Israeli shelling on west Beirut in picture dated 02 August 1982. Tel Aviv military actions were a response to Palestinian attacks originating from Lebanese territory. AFP
Israeli shelling on west Beirut in picture dated 02 August 1982. Tel Aviv military actions were a response to Palestinian attacks originating from Lebanese territory. AFP

1975 - Lebanon’s civil war

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Updated 19 April 2025
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1975 - Lebanon’s civil war

1975 - Lebanon’s civil war
  • The conflict left scars that never healed, marking a bloody chapter in the country’s history that would be far from the last

LONDON: Even as the first edition of Arab News rolled off the presses on April 20, 50 years ago, it was already clear that 1975 was going to be a momentous year for news. 

Saudi Arabia was still recovering from the shock of the assassination the previous month of King Faisal, who on March 25 had been shot by an errant minor member of the royal family. 

Still to come that year lay other events of great import, among them the reopening on June 5 of the Suez Canal, eight years after it was closed by the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and the signing in Geneva on Sept. 4 of the Sinai Interim Agreement, under which Egypt and Israel committed to resolving their territorial differences by peaceful means. 

But it was the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon, one week before the launch of Arab News, that would dominate the news agenda not only for the remainder of 1975, but also for much of the following 15 years.

How we wrote it




Arab News’s front page covered the assassination of Bashir Gemayel and Israel’s invasion of West Beirut.

There is still no universal agreement about the precise order of the fateful events that unfolded in the Christian Ain El-Remmaneh district of East Beirut on April 13, 1975, but the bald facts are indisputable. 

On a day that came to be known as Black Sunday, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a Christian congregation gathered on the pavement outside the Church of Notre Dame de la Delivrance after a family baptism. 

Four men, including the father of the child, were killed. One of the survivors was Pierre Gemayal, the Maronite Catholic founder and leader of Lebanon’s right-wing Christian Kataeb (or Phalangist) Party, who was possibly the target of the attack. 

A terrible revenge was quickly exacted. Later that same day, a bus on which Palestinians were returning to a refugee camp from a political rally was ambushed by Phalangist gunmen who killed more than 20 of the passengers. 

In the words of Lebanese historian Fawwaz Traboulsi in his 2007 book “A History of Modern Lebanon,” “A war that was to last for 15 years had just begun.” 

Sectarian tensions had been rising in the country since the mass influx of Palestine Liberation Organization fighters to the south of the country in 1971 after their eviction from Jordan, but this was not the only cause of the civil war that erupted in April 1975. 

In truth, the long fuse that ignited the conflict in the former Ottoman region was lit more than half a century earlier by the imposition of the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, which was granted to France by the League of Nations after the First World War.

Key Dates

  • 1

    Civil war begins when Palestinian gunmen open fire on Maronite Christian Phalangists outside a church in East Beirut. Phalangists retaliate by ambushing busload of Palestinians.

  • 2

    Syrian troops enter Lebanon, ostensibly to protect Muslims from Christian forces.

    Timeline Image June 1976

  • 3

    US-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 425 calls on Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon and establishes peacekeeping UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

    Timeline Image March 19, 1978

  • 4

    Israeli army invades and reaches suburbs of Beirut. In August, a multinational force arrives to oversee evacuation of PLO.

    Timeline Image June 6, 1982

  • 5

    After international force withdraws, Israel invades again, entering Beirut. Israeli troops stand by as Christian militiamen massacre thousands of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

  • 6

    A series of suicide truck bombings results in withdrawal of multinational forces from Lebanon: 63 people are killed at the US embassy on April 18; on Oct. 23, 241 US Marines and 58 French soldiers die in separate attacks on their barracks.

    Timeline Image 1983

  • 7

    The Taif Agreement, negotiated in Saudi Arabia and approved by the Lebanese parliament the following month, officially ends the civil war, though Maronite military leader Michel Aoun denounces it and stages a revolt that continues for another year.

This framework, which gave Christians control of the government and parliament, was based on the results of a 1932 census. Over time, however, shifting demographics would undermine the credibility of this arrangement and its acceptability to certain groups who felt increasingly underrepresented. 

