighting resumed as soon as the operation and been completed. Another ceasefire was arranged in October 31 to enable the evacuees to return to collect their belongings, if they wished to do so.
November 1975
Prime Minister Karami tried to demilitarise the Hotel district, but the Phalangists refused to vacate their positions at the Holiday Inn, St George’s, Phoenicia and neighbouring buildings until the Muslim militiamen who occupied the Murr Tower had been replaced by ISF Gendarmes. Although Karami did managed to persuade the Al-Murabitoun leader Ibrahim KulaylatIbrahim Kulaylat
Ibrahim Kulaylat is a lebanese political man.Head of the Nasserist Party, known under the name of al-Mourabitoun, established in 1958, he organized a multi-confessional militia, consisted specially of Sunni, Shiite Muslims and progressive Christians...
to withdraw its fighters from the Murr Tower, no identical move was ever made by the Phalange
Kataeb Party
The Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
militiamen who remained at their positions.
December 1975
Despite the nominal ceasefire of November 8, hostilities were resumed on the Hotel district as the Al-Murabitoun, with assorted allies and in conjunction with As-Saiqa, attacked the buildings occupied by the Christian militias. In this round of assaults Soviet-made RPG-7RPG-7
The RPG-7 is a widely-produced, portable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Originally the RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and now manufactured by the Bazalt company...
rocket launchers and vehicle-mounted 106mm recoilless rifles were employed in the direct fire support role for the first time in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
The operation was led by Ibrahim Kulaylat
Ibrahim Kulaylat
Ibrahim Kulaylat is a lebanese political man.Head of the Nasserist Party, known under the name of al-Mourabitoun, established in 1958, he organized a multi-confessional militia, consisted specially of Sunni, Shiite Muslims and progressive Christians...
, the Al-Murabitoun leader, who planned to occupy the district and inflict a crushing defeat on the Phalangist KRF militia that would eventually force them to sue for peace. On 8–9 December there was a seesaw, savage close-quarter battle for the Phoenicia Hotel, and although the Phalangists were eventually forced out from some of the hotel buildings, they managed to hold firmly to their main stronghold at the Holiday Inn.
Kulaylat’s operation failed to deliver the expected results however, and on December 10 it was the Muslims who were trying desperately to hold on at the Alcazar Hotel
Alcazar Hotel
-United States:* Lightner Museum, listed on the NRHP in Florida as Alcazar Hotel* New Alcazar Hotel , listed on the NRHP in Mississippi* Alcazar Hotel , listed on the NRHP in Ohio...
, even though parts of the building had gone up in flames. Nevertheless, the Muslim militiamen were able to storm and secure the disputed Phoenicia Hotel, and in the next day they mounted another assault against Christian militia’ and ISF Gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
positions. While the Christian militiamen repulsed the attacks on their own positions, the Gendarmes’ avoided confrontation and withdrew to the unfinished Hilton Hotel. Fighting came to a temporary near-halt on December 12 when the exhausted combatants of both sides realised that they had more or less retained their original positions.
Although Prime-Minister Karami had announced another truce two days earlier, it did not became truly effective until December 15 when Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, As-Saiqa and the PLO put pressure on the LNM political and military leaders to accept the ceasefire proposal. A Syrian delegation led by General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Hikmat Chehabi arrived in Beirut on December 18 to mediate peace talks between the warring factions, the day in which 40 or 50 bodies were recovered from the Phoenicia Hotel.
March 1976
During the early months of 1976, fighting in the “Hotel front” subsided as the main contentors were distracted elsewhere, but managed to maintain their positions thanks to a Syrian-sponsored ceasefire called earlier on January 22. However, the Hotel district flared up again on March 17, the day when the LNM-PLO joint forces, backed by the Lebanese Arab Army (LAA) – a predominantely Muslim splinter faction of the official Lebanese Army led by the dissident Sunni LieutenantLieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Ahmed al-Khatib – launched an all-out offensive against rightist positions in central Beirut.
On March 21, a major assault by special Palestinian PLO ‘Commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
’ units using armoured vehicles lent by Lt. Khatib’s LAA and supported by the leftist-Muslim militias finally managed to dislodge the Phalange from the Holiday Inn. However, the leftist militiamen who had been handed the hotel by the Palestinians for propaganda purposes got so carried away celebrating that the Phalangists were able to sneak back in at dawn the next day.
The Palestinians therefore had to do the job all over again, and on March 22, leftist-Muslim LNM forces backed by PLO guerrillas mounted a counter-attack in downtown Beirut, determined to eliminate any remaining Phalangist presence west of the Martyrs' Square. Over the next two days and amid intense shelling, the Phalange were gradually pushed back to their defensive positions at Martyrs’ Square and Rue Allenby, after a costly battle that resulted in 150 dead and 300 injured.
