Christian Maronite east Beirut residents stage rally in front of French embassy to support General Michel Aoun’s refusal to accept Taif agreement. AFP
Christian Maronite east Beirut residents stage rally in front of French embassy to support General Michel Aoun’s refusal to accept Taif agreement. AFP

1989 - The Taif peace pact for Lebanon

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Updated 19 April 2025
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1989 - The Taif peace pact for Lebanon

1989 - The Taif peace pact for Lebanon
  • Saudi Arabia’s determination helped end the Lebanese Civil War

PARIS: The Taif Agreement was the outcome of a concerted attempt by Saudi Arabia to bring an end to the Lebanese Civil War that began in 1975. 

Other parties involved in the process included Syria’s President Hafez Assad, the US administration, and the various Lebanese factions fighting in the war. Saudi authorities wanted to find a solution that involved all of those involved, to halt the war and improve upon the 1943 Lebanese National Pact. 

That pact was an unwritten agreement between Lebanese President Bechara El-Khoury and Prime Minister Riad Al-Solh that established an independent Lebanon as a multi-confessional state. It represented a power-sharing arrangement between Christians and Muslims, whereby the president was always required to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of the parliament a Shiite. 

The powers handed down in this way were of particular benefit to Lebanon’s Christians. The civil war required an adjustment to this equilibrium. It also required an adjustment in Lebanon’s relations with the Arab world, during a period in which Assad was growing more powerful with the aim of becoming more influential and hegemonic in Lebanon. 

How we wrote it




Arab News covered the day Lebanese MPs agreed on the national reconciliation charter in Taif, Saudi Arabia to end the civil war.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Saudi Arabia had been a part of all Arab and international efforts to end the war in Lebanon. The Taif Agreement was fathered by Hussein El-Husseini, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament. He visited Saudi Arabia, where he was hosted in Taif under the guidance of the Foreign Minister, Prince Saud bin Faisal, and a Lebanese friend of the Kingdom, a businessman named Rafik Hariri who would later serve as Lebanon’s prime minister from 1992 to 1998 and 2000 to 2004. 

The deal ultimately reached included political reforms that gave full power to the Council of Ministers and greater power to the Muslim prime minister, compared with the previous arrangement whereby power was concentrated in the office of the Christian president. It also established special relations between Lebanon and Syria, and a framework to begin the withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country. 

However, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa later denied any commitment had been made to Prince Saud for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. It was only after the assassination of Hariri in 2005 that Syrian forces finally pulled out. 

The Taif Agreement was approved by the Lebanese Parliament on Nov. 5, 1989, the same day Rene Moawad became the country’s president. He held the office for only 18 days before he was killed by a car bomb that claimed his life and 23 others. 

Prior to the Taif Agreement, Saudi Arabia had pushed for peace conferences in Geneva and Lausanne, in 1983 and 1984 respectively, that failed to end the war. However, Saudi authorities continued to mediate, with the involvement of the Arab League Tripartite Committee to Lebanon, under the chairmanship of Prince Saud. 

Key Dates

  • 1

    Fighting between Maronites and Muslims in Lebanon begins when suspected PLO gunmen attack a Christian church in East Beirut, killing 4 people. Phalangists retaliate, killing 30 Palestinians on a bus, triggering widespread fighting.

    Timeline Image April 13, 1975

  • 2

    Arab League summit in Riyadh calls for end to the civil war and creates the peacekeeping Arab Deterrent Force.

  • 3

    Start of the Hundred Days War in Beirut between Christian militias and the mainly Syrian troops of the Arab Deterrent Force.

    Timeline Image Feb. 7, 1978

  • 4

    Israel invades southern Lebanon to halt cross-border attacks by the PLO.

  • 5

    Christian Phalangist Bachir Gemayel, former leader of Lebanese Forces Maronite militia, is elected president.

    Timeline Image Aug. 23, 1982

  • 6

    Gemayel and 26 other high-ranking Phalangists are killed by a bomb planted by a Maronite Christian.