These demographic changes were accelerated dramatically by the fallout from the 1967 Six Day War between Arab states and Israel, during which large numbers of Palestinians took refuge in Jordan and, increasingly, southern Lebanon. 

These PLO fighters were welcomed as heroes by many of the tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in the south of the country whose families had been forced to flee their homes during Israel’s occupation of Palestine in 1948. 

By the eve of the civil war, many other factors had conspired to push the country to the brink of conflict, including a socioeconomic crisis in which the cost-of-living was soaring even as wealth was becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a privileged few political dynasties. 

In the three decades after gaining independence from France in 1943, Lebanon had enjoyed a golden age. Beneath the surface, however, tensions between Christian and Muslim communities were mounting, exacerbated by what Traboulsi described as “class, sectarian and regional inequalities.”

Just as Lebanon had avoided direct involvement in the Six Day War against Israel in 1967, it also kept out of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War — but once again could not escape the fallout.

By 1973, the Lebanese army had already clashed with the PLO, which was now firmly established in Lebanon, but the stark divisions in society really became apparent when demonstrations broke out in support of Egypt and Syria’s war on Israel. 

After it was fully unleashed on that fateful April day in 1975, the civil war escalated rapidly and brutally. In 1976 alone, Phalangist Christians killed hundreds of Palestinians in Karantina in northeastern Beirut. In retaliation, the PLO attacked Damour, a Maronite town south of Beirut, massacring hundreds of Christians. In response, Christian militias assaulted the Tel Al-Za’atar refugee camp, killing at least 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians. 

As the civil war continued it drew in other forces, the presence of which only worsened an already complex situation: Syrian troops, the Israeli army, Israel-backed militias, a peacekeeping UN Interim Force in Lebanon, and joint US-French-Italian multinational forces. 

Massacres, bombings, assassinations and kidnappings became commonplace, and not without consequences. The 1983 bombings of the US embassy, a US Marines barracks and the headquarters of the French military contingent in Beirut led to the withdrawal of multinational forces. 




Beirut residents watch a controlled demolition during rebuilding efforts in the Lebanese capital, which is recovering from 16 years of civil strife. AFP

In the end, it fell to the Saudis to bring the various participants to the negotiating table. On Oct. 22, 1989, three weeks of talks in the Saudi city of Taif between Muslim and Christian members of the Lebanese parliament concluded with agreement on a national “reconciliation charter.” 

Inevitably, the conflict was not quite over. Maronite military leader Michel Aoun, whose appointment as prime minister of a military government the previous year had been widely contested, denounced those who signed the agreement as traitors. The fighting that ensued between Aoun’s forces and the Christian Lebanese Forces militia destroyed much of Christian East Beirut. 

Aoun’s revolt, and the civil war itself, ended on Oct. 13, 1990, when Syrian troops attacked the presidential palace in Baabda. Aoun fled and was granted political asylum in France. 

After 15 years and six months, the war was finally over. During that time, more than 150,000 people were killed, hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes, and an estimated 250,000 Lebanese emigrated. 

Another bloody chapter in the country’s troubled history had been written. It would be far from the last. 

  • Jonathan Gornall is a British journalist, formerly with The Times, who has lived and worked in the Middle East and is now based in the UK.


UK police arrest four over pro-Palestinian protest at air base

UK police arrest four over pro-Palestinian protest at air base
Updated 1 min 20 sec ago
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UK police arrest four over pro-Palestinian protest at air base

UK police arrest four over pro-Palestinian protest at air base
  • Two activists from the Palestine Action group broke into the air base in Oxfordshire in central England on June 20
  • They sprayed red paint over two planes used for refueling and transport, and further damaged them with crowbars
LONDON: British counter-terrorism police have arrested four people in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest last week in which military planes were sprayed with paint at an air base in England, authorities said on Friday.
A woman, 29, and two men aged 36 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, while another woman, 41, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, the police statement said.
Two activists from the Palestine Action group broke into the air base in Oxfordshire in central England on June 20, spraying red paint over two planes used for refueling and transport, and further damaging them with crowbars, an act that was condemned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “disgraceful.”
Within days of the incident, interior minister Yvette Cooper set out plans to use anti-terrorism laws to ban Palestine Action, saying its actions had become more aggressive and caused millions of pounds of damage.
Palestine Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
In response to Friday’s arrests, the campaign group accused authorities of “cracking down on non-violent protests which disrupt the flow of arms to Israel during its genocide in Palestine.”
The maximum sentence for preparation of terrorist acts, or to assist others in such preparation, in Britain is a life sentence. The government is also reviewing security across all defense sites.
Israel has repeatedly dismissed accusations that it is committing genocide in the war in Gaza which began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others hostage into Gaza.
Israel launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.

