Conflict typically plays out on several levels, one of them being framing who the enemy is. Israeli officials have framed the Israeli war on Lebanon as a war on terrorism and against barbarism - embodied by Hezbollah. Lebanese officials have said it as a war on all of Lebanon instigated by an enemy state. Meanwhile, Hezbollah see themselves as a resistance movement fighting Israeli expansionism and occupation. Conflict narratives are not made-up out of nothing. It is necessary to understand where they come from to address the grievances driving conflict.
While the most common narratives from Israel’s side are well-known and shared widely in European media and political debate, what makes up the conflict narratives from Lebanon is lesser known. This article sheds some light on the historical background of Israel’s role in large-scale violence in Lebanon to bring some nuance to the often black and white thinking that surrounds the conflicts in the Middle East.
Israel sees Palestinian organisations in Lebanon, Hezbollah and their regular attacks on Israel as a threat against their national security. Therefore they frame their attacks on the country as self-defense. In Lebanon, there is another perception. On this side of the border, Israel is largely seen as a colonial power threatening Lebanese sovereignty, occupying Palestine and potentially aiming to re-occupy Lebanon. While the rhetoric about establishing a ‘Greater Israel’, including also Lebanon, is considered to belong to a fringe movement in Israel, it is viewed as a very serious threat from the Lebanese side. As is the case with several other Arab-majority states, Lebanon’s state representatives have not recognized Israel as a state and there has never been a peace agreement between the two countries. Technically, they are at war even when there is no visible violence and on an interpersonal level it is illegal for Lebanese citizens to interact with Israeli citizens.
Moments after Israel assassinated a Hezbollah commander in the southern suburbs of Beirut, 30 July 2024. In other parts of the city, such as here on the corniche, people continue to try to find some distraction from the war.
A brief history of Israel’s aggressions in Lebanon
Following Hamas’ attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, Hezbollah started launching missiles at Israel from the South of Lebanon, which they stated was in “solidarity with the Palestinian people”. This was just the most recent manifestation of a conflict that has deep historical roots, going back several decades. The southern regions of Lebanon have seen many wars, Israeli invasions and occupations long before 2023. Stretching southward from the Litani River to the border of Israel, the south of Lebanon became home to thousands of Palestinians expelled during the Nakba when Israel was established in 1948. In the 1960s it grew into a base of Palestinian resistance to Israel, culminating with the establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as a ‘state within a state’ in Lebanon until 1982.
Because of PLO’s presence, Israel first invaded Lebanon in 1978 with the aim to push PLO away from its northern border. The invasion led to Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, and to the establishment of UNIFIL – a UN peacekeeping mission mandated to monitor the border between Israel and Lebanon. For 22 years, Israel occupied and controlled this region, roughly 10% of Lebanon, together with their Lebanese ally The South Lebanon Army (SLA).
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The SLA played a significant role in fighting PLO in the south of Lebanon, and over time grew increasingly connected to Israel. In Khiam, a small village in the occupied region, the SLA administered a feared detention centre with the support and under the supervision of Israeli government officials. The detention center, known for severe torture of detainees, held Lebanese who were suspected of belonging to armed organisations hostile to Israel. The detainees were in the center without any legal process and without access to the outside world for years. Thousands were detained, tortured, and at least ten people died under torture. Until now there has been, in spite of efforts of survivors and families of the victims, no accountability for the horrors of Khiam.
Regardless of Israel’s first invasion, Palestinian groups continued to attack Israel from Lebanese soil. While the Palestinians saw this as a fight to regain their land, Israel saw it as a security threat and launched a second, and even more devastating invasion of Lebanon in 1982. This time Israel extended their control north of the Litani River all the way up the coast, laying siege to the capital city Beirut, with the goals to stop the attacks, to eradicate the PLO, and to install a pro-Israeli Lebanese government. The 1982 aggression laid the foundation for the current conflict and narratives surrounding Israel’s violence in Lebanon in many ways. It is etched in the Lebanese collective consciousness, with a similar level of violent intensity and collective punishment echoing in the present.
Ariel Sharon, at the time Defense Minister and later Prime Minister, visiting the Israeli Army forces during the invasion of Lebanon 1982.
Many people in Lebanon view 1982 as a year of horror. Though Lebanon since 1975 was in the midst of a bloody Civil War between various religious and political fractions, the 1982 Israeli invasion and siege of Beirut marked a new escalation. PLO’s role in the country was a highly antagonizing issue, as well as a major factor in the onset of the Civil War, and in 1982 the PLO was expelled from Beirut under international supervision. While Beirut was under Israel’s siege, Lebanon’s president-elect, an Israeli ally, was assassinated and unfounded allegations were directed against the Palestinians. As a revenge his supporters, aided by the Israeli army (IDF) and with the approval of the Israeli government, entered the Palestinian refugee camps of Shatila and adjacent neighbourhood Sabra and subjected the residents to appalling acts of violence. The killing and sexualized violence that became known as the ‘Sabra and Shatila massacre’ continued for three days. The massacre left thousands of civilians dead, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shia Muslims. The IDF was later found responsible for the massacre, both through a UN- and an Israeli investigation.
Israel’s role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre is one of many events that over time has bred anti-Israel sentiments in Lebanon. Only eight years later, in 1996 another massacre took place where Israel was the perpetrator. This time in the village of Qana, also located in southern Lebanon under Israeli occupation, referenced in the Bible as the place where Jesus made water into wine. That year, Israel shelled a UN compound, a known battalion headquarter for the past 18 years, which was sheltering almost 800 civilians. The Qana massacre killed 106 people and injured 116, including Fijiian UN Peacekeepers. Even though it caused a wave of international condemnation and triggered a UN investigation, concluding that Israel had most likely shelled the UN compound on purpose, victims of the Qana massacre have seen no justice.
For many in Lebanon, once simply names of places such as ’Sabra’, ‘Shatila,’ ‘Khiam,’ ‘Qana,’ and even