    Timeline Image Sept. 14, 1982

  • 7

    Departing president Amine Gemayal defies precedent and appoints a fellow Maronite Christian, Gen. Michel Aoun, as prime minister, a role traditionally reserved for a Muslim.

    Timeline Image Sept. 22, 1988

  • 8

    Aoun declares war of liberation against Syrian occupation.

    Timeline Image March 14, 1989

  • 9

    Taif Agreement is reached but opposed by Aoun.

  • 10

    Taif Agreement ratified and parliament elects Maronite Christian Rene Moawad as Lebanon’s 13th president.

    Timeline Image Nov. 5, 1989

  • 11

    Moawad assassinated by unknown assailants.

    Timeline Image Nov. 22, 1989

  • 12

    Aoun driven into exile in France by Syrian forces.

  • 13

    Aoun returns to Lebanon after Syrian troops finally withdraw.

  • 14

    Aoun elected president of Lebanon, remains in office until his term ends in 2022.

    Timeline Image Oct. 31, 2016

The representatives on the committee from the other members of the tripartite, Morocco and Algeria, were their foreign ministers, Abdellatif Filali and Sid Ahmed Ghozali respectively. They were joined by the Arab League’s special envoy to Lebanon, Lakhdar Brahimi. Syria’s President Assad, excluded from the committee, was enraged. 

During the last meeting of the committee, in Rabat in 1988, before the Taif process began, the three ministers summoned Al-Sharaa, the Syrian foreign minister, and told him they had proof Syria had been arming both Prime Minister Michel Aoun’s army and the Lebanese Forces, led by Samir Geagea.  

Aoun had been appointed interim prime minister that year by departing president Amine Gemayel, who did not accept Assad’s diktats. 

Assad’s forces responded by pounding the Christian stronghold of Achrafieh. Aoun, protected by French Ambassador Rene Ala, then left for France to begin his long exile.  

Brahimi, the Arab League envoy, enlisted Paris-based Dr. Ghassan Salame, a Lebanese professor of international relations, as an advisor to help establish a ceasefire agreement and prepare for a meeting with Lebanese deputies.  

Concurrently, Brahimi, Salame, and other deputies worked on drafting a text for the deputies to approve and adopt. 

The first report from the committee, issued in mid-July 1989, was perceived by the Syrians as hostile. Assad met Algeria’s President Chadli Bendjedid in Algiers and accused Brahimi of anti-Syrian bias. Prince Saud independently continued his attempts to persuade Syria to agree to a ceasefire. 




Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saul al-Faysal (C), Lebanese Parliament speaker Hussain al-Hussaini (R) and Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmad Ghassali (L) in Taif as discussions on national reconciliation charter began. AFP

As the various efforts to end the war continued, Saudi authorities worked through two negotiators: Hariri and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who between 1983 and 2005 was the Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States. This marked the start of Hariri’s involvement in Lebanese politics. 

King Fahd entrusted Prince Bandar to direct the efforts to find a solution for the situation in Lebanon, and Hariri shuttled between various capital cities to organize a conference in the Kingdom to discuss reforms and the election of a president. 

International pressure, and the continuing efforts of Prince Saud, eventually compelled Syria to accept a ceasefire agreement, paving the way for the drafting of the text for the Taif Agreement by several deputies.  

Hariri managed to persuade the Lebanese deputies to come to the gathering in Taif. They agreed to correct the balance of power in Lebanon, giving more influence to the Council of Ministers and the Muslim prime minister. 

However, Assad disliked Hariri and resisted his appointment as Lebanon’s prime minister for years. Eventually, Assad met Hariri on several occasions, though when Hariri did eventually become prime minister, Assad insisted on having a say in the appointment of certain government ministers. 

Saudi Arabia took the initiative and helped to get the Lebanese Parliament operational, since previous negotiations with militias had failed to achieve peace. Eventually, the Taif Agreement was concluded and implemented but Aoun never accepted its terms. Following the assassination of President Moawad after just 18 days in office, as he returned from Lebanese Independence Day celebrations, Deputy Elias Hrawi, who was favored by the Syrians, was appointed his successor. 

