Tel el-Zaatar

Siege of Tel al-Zaatar
Part of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1977)
Date August 12, 1976 Location Beirut Result Destruction of the camp Displacement of Palestinian Refugees Lebanese Front decisive and strategic victory
Belligerents
Lebanese Front Tigers Militia Kataeb Party Guardians of the Cedars Al-Tanzim	PLO Fatah PFLP DFLP PFLP-GC
Commanders and leaders
Dany Chamoun Etienne Saqr William Hawi  †	Yasser Arafat Ahmed Jibril
Strength
LF: ~ 3,000	PLO: ~ 1,200
Casualties and losses
LF: 200	1,500 to 3,000 Palestinians killed

Lebanese Front

PLO

The Siege of Tel al-Zaatar (Arabic: معركة تل الزعتر‎‎), also known as the Tel al-Zaatar Massacre, was an armed siege which took place during the Lebanese Civil War in 1976. Tel al-Zaatar (The Hill of Thyme) was a UNRWA administered Palestinian Refugee camp housing approximately 50,000-60,000 refugees in northeast Beirut.

The militancy of radical factions increased with the breakdown in authority of the Lebanese government. On 18 January 1976, Christian forces the Guardians of the Cedars and the Tigers militia took control of the Karantina district and then committed the Karantina massacre.

On 4 January 1976, a thin cordon was established around the camp by 300 fighters from the Al-Tanzim and 100 fighters from the Maroun Khoury Group in an effort to contain the Palestinians. The Maroun Khoury Group was a Dikwaneh-based militia. One road was left open to allow Palestinian evacuation towards Aley but the Palestinians refused to enter into dialogue with the Lebanese Front (the overall coalition of Lebanese Christian militias).

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Wikipedia