User:Farahsophia/sandbox South Lebanon Draft

Southern Lebanon

Regions of Lebanon

Southern Lebanon is the southernmost of the four regions in Lebanon. It includes the governorates of Nabatieh and South Lebanon. Southern Lebanon is the Lebanese border region to Israel.

Geography

Governorate of Nabatieh

Southern Lebanon stretches from the Awwali River in the North to the Lebanese-Israeli border in the South. It boasts diverse geographical features with a coastal stretch in the West and hilly and mountainous terrain inland. Here, altitudes vary from 100 to 1000 meters. The Litani River runs through the region.

Administrative Division

The Governorate of South Lebanon

Southern Lebanon covers two of the eight Lebanese governorates, Nabatieh and South Lebanon. To the east of the region, the governorate of Nabatieh has a population of 276,285 (2023) and is itself divided into four districts, Bent Jbeil, Hasbaya, Marjaayoun and Nabatieh. To the West of the region, the governorate of South Lebanon has a population of 718,765 (2016) and is divided into three districts, Jezzine, Saida and Tyr.

Major Cities in Southern Lebanon

• Nabatieh City
• Jezzine
• Sidon (Saida)
• Tyr

Demographics

Religion

The population of Southern Lebanon is predominantly Shiite. There are also smaller groups of Maronites and Sunnis.

Syrian Refugees

Lebanon currently hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees. 104.627 of them currently reside in South Lebanon and another 65.718 reside in Nabatieh (2022).

History

Until World War I, Southern Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1920, at the San Remo conference, France was awarded the mandate over what became the states of Syria and Lebanon which included Southern Lebanon. In 1948, after the creation of the State of Israel and the Arab-Israeli war, Southern Lebanon became the border region to Israel. More than 100.000 Palestinian refugees crossed the border into Lebanon after the 1948 Israeli-Arab War. In September 1970, the Jordanian government expelled the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) whose training camps had previously been located in Jordan. The PLO fighters moved to Southern Lebanon. Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the PLO, used Southern Lebanon as a base from which to launch raids and armed incursions into Israel. At that time, Southern Lebanon was a rural and underdeveloped area where the effective abandonment of the Lebanese central government had created a power vacuum which was quickly filled by local militias. The Lebanese Armed Forces had withdrawn from the area in 1968 and the last local elections had been held in 1963.

The Good Fence Policy

Ever since the establishment of Israel, and even before, Israeli officials had considered strategic partnerships with the Christian population of Southern Lebanon. The idea was to help create a Christian state in Lebanon which would then become a natural ally of Israel. In 1975, the Good Fence Policy was introduced by Israel, and gates were established alongside the Lebanese-Israeli border where those in Southern Lebanon, who were friendly towards Israel, could receive medical care and other supplies. At the same time, Israel forged alliances with the Maronite militias in Southern Lebanon, exchanging intelligence for arms.

Operation Litani

In March 1978, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin launched Operation Litani as a response to the PLO raids. He sent Israeli troops into Southern Lebanon. There were an estimated 1100-2000 Lebanese and Palestinian victims as well as 20 Israeli casualties. Furthermore, 100.000-250.000 Lebanese people were internally displaced. In March 1978 the United Nations issued Resolutions 425 and 426, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was established. It was to comprise 6000 troops, last for eight months, and aimed at restoring security and peace in the area via the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the returning the authority over the region to the Lebanese government. Neither the Israeli troops nor the local militias welcomed the UNIFIL forces. When it was time for Israel to withdraw, instead of turning over the territory to UNFIL, they handed the border region over to the South Lebanon Army (SLA) led by Major Sa'ad Haddad who established and controlled a security zone for Israel. Haddad established the (unrecognized) Free and Independent Lebanese State.

The 1982 Israeli Invasion

South Lebanon Security Zone

UNIFIL was largely ineffective in meeting any of their aims including providing security and reinstating the authority of the Lebanese government. However, between 1981 and 1982, both Israel and the PLO adhered to a tremulous cease-fire which had been brokered by the United States who, under President Jimmy Carter, had significantly pressured Israel to withdraw from Southern Lebanon. In 1982, an assassination attempt on the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom was perceived by Israel as a violation of the ceasefire by the PLO and Israel invaded Southern Lebanon again (Operation Peace for Galilee). Under the leadership of Israeli Minister of Defence, Ariel Sharon, IDF forces were meant to drive the PLO 40 kilometers inland, so that they no longer could fire rockets at Israel. This eventually escalated into a siege of the city of Beirut and conflicts with the Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon.

Israeli Occupation of Southern Lebanon

In 1983, a peace agreement was signed between Israel and the Lebanese government but this agreement was not accepted by the local militias in Southern Lebanon, especially the Druze and Shia coalition. Despite the increasingly protracted nature of the conflict in Southern Lebanon, at the Naquara talks in 1985, Israel was unwilling to entrust the region and the security zone to UNIFIL and instead wanted the SLA to retain control over the area. This in turn was not acceptable to the Lebanese government, who wanted a total Israeli withdrawal and the return of their authority over the region. A small contingent of Israeli soldiers remained stationed in Southern Lebanon until the Israeli government decided to withdraw in March 2000. Previously, the continued occupation of Southern Lebanon had come under increased scrutiny by the Israeli public given the Israeli losses during Hezbollah attacks and the costs of maintaining the security zone and at the same time, the SLA forces were also losing morale and eventually collapsed on May 24th 2000.

The Blue Line

The Blue Line

The continued conflict since 1978 had blurred the lines of the Israeli-Lebanese border. UNIFIL was tasked with verifying that Israel had indeed withdrawn from South Lebanon and thus complied with 1978 UNSC Resolution 425. This was impossible until a fixed border was established between Lebanon and Israel. Miklos Pinther, the UN's chief cartographer, was asked to determine this border. Given the lack of archival data, he and his team eventually decided on a practical line that was as close as possible to the mandate border. This, the so-called Blue Line, is not technically a border as recognized by international law. It serves as a de-facto border.

Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 amid the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. At the time, the Shiite community in Lebanon was marginalized and poor, conditions that were exacerbated by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

A split within Amal, Lebanon's main Shia party, led to the formation of Islamic Amal, which played a crucial role in Hezbollah's inception. This new resistance group merged with other factions, including the Association of the Ulama of Jabal Amil, to resist the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. Following the 1992 assassination of Sayyid Abbas Musawi, Hassan Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah. The group's ideology is rooted in the teachings of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the concept of Velayat-e Faqih, advocating for governance by Islamic clerics.