One unforgettable sentence uttered by a brilliant French diplomat, having served in Lebanon, still rings true in view of the disastrous situation that has prevailed there for the past several years: “The political class who made the civil war in Lebanon is still in power, but it cannot succeed in ruling the country.” 

  • Randa Takieddine is a Paris-based Lebanese journalist. She covered the last committee meeting in Rabat before Taif in 1988 for Al-Hayat and headed the newspaper’s bureau in France for 30 years. 


Indians stretch, breathe and balance to mark International Day of Yoga

Indians stretch, breathe and balance to mark International Day of Yoga
Updated 5 min ago
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Indians stretch, breathe and balance to mark International Day of Yoga

Indians stretch, breathe and balance to mark International Day of Yoga
  • Yoga is one of India’s most successful cultural exports after Bollywood

NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of people across India stretched in public parks and on sandy beaches Saturday to mark the 11th International Day of Yoga.
The mass yoga sessions were held in many Indian states, where crowds attempted various poses and practiced breathing exercises. Indian military personnel also performed yoga in the icy heights of Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas and on naval ships anchored in the Bay of Bengal.
Similar sessions were planned in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.
“I feel that yoga keeps us spiritually fit, mentally fit and helps us manage stress. That’s why I feel that people should take out at least 30 minutes every day for yoga to keep themselves fit,” said Rajiv Ranjan, who participated in an event in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
Yoga is one of India’s most successful cultural exports after Bollywood. It has also been enlisted for diplomacy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has harnessed it for cultural soft power as the country takes on a larger role in world affairs.
Modi persuaded the UN to designate the annual International Day of Yoga in 2014. The theme this year was “Yoga for One Earth, One Health.”
Modi performed yoga among a seaside crowd in the southern city of Visakhapatnam city, and said “Yoga leads us on a journey toward oneness with world.” Amid a checkerboard of yoga mats covering the beach, Modi took his spot on a mat and did breathing exercises, backbends and other poses.
“Let this Yoga Day mark the beginning of Yoga for humanity 2.0, where inner peace becomes global policy,” he said.
As Modi has pushed yoga, ministers, government officials and Indian military personnel have gone on social media to show themselves folding in different poses.
In capital New Delhi, scores of people from all walks of life and age groups gathered at the sprawling Lodhi Gardens, following an instructor on stage.
“Yoga for me is like balancing between inner world and outer world,” said Siddharth Maheshwari, a startup manager who joined the event.


Water levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi reservoir

Water levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi reservoir
Updated 20 min 15 sec ago
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Water levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi reservoir

Water levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi reservoir
  • Visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s

DUKAN: Water levels at Iraq’s vast Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted as a result of dwindling rains and further damming upstream, hitting millions of inhabitants already impacted by drought with stricter water rationing.
Amid these conditions, visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s.
Dukan Lake has been left three quarters empty, with its director Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq explaining its reserves currently stand at around 1.6 billion cubic meters of water out of a possible seven billion.
That is “about 24 percent” of its capacity, the official said, adding that the level of water in the lake had not been so low in roughly 20 years.
Satellite imagery analyzed by AFP shows the lake’s surface area shrank by 56 percent between the end of May 2019, the last year it was completely full, and the beginning of June 2025.
Tawfeeq blamed climate change and a “shortage of rainfall” explaining that the timing of the rains had also become irregular.
Over the winter season, Tawfeeq said the Dukan region received 220 millimeters (8.7 inches) of rain, compared to a typical 600 millimeters.