By March 23, the new front was established on the axis Starco-Hilton, while Phalangist militiamen faced assaults launched from the Riad El Solh Square and the Nejmeh Square towards the Port area and the Rue de Damas.
That same day, the Al-Murabitoun recaptured the Holiday Inn from the Phalangists, which meant that LNM militias now dominated most of the strategic points around central Beirut.
Although the Christians had virtually lost the control of the Hotel district, it was not quite the end of the fighting in downtown Beirut. As the weeks went by, it was becoming painfully apparent to the Lebanese Front
Lebanese Front
The Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
leadership that they were at risk of losing the war as the LNM-PLO-LAA alliance forced them to retreat farther into East Beirut. To counter this threat, the Lebanese Front finally agreed to form a ‘Unified Command’ for the Christian rightist militias headed by Pierre Gemayel
Pierre Gemayel
Sheikh Pierre Gemayel , was a Lebanese political leader...
, who issued an appeal to his supporters to rally to the defense of the Christian areas.
Thus by March 26, the Kataeb Regulatory Forces
Kataeb Regulatory Forces
The Kataeb Regulatory Forces – KRF or RF , Forces Regulatoires du Kataeb in French were the military wing of the right-wing Lebanese Christian Kataeb Party, otherwise known as the Phalange, from 1961 to 1977...
alone were able to mobilize some 18,000 fighters to defend the eastern sector of the Lebanese Capital and the upper Matn.
The new Christian Command felt it imperative to retain control of Beirut’s port district and began raising an elaborate defence barricade at Rue Allenby. As the allied Lebanese Front’ militia forces tried to stave off the Muslim-Leftist-Palestinian assault on the port district, units of the predominantely Christian Army of Free Lebanon
Army of Free Lebanon
The Army of Free Lebanon – AFL or ‘Colonel Barakat’s Army’ , also designated Armée du Liban Libre or ‘Armée du Colonel Barakat’ in French, was a predominantely Christian splinter faction of the Lebanese Army that came to play a major role in the 1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War.-Emblem:Upon...
(AFL) – another ex-Lebanese Army dissident faction led by the right-wing Maronite Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Antoine Barakat – now entered the fray. Officers and enlisted men from the AFL’s Fayadieh barracks in south-east Beirut came to the aid of their beleaguered co-religionists, bringing with them much-needed armoured vehicles and heavy artillery. The LNM-PLO advance was finally stopped on March 31 at Rue Allenby and after Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
threatened to cut the arms shipments to the Muslim factions, both the LNM and Lebanese Front leaders agreed to a ceasefire, which came to effect on April 2.
Consequences
In the end, the battle of the hotels and assorted conflicts provided valuable, if costly, lessons to all sides. The Lebanese Front had grossly underestimated the military strength and organizational capabilities desplayed by the Leftist-Muslim LNM coalition and their Palestinian PLO allies in LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, as well as the political and logistical support they would receive from some Arab countries.
See also
- Bus massacreBus MassacreThe Bus Massacre, also known as the ‘Ain el-Rammaneh incident’ , was the collective name given to a short series of armed clashes involving Lebanese Christian and Palestinian elements in the streets of central Beirut, which is commonly presented as the spark that set off the Lebanese Civil War in...
- Black SaturdayBlack Saturday (Lebanon)Black Saturday was a series of massacres and armed clashes in Beirut, that occurred in the first stages of the Lebanese Civil War.On Saturday December 6, 1975, the bodies of four members of the rightist Kataeb Party , an organization grouping primarily Maronite Christians, were found in an...
- Damour massacreDamour massacreThe Damour massacre took place on January 20, 1976 during the 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War. Damour, a Christian town on the main highway south of Beirut, was attacked by the Palestine Liberation Organisation units...
- Internal Security ForcesInternal Security ForcesThe Internal Security Forces – ISF or Forces de Sécurité Intérieure in French, are the national police and security force of Lebanon. Modern police were established in Lebanon in 1861, with creation of the Gendarmerie...
- Lebanese Civil WarLebanese Civil WarThe Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
- Lebanese FrontLebanese FrontThe Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
- Lebanese National MovementLebanese National MovementThe Lebanese National Movement or Mouvement National Libanais in French, was a front of parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War...
- Tel al-Zaatar massacreTel al-Zaatar MassacreThe Tel al-Zaatar massacre took place during the Lebanese Civil War on August 12, 1976. Tel al-Zaatar was a UNRWA administered Palestinian Refugee camp housing approximately 50,000-60,000 refugees in northeast Beirut.-Background:...
- Karantina massacreKarantina MassacreThe Karantina massacre took place early in the Lebanese Civil War on January 18, 1976. With the breakdown in authority of the Lebanese government the militancy of radical factions increased...