India accused of illegal deportations targeting Muslims

India accused of illegal deportations targeting Muslims
Updated 4 min 5 sec ago
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India accused of illegal deportations targeting Muslims

India accused of illegal deportations targeting Muslims
  • Activists call the expulsions illegal and based on ethnic profiling
  • New Delhi says the people deported are undocumented migrants

NEW DELHI: India has deported without trial to Bangladesh hundreds of people, officials from both sides said, drawing condemnation from activists and lawyers who call the recent expulsions illegal and based on ethnic profiling.

New Delhi says the people deported are undocumented migrants.

The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hard-line stance on immigration — particularly those from neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh — with top officials referring to them as “termites” and “infiltrators.”

It has also sparked fear among India’s estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh.

“Muslims, particularly from the eastern part of the country, are terrified,” said veteran Indian rights activist Harsh Mander.

“You have thrown millions into this existential fear.”

Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy since a mass uprising in 2024 toppled Dhaka’s government, a former friend of India.

But India also ramped up operations against migrants after a wider security crackdown in the wake of an attack in the west — the April 22 killing of 26 people, mainly Hindu tourists, in Indian-administered Kashmir.

New Delhi blamed that attack on Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected, with arguments culminating in a four-day conflict that left more than 70 dead.

Indian authorities launched an unprecedented countrywide security drive that has seen many thousands detained — and many of them eventually pushed across the border to Bangladesh at gunpoint.

Rahima Begum, from India’s eastern Assam state, said police detained her for several days in late May before taking her to the Bangladesh frontier.

She said she and her family had spent their life in India.

“I have lived all my life here — my parents, my grandparents, they are all from here,” she said. “I don’t know why they would do this to me.”

Indian police took Begum, along with five other people, all Muslims, and forced them into swampland in the dark.

“They showed us a village in the distance and told us to crawl there,” she told AFP.

“They said: ‘Do not dare to stand and walk, or we will shoot you.’“

Bangladeshi locals who found the group then handed them to border police who “thrashed” them and ordered they return to India, Begum said.

“As we approached the border, there was firing from the other side,” said the 50-year-old.

“We thought: ‘This is the end. We are all going to die.’“

She survived, and, a week after she was first picked up, she was dropped back home in Assam with a warning to keep quiet.

Rights activists and lawyers criticized India’s drive as “lawless.”

“You cannot deport people unless there is a country to accept them,” said New Delhi-based civil rights lawyer Sanjay Hegde.

Indian law does not allow for people to be deported without due process, he added.

Bangladesh has said India has pushed more than 1,600 people across its border since May.

Indian media suggests the number could be as high as 2,500.

The Bangladesh Border Guards said it has sent back 100 of those pushed across — because they were Indian citizens.

India has been accused of forcibly deporting Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, with navy ships dropping them off the coast of the war-torn nation.

Many of those targeted in the campaign are low-wage laborers in states governed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to rights activists.

Indian authorities did not respond to questions about the number of people detained and deported.

But Assam state’s chief minister has said that more than 300 people have been deported to Bangladesh.

Separately, Gujarat’s police chief said more than 6,500 people have been rounded up in the western state, home to both Modi and interior minister Amit Shah.

Many of those were reported to be Bengali-speaking Indians and later released.

“People of Muslim identity who happen to be Bengali speaking are being targeted as part of an ideological hate campaign,” said Mander, the activist.

Nazimuddin Mondal, a 35-year-old mason, said he was picked up by police in the financial hub of Mumbai, flown on a military aircraft to the border state of Tripura and pushed into Bangladesh.

He managed to cross back, and is now back in India’s West Bengal state, where he said he was born.