Upstream damming of the Little Zab River, which flows through Iran and feeds Dukan, was a secondary cause of the falling water levels, Tawfeeq explained.
Also buffeted by drought, Iran has built dozens of structures on the river to increase its own water reserves.
Baghdad has criticized these kinds of dams, built both by Iran and neighboring Turkiye, accusing them of significantly restricting water flow into Iraq via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Iraq, and its 46 million inhabitants, have been intensely impacted by the effects of climate change, experiencing rising temperatures, year-on-year droughts and rampant desertification.
At the end of May, the country’s total water reserves were at their lowest level in 80 years.
On the slopes above Dukan lies the village of Sarsian, where Hussein Khader Sheikhah, 57, was planting a summer crop on a hectare of land.
The farmer said he hoped a short-term summer crop of the kind typically planted in the area for an autumn harvest — cucumbers, melons, chickpeas, sunflower seeds and beans — would help him offset some of the losses over the winter caused by drought.
In winter, in another area near the village, he planted 13 hectares mainly of wheat.
“The harvest failed because of the lack of rain,” he explained, adding that he lost an equivalent of almost $5,700 to the poor yield.
“I can’t make up for the loss of 13 hectares with just one hectare near the river,” he added.


The water shortage at Dukan has affected around four million people downstream in the neighboring Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk governorates, including their access to drinking water.
For more than a month, water treatment plants in Kirkuk have been trying to mitigate a sudden, 40 percent drop in the supplies reaching them, according to local water resource official Zaki Karim.
In a country ravaged by decades of conflict, with crumbling infrastructure and floundering public policies, residents already receive water intermittently.
The latest shortages are forcing even “stricter rationing” and more infrequent water distributions, Karim said.
In addition to going door-to-door to raise awareness about water waste, the authorities were also cracking down on illegal access to the water network.
In the province of roughly two million inhabitants, the aim is to minimize the impact on the provincial capital of Kirkuk.
“If some treatment plants experience supply difficulties, we will ensure that there are no total interruptions, so everyone can receive their share,” Karim said.


Israel military says hit Hezbollah site in south Lebanon

Israel military says hit Hezbollah site in south Lebanon
Updated 30 min 26 sec ago
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Israel military says hit Hezbollah site in south Lebanon

Israel military says hit Hezbollah site in south Lebanon
  • The military said the site was used by Hezbollah “to advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians”

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Saturday its navy hit a Hezbollah “infrastructure site” near the southern Lebanese city of Naqoura, a day after Israel’s foreign minister warned the Lebanese armed group against entering the Iran-Israel war.
“Overnight, an Israeli Navy vessel struck a Hezbollah ‘Radwan Force’ terrorist infrastructure site in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.
The military said the site was used by Hezbollah “to advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians.”
In a separate statement on Saturday, the military said it had “struck and eliminated” a Hezbollah militant in south Lebanon the previous day, despite an ongoing ceasefire between both sides.
In a statement carried by the official National News Agency, Lebanon’s health ministry said late on Friday that one person was killed in a “strike carried out by an Israeli enemy drone on a motorcycle” in the same south Lebanon village.
The November ceasefire aimed to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which sparked months of deadly hostilities by launching cross-border attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Lebanon’s army, which has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure as part of the truce, said earlier in June that the Israeli military’s ongoing violations and “refusal to cooperate” with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism “could prompt the (Lebanese) military to freeze cooperation” on site inspections.


Israeli military kill head of Palestine corps in IRGC’s overseas arm – defense minister

Israeli military kill head of Palestine corps in IRGC’s overseas arm – defense minister
Updated 40 min 6 sec ago
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Israeli military kill head of Palestine corps in IRGC’s overseas arm – defense minister

Israeli military kill head of Palestine corps in IRGC’s overseas arm – defense minister
  • Veteran commander, Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force
  • The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the military had killed a veteran commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm, in a strike in an apartment in Iran’s Qom.

The veteran commander, Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, Katz said in a statement.

There was no confirmation from the IRGC.

The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

But Iran-aligned network has suffered major blows over the last two years, as Israeli offensives since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel have weakened both the Palestinian group and Hezbollah.

Katz said Izadi financed and armed Hamas during the initial attacks, describing the commander’s killing as a “major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force.”

Izadi was sanctioned by the US and Britain over what they said were his ties to Hamas and Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad, which also took part in the October 7 attacks.


