Lebanon: A Proxy Battleground for the Last 50 Years

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It was a cold night, 50 years ago in Beirut (a city in Middle East) when an Israeli commando team led by someone dressed up as a woman snuck through a fancy neighborhood to three apartments of people from the Palestine Liberation Organization. They shot and killed those 3 important members there. Although the anniversary is not celebrated much, what happened on April 10, 1973 still has relevance today.

Fifty years ago, Lebanon was the area where Israel and other forces would fight against each other. Last week, rockets were shot from both Israel and Lebanese Palestinian militants, once again showing their bad relationship.

The assassinations in Lebanon surprised people, because a group of Israeli people were able to come and go without being stopped. Before this happened two years before the civil war began in the country, Lebanon was mainly known as an awesome place for tourists to visit. They could ski on mountains with snow, sunbathe on beaches with sand, and enjoy sightseeing at ancient ruins. This event started a trend that continues until now. Lebanon is regularly affected by other countries nearby it who want to control what happens there.

Ehud Barak was the leader of an operation that targeted three people from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The targets were Kamal Adwan, who looked after PLO activities in the West Bank; Mohammed Youssef Najjar, a member of PLO executives and Kamal Nasser, who worked as a spokesperson for the PLO and was also known for his writing and poetry. Later on Ehud Barak became Israel’s highest-ranking army commander and then their Prime Minister in 1999.

On the evening of April 9, 1973, Adwan’s wife Maha had a severe toothache and went to sleep in their children’s room. Adwan usually stayed late at work and had a meeting scheduled with some People’s Liberation Organization (PLO) representatives that night according to what Maha told Big Big News when we spoke from Jordan where she has been living after the raid.

At around 1 a.m., Jayousi heard a loud crash and was woken up by it. Adwan, who was holding a gun, came into the bedroom and told her to stay there. A few seconds later, gunshots could be heard and Adwan fell to the ground in the hallway outside the bedrooms. Two men with guns then walked into the bedroom and shined a flashlight on Jayousi and her children.

One of the people said on their radio in the language of Hebrew, “Our job is finished. His wife and children are here, do we have to hurt them too?” The response was, “Only if they fight back, don’t hurt them,” as remembered by Jayousi who knows how to speak Hebrew from Cairo University.

When the Israelis left, she quickly hid her children in the bathroom then looked around her house. The entrance door was shattered and had lots of bullet holes, and there were spots of blood on the stairs. She didn’t realize until later that someone living upstairs named Nasser had been killed by them too.

Jayousi went to the balcony and shouted out to Najjar who lived in the opposite building, not knowing Najjar and his wife had passed away. Few weeks before they were raided, Jayousi saw strange people visiting their building’s parking area and some people across the street started snapping pictures of it. Adwan got worried and told Jayousi that he is going to ask for higher security to keep them safe.

Operation Spring of Youth was a raid that resulted in the deaths of three Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) people as well as several Lebanese policemen and security guards who attempted to stop it. Two Israeli commandos were also injured while attacking another place in Beirut city and eventually died after being wounded in a gunfight.

Israel recently assassinated a Palestinian figure in response to the deaths of 11 Israeli coaches and athletes during an event at the 1972 Munich Olympics by a group called ‘Black September’. The killed person’s son, Rami, said his father had nothing to do with the attack.

Years later, Barak talked about the mission: he and two other soldiers disguised as women with wigs, makeup and dresses so that they wouldn’t look suspicious walking on a Beirut street at night. Then, the Israelis arrived in boats at Beirut’s coastline and were taken by Mossad (an Israeli intelligence agency) agents who pretended to be tourists. These agents drove the team to Verdun neighbourhood.

Barak and his team arrived at the two buildings. Three squads went inside and forced open some apartment doors. When a guard came up to them, they shot him down. Then, Barak’s back-up team fired their weapons at a police car that showed up after the shootings. This was mentioned by Barak in an interview on TV many years later.

After 8 minutes, three squads drove to the shore then went back to sea on boats with important documents. Later on, 100,000 people attended the funeral of the three leaders where they were all buried at a cemetery used for burying Palestinian officials and fighters over time.

The attack caused more conflict between supporters and people who didn’t like the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) or any of its groups. The PLO first moved to Lebanon in 1970, after they had been forced out of Jordan. This was three years after Israel won control over West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. From Lebanon, these Palestinian groups tried launching attacks into Israel.

The political situation in Lebanon was so bad that the Prime Minister, Saeb Salam, had to leave. Just a few weeks later there were fights between the Lebanese Army and some fighters from Palestine. These events caused Lebanon to be in a Civil War for fifteen years, during which Israel came into Lebanon and stayed until 2000 when the war finished.

After the civil war ended, Hezbollah (a group supported by Iran) became Israel’s biggest enemy in Lebanon. In 2006, a fight broke out between Israel and Hezbollah that caused lots of damage in Lebanon, especially in the south region.

Last week, Hamas – a Palestinian group – fired rockets into Israel. This was seen as a response to Israeli police raiding the Al-Aqsa Mosque – an important site for both Muslims and Jews. After this, Israel bombed areas in Lebanon. Surprisingly, some of the Lebanese politicians who usually don’t like Palestinians expressed anger towards Hamas.

Samir Geagea, a leader from the Christian Lebanese Forces group asked the government to ensure peace at the border. He also warned against leaving high-level decisions about the country’s future to Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran-leaded groups. Fouad Abu Nader another former leader of the Lebanese Forces implored for the arrest of a chief of Hamas.

50 years ago, an incredible event occurred – it was called the 1973 raid. 9 year old Ziad Kaj lived nearby when the attack started and remembers hearing gunshots and his house being plunged into darkness as the electricity was cut off. Lots of people in his building ran to his family’s house on the ground floor for safety. He says he’s never forgotten that “horrible sleepless night”.