God's Wrath Revealed Against Lebanon

Lebanese Civil War 1975-1990 It is impossible to discuss Lebanese History, all world events during the 1980s or Lebanon’s place in world affairs without discussing the event known as the Lebanese Civil War. At least 250,000 people were killed, 500,000 permanently injured. All of Beirut, before then known as the Paris of the Middle East, was destroyed. “Civil War” is a bit of a misnomer since this war ended up including at least 4 foreign armies and affected international relations that were already strained by the Cold War.

Historians and political scientists have been unable to agree on how this war started. Most accept the conflict related to the power sharing agreement between the religious sects that were set up after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Each religion was granted a proportionate share of parliamentary seats based on the results of the 1934 census. The 1934 census was the only census ever conducted for political reasons.   Since the creation of Israel in 1948, Palestinian Muslims refugees had been flooding into Lebanon. The demographics shifted but the old agreement of power sharing based on the 1934 census applied. Many people grew restless and it was only a matter of time before this grew into violence.

In Beirut, on April 13, 1975, four members of a right-wing, Christian political party called Phalange, were gunned down. Later that day Phalanges retaliated by attacking a busload of Palestinians although it was never known for certain if the gunmen had been Palestinians.  Then the exchange of gunfire and bombings escalated.

The PLO, Syrian Army, Israeli Army, Hezbollah, various religious groups , various political parties and even the Unite States Marines became involved. Alliances between the groups formed and broke down overnight. It became impossible to track who was on which side. Every group involved made alliances with and then betrayed almost every single other group in the war.

The war officially ended in 1990 but occasional bombings still occur. Lebanon fought a 2006 war with Israel related to the power Hezbollah acquired as a consequence of the Lebanese Civil War. The 2006 war with Israel resulted in 1,200 casualties total for all sides. The country still faces internal strife along sectarian lines (Christians vs. Muslims vs. Druze.)

Wind Storm 1992 killed 25

Flood 1955 killed 440 in Lebanon

Earthquake 1936 killed 136 in Lebanon