Tel al-Zaatar massacre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
 The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (June 2008)

The Tel al-Zaatar Massacre (Arabic: مذبحة تل الزعتر‎) took place during the Lebanese Civil War on August 12, 1976. Tel Zaatar was a Palestinian refugee camp north of Beirut. In revenge for the January 1976 massacre of the Christian city of Damour by PLO units, Christian militias laid siege to the refugee camp for 50 days. When the camp fell, no quarter was given to the survivors, and the slaughter rivaled that of Damour.[1]

Contents

[edit] The massacre and its aftermath

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

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[citation needed] - towards Muslim-held Western Beirut.[citation needed] During the evacuation, militia forces are said to have machine-gunned refugee columns,[citation needed] and others were killed with gunfire, grenades and knives inside the camp;[citation needed] a large number of rapes were also reported.[citation needed] The camp itself was completely obliterated to prevent the return of the inhabitants.[citation needed]

The massacre resulted in severe criticism of Syria throughout the Arab world, and also internationally.[citation needed] It is also said to have contributed to the mounting Sunni Muslim dissent within the Alawi-ruled country. 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.

[edit] Estimations of the numbers of victims:

  • Harris (p. 165) writes that "Perhaps 3,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, died in the siege and its aftermath"
  • "According to the Red Cross, over 90 percent of the civilians were successfully evacuated before the fall of the camp." [2]
  • Cobban (p. 142) writes that 1 500 camp residents were killed in one day and a total of 2 200 were killed throughout the events.
  • 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Katz, Samuel M, Russell, Lee. E, Armies in Lebanon, Osprey Publishing
  2. ^ Tel El Zaatar 1976 'Tal el zaatar' ' Tel al zaatar '

[edit] Literature

  • William Harris, Faces of Lebanon. Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions (Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, USA 1996)
  • Helena Cobban, The Making of Modern Lebanon (Hutchinson, London, UK 1985, ISBN 0091607914)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_al-Zaatar_massacre"
Personal tools