Syrian occupation of Lebanon
Encyclopedia : S : SY : SYR : Syrian occupation of Lebanon
During the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon requested Syrian entrance as an Arab peacekeeping force to the country. The Arab League agreed to send peacekeeping force mostly formed by Syrian.
At the beginning, Syria's job was to protect the Maronite Christians, two years later, in 1978, it changed its position and sided with the PLO.
Aoun tried to apply UN Security Council resolution 520 and asked the Syrians to leave Lebanon immediately. Upon the Syrians' refusal to cooperate, Aoun launched on 14 March 1989 the "War of Liberation" against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.
Due to the regional and international context, Aoun did not manage to recover Lebanon's independence and was forced into exile in France on October 13th, 1990, following a Syrian invasion of the Baabda Palace in coordination with Israeli air forces.
Syrian forces remained in Lebanon, effectively dominating its government from 1990 to 2005. They established a strong intelligence apparatus based in the town of Anjar. The Syrians secret services and military army persecuted the Lebanese resistance by killing and imprisoning its members in the Mazzeh jail, or torturing them in the Beau Rivage or Villa Jabre. The Syrian High Commissioners Ghazi Kanaan and Rustom Ghazaly had absolute power on all political issues. They contributed to the widespread corruption in Lebanon. One of their governmental allies was Walid Jumblatt.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
After the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and the death of Hafez Al-Assad in 2000, the Syrian occupation of Lebanon faced fierce resistance from the Lebanese population. The Syrian occupation ended on April 26,2005 after the Cedar Revolution that took place as a reaction to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005.
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