Survive, nothing more: Cuba’s elderly live hand to mouth

Survive, nothing more: Cuba’s elderly live hand to mouth
Updated 55 min 42 sec ago
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Survive, nothing more: Cuba’s elderly live hand to mouth

Survive, nothing more: Cuba’s elderly live hand to mouth
  • The country is finding it increasingly hard to care for some 2.4 million inhabitants, more than a quarter of the population, aged 60 and over

HAVANA: With a monthly pension barely sufficient to buy 15 eggs or a small bag of rice, Cuba’s elderly struggle to make ends meet in one of Latin America’s poorest and fastest-aging countries.
As the communist island battles its deepest economic crisis in three decades, the state is finding it increasingly hard to care for some 2.4 million inhabitants — more than a quarter of the population — aged 60 and over.
Sixty is the age at which women — for men it’s 65 — qualify for the state pension which starts at 1,528 Cuban pesos per month.
This is less than $13 at the official exchange rate and a mere $4 on the informal street market where most Cubans do their shopping.
“Fight for life, for death is certain,” vendor Isidro Manuet, 73, told AFP sitting on a sidewalk in the heart of Havana, his skin battered by years in the sun, several of his front teeth missing.
“I manage to live, survive, nothing more,” he said of his meager income that allows him to buy a little food, and not much else.
As he spoke to AFP, Manuet looked on as small groups of people walked by his stall carrying bags full of food.
They were coming out of Casalinda, one of several part government-run megastores that sells goods exclusively to holders of US dollars — a small minority of Cubans.
Most rely instead on informal stalls such as the ones Manuet and other elderly Cubans set up on sidewalks every morning to sell fruit, coffee, cigarettes, candy, used clothes and other second-hand goods.


Near Manuet’s stall, 70-year-old Antonia Diez sells clothing and makeup.
“Things are bad, really bad,” she sighs, shaking her head.
Many of Cuba’s elderly have been without family support since 2022, when the biggest migratory exodus in the country’s history began amid a crisis marked by food, fuel and medicine shortages, power blackouts and rampant inflation.
More beggars can be seen on Havana’s streets — though there are no official figures — and every now and then an elderly person can be spotted rummaging through garbage bins for something to eat, or sell.
The Cuban crisis, which Havana blames on decades of US sanctions but analysts say was fueled by government economic mismanagement and tourism tanking under the Covid-19 pandemic, has affected the public purse too, with cuts in welfare spending.
As a result, the government has struggled to buy enough of the staples it has made available for decades to impoverished Cubans at heavily subsidized prices under the “libreta” ration book system.
It is the only way many people have to access affordable staples such as rice, sugar and beans — when there is any.
Diez said she used to receive an occasional state-sponsored food package, “but it’s been a while since they’ve sent anything.”


This all means that many products can only be found at “dollar stores” such as Casalinda, or private markets where most people cannot afford to shop.
According to the University of Havana’s Center for Cuban Economic Studies, in 2023 a Cuban family of three would have needed 12 to 14 times the average minimum monthly salary of 2,100 pesos (around $17) to meet their basic food needs.
Official figures show about 68,000 Cubans over 60 rely on soup kitchens run by the state Family Assistance System for one warm meal per day.
At one such facility, “Las Margaritas,” a plate of food costs about 13 pesos (11 dollar cents). Pensioner Eva Suarez, 78, has been going there daily for 18 months.
“The country is in such need. There’s no food, there’s nothing,” she told AFP, adding her pension is basically worthless “because everything is so expensive.”
Inflation rose by 190 percent between 2018 and 2023, but pensions have not kept pace.
Some are losing faith in communism, brought to the island by Fidel Castro’s revolution, and its unfulfilled promises such as a liter of subsidized milk for every child under seven per day.
“I have nothing, my house is falling apart,” said Lucy Perez, a 72-year-old economist who retired with 1,600 pesos (about 13 dollars) a month after a 36-year career.
“The situation is dire. The nation has no future.”
It’s not just the elderly suffering.
Cuba was rocked by unprecedented anti-government protests in 2021, and students have been rebelling in recent months due to a steep hike in the cost of mobile Internet — which only arrived on the island seven years ago.
In January, the government announced a partial dollarization of the economy that has angered many unable to lay their hands on greenbacks.