Lebanese Civil War

A multifactional conflict fought in Lebanon from 1975 to 1990, involving domestic political and communal groups as well as foreign powers.

National Pact: An unwritten 1943 agreement that allocated Lebanon’s highest political offices among its major religious communities. Its confessional allocation became a central point of dispute as Lebanon’s population and political balance changed.
Lebanese National Pact: An unwritten 1943 agreement that assigned Lebanon’s presidency to a Maronite Christian, premiership to a Sunni Muslim, and speakership to a Shia Muslim. The pact’s fixed communal quotas came under pressure as political and demographic conditions shifted.
Bashir Gemayel: A Lebanese Maronite militia leader who became president-elect in 1982 and was assassinated before taking office. His rise and assassination reshaped the Christian camp and preceded the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
Black Saturday (Lebanon): A December 1975 massacre in Beirut in which Phalangist gunmen killed many Muslims at checkpoints. The killings followed a deadly bus attack and became an early emblem of sectarian violence.
Lebanese diaspora: Communities of Lebanese origin living outside Lebanon, formed through successive waves of migration. War-related displacement and emigration expanded communities abroad and reshaped Lebanon’s population.
Lebanese National Movement: A coalition of leftist and Arab nationalist parties and organizations led by Kamal Jumblatt. It allied with Palestinian forces against the existing political order at the war’s outset.
Cairo Agreement (1969): An agreement that recognized the PLO’s authority to conduct armed operations from parts of Lebanon under specified conditions. It formalized an armed Palestinian presence that intensified tensions inside Lebanon.
Rashid Karami: A Lebanese Sunni politician who served multiple terms as prime minister during the civil war. He led governments during several attempts to manage the conflict and was assassinated in 1987.
Damour massacre: A 1976 massacre in the coastal town of Damour, carried out by Palestinian and allied forces. It became a defining atrocity in the early fighting between Christian and Palestinian-aligned forces.
Hezbollah: A Lebanese Shia Islamist political and armed organization that emerged in the 1980s amid Israel’s occupation of Lebanon. The occupation and regional conditions of the war helped create the setting for its emergence.

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