“The Indian security forces beat us with batons when we insisted we were Indians,” said Mondal, adding he is now scared to even go out to seek work.

“I showed them my government-issued ID, but they just would not listen.”


From pavement to passion: Islamabad’s young skateboarders push for recognition

From pavement to passion: Islamabad’s young skateboarders push for recognition
Updated 7 min 2 sec ago
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From pavement to passion: Islamabad’s young skateboarders push for recognition

From pavement to passion: Islamabad’s young skateboarders push for recognition
  • As nation where nearly 64% population is under 30, Pakistan is fertile ground for growth of youth sport like skateboarding
  • Skateboarding remains unrecognized in Pakistan, there are no dedicated skate parks and shops and few coaches available

ISLAMABAD: On a hot summer afternoon in Islamabad’s F-9 Park, laughter echoed across the cracked concrete as teenagers cruised over curbs and kick-flipped their boards with casual defiance.

For this small but growing community of skateboarders in the Pakistani capital, the pavement is a playground — and a protest.

Globally, skateboarding has long been associated with youth culture. It is a sport that thrives in urban settings and offers young people a sense of identity, freedom, and creative expression. Since its rise in the United States in the 1960s, it has evolved into a global movement, now part of the Olympic Games and supported by thriving communities from Brazil to Japan.

In this context, Pakistan is fertile ground for the growth of skateboarding — a nation of over 240 million people where nearly 64% of the population is under the age of 30. But the country does not officially recognize skateboarding as a sport. Its official game is field hockey but cricket dominates pitches, TV screens and public discourse. Other sports like football, badminton and volleyball enjoy some government support but skateboarding remains entirely on the fringes.

“There’s not even one dedicated skate shop in Pakistan,” said Ali Hamza, a 21-year-old engineering student who founded Skate Pakistan, a grassroots movement using Instagram to grow and connect the local skate scene. “It’s still seen by many as a toy.”

This photo, posted on December 20, 2024, shows a skateboarder riding his board in Lahore. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/@hamzahh9)

Hamza’s Instagram page, started in 2021 “just to see if anyone else was skating,” soon connected him to others across Islamabad and beyond. Today, Skate Pakistan meetups attract 12–15 regulars, with larger competitions drawing dozens. Most participants are teenagers with limited access to professional training or gear, and the initiative is driven entirely by volunteers and enthusiasts, growing into a fledgling community of teens and young adults passionate about the sport and eager to see it taken seriously.

Hamza’s own introduction to skateboarding came through Hollywood films as a child. At the time, he assumed the aerial tricks were camera tricks.

“Honestly, I used to think it was fake,” he said, laughing. “Like, how can a board that’s not even attached to your feet fly up like that?”

Curious, he bought a cheap board from a local sports shop in 2019. With no coaches or skateparks in Islamabad, Hamza turned to YouTube tutorials and online courses to learn the basics.

“My first day on the board, my father was holding one arm and my brother held the other. I was just praying I wouldn’t fall,” he said.

This photo, posted on December 20, 2024, shows skateboarders spray painting a board ahead of a competition in Lahore. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/@hamzahh9)

Fall he did and repeatedly. But with each tumble, he said, the fear wore off.

“The more I fell, the more this fear lessened.”

While Pakistan has a few modest skateparks — including one in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, and another set up with German NGO support in Karachi in 2020 — most skateboarders still ride on sidewalks, underpasses, or abandoned lots.

Security guards at parks often ask them to leave. Potholes, rough terrain, and broken pavement pose daily hazards.

But the lack of infrastructure and support hasn’t stopped the community from growing.

“I mean, it’s fun, it’s something physical, you’re out with your friends, so why not?” said Hasaan Khan, 16, a regular at the sessions held in Islamabad’s F-9 park.

“Skateboarding builds up your endurance, since you keep falling over and over again,” added Rija Mughal, also 16. “It’s pretty good for your physical health too.”

BUILDING A MOVEMENT

For many, skateboarding took off during COVID-19, when lockdowns closed schools and sports grounds.

“I found an old skateboard at home during COVID, had nothing else to do, so I started riding around,” said Ahmed Ali Rana, who was 13 at the time. “It just clicked.”

