1982

• The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) exchanged fire with Israeli forces along the Lebanese border.
  • The PLO, unaffiliated with the Lebanese government, used Lebanon (known as home to Palestinian exiles) as their base between the 1960s-1980s.
• The Iraq-based Abu-Nidal group, a militant offshoot of the PLO, attempted to assassinate Israeli’s ambassador to Britain.
  • Israel forces cited failed assassination when eliminating all Palestinian groups in Lebanon.
• Israel invaded Lebanon and permitted Christian militias to enter the refugee Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila.
  • Israel surrounded the camps.
  • The war ended when the U.S. brokered an agreement in 1983 allowing the PLO to relocate to Tunisia.
  • American and French soldiers were stationed to protect the transfer and the move.
• Palestinians fully withdrew following the bombing of Beirut by Islamic Jihad.
  • Israel started withdrawing in 1985 and created security zones.
• The area became a hotspot of terrorist activity by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militant group that opposes Israel.