Tel al-Zaatar Massacre

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The Tel al-Zaatar Massacre took place during the Lebanese Civil War on August 12, 1976. Tel al-Zaatar, talu-z-za'tar, is variously transliterated from Arabic as Tal ez-Zaatar, Tal Ezzatar, Tel al-Za'tar, Tall Zatar, Tal El Zatar, etc, and means The Hill of Thyme.

Lebanese Civil War
Black Saturday–Karantina Massacre–Damour massacre–Tel al-Zaatar Massacre–Sabra and Shatila massacre–War of the Camps

Lebanese Civil War
Black Saturday–Karantina Massacre–Damour massacre–Tel al-Zaatar Massacre–Sabra and Shatila massacre–War of the Camps

Contents

1 Background
2 The massacre and its aftermath
3 Estimations of the numbers of victims:
4 See also
5 External links
6 Literature

Background

The Beirut refugee camp of Tel al-Zaatar, inhabited by some 20,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, was laid under siege in the summer of 1976 by several thousand Maronite militiamen. These included the main Christian militia, the Phalangists, but also Etienne Saqr's anti-Palestinian Guardians of the Cedars. Their coalition was backed by Hafez al-Assad's Syria, who had intervened in 1976 against the LNM/PLO-coalition fighting the Christian-dominated government. The Lebanese Army was also aiding the militias, and some sources indicate the presence of Israeli advisors[link].

The camp was considered a Palestinian and LNM stronghold, and was defended by some 1,500 fighters from the PLO and the radical Rejectionist Front organizations. It was well fortified and tunnels were dug underground for civilian protection and ammunition storage. As it was situated in East Beirut, on the Christian side of the Green Line, it was under constant attack from Christian and government forces.

The massacre and its aftermath

On August 12 the camp finally fell, following an on-and-off siege of several months. During the last two months, the siege had tightened with Syrian backing. Heavy artillery shelling damaged much of the camp and killed a number of inhabitants. As the militias took control of the camp, its inhabitants were forcibly evacuated - or ethnically cleansed - towards Muslim-held Western Beirut. During the evacuation, militia forces are said to have machine-gunned refugee columns, and others were killed with gunfire, grenades and knives inside the camp; a large number of rapes were also reported. The camp itself was completely obliterated to prevent the return of the inhabitants.

Many survivors of the massacre were resettled by the PLO in the emptied Christian village of Damour[link], itself the site of a Palestinian massacre of Christians on January 20.

The massacre resulted in severe criticism of Syria throughout the Arab world, and also internationally. It is also said to have contributed to the mounting Sunni Muslim dissent within the Alawi-ruled country, which would later break out in open revolt (see here and here). As a result, Syria broke off its offensive on the PLO and the LNM, and agreed to an Arab League summit which temporarily ended the Civil War.

Estimations of the numbers of victims:

Harris (p. 165) writes that "Perhaps 3,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, died in the siege and its aftermath"
[This page] states that 2,000 people died during the entire siege, and 4,000 were wounded.
[This page] claims that "many of the several thousand civilians who had remained there [during the siege] were killed.
[This page] gives a figure of "2,000 refugees" for Tel al-Zaatar and the Karantina Massacre together.

External links

[Information and Pictures from the Lebanese Civil War 'liberty05.com'] Tel-el-Zaatar (the Hill of Thyme) was the largest and strongest Palestinian refugee camp established in 1948, Includes several pictures from The Battle of Tel al-Zaatar.

Literature

William Harris, Faces of Lebanon. Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions (Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, USA 1996)