This photo, posted on December 20, 2024, shows a skateboarder riding his board in Lahore. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/@hamzahh9)

Rana said he was nervous at his first Skate Pakistan competition but was surprised by how welcoming everyone was.

“That’s the best part. It’s not just about the sport, it’s about the friends and the community.”

Zayan Nadir, another teen skater, said skating gave him a mental escape:

“It helps people get away from their problems. But to build a bigger community in Pakistan, you need more skate shops, more skate parks, and more freedom for skaters.”

Currently, there’s no national or provincial skateboarding federation, and the Pakistan Sports Board does not include the sport in its list of recognized disciplines. In contrast, neighboring India has had multiple international skateboarding events and boasts over two dozen skateparks, including some that cater to underprivileged youth.

The inclusion of skateboarding in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games also helped raise its profile globally, particularly among younger audiences. Yet, in Pakistan, there is little official recognition, funding, or visibility.

This photo, posted on December 20, 2024, shows a skateboarder riding his board in Lahore. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/@hamzahh9)

Hamza said public perception also remained a big hurdle.

“There’s still this idea that a skateboard is a toy, not a sport,” he said. “That’s what we are trying to change through social media.”

At a recent meetup, teenagers practiced ollies and kick turns on a concrete ramp while others filmed slow-motion footage for Instagram reels. There were no referees, no medals — just scratched boards, scraped knees, and smiles.

Hamza said the goal now was to push for formal recognition and better infrastructure so more young people across Pakistan could skate without obstacles — literal or social.

“We just want people to see that this is serious,” he said. “It deserves space, support and respect.”


Israeli court rejects Netanyahu’s call to postpone graft trial hearings

Israeli court rejects Netanyahu’s call to postpone graft trial hearings
Updated 22 min 30 sec ago
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Israeli court rejects Netanyahu’s call to postpone graft trial hearings

Israeli court rejects Netanyahu’s call to postpone graft trial hearings

JERUSALEM: An Israeli court on Friday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial, after US President Donald Trump said the case should be canceled.

Netanyahu’s lawyer on Thursday asked the court to excuse the leader from hearings over the next two weeks, saying he needed to concentrate on “security issues” after Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.

The Jerusalem district court said in a judgment published online that “in its current form (his request) does not provide a basis or detailed justification for the cancelation of the hearings.”

Trump on Wednesday described the case against Netanyahu as a “witch hunt,” saying the trial “should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero.”

Netanyahu has thanked Trump for his support in Israel’s brief war against Iran, which ended with a ceasefire on June 24.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and his supporters have described the long-running trial as politically motivated.

In a first case, he and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.

In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favorable coverage from two Israeli media outlets.

During his current term since late 2022, Netanyahu’s government has proposed a series of far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say were designed to weaken the courts.

Netanyahu has requested multiple postponements in the trial since it began in May 2020, citing the war in Gaza which started in 2023, later fighting in Lebanon and this month the conflict with Iran.


South Korea court rejects arrest warrant for ex-President Yoon, Yonhap says

South Korea court rejects arrest warrant for ex-President Yoon, Yonhap says
Updated 24 min 55 sec ago
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South Korea court rejects arrest warrant for ex-President Yoon, Yonhap says

South Korea court rejects arrest warrant for ex-President Yoon, Yonhap says
  • South Korea’s special prosecutor had asked the court on Tuesday to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon Suk Yeol
  • Former president facing a criminal trial on insurrection charges for issuing the martial law declaration
SEOUL: A South Korean court has rejected a request to issue an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Suk Yeol related to a probe into his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, the Yonhap News Agency said on Wednesday, citing a special prosecutor.
A spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court and the prosecution office could not immediately be reached for comment.
South Korea’s special prosecutor had asked the court on Tuesday to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon as an investigation intensified over the ousted leader’s botched bid to declare martial law in December.
Yoon, who is already facing a criminal trial on insurrection charges for issuing the martial law declaration, was arrested in January after resisting authorities trying to take him into custody, but was released after 52 days on technical grounds.
The new warrant was on a charge of obstruction, a senior member of the special prosecutor’s team of investigators said on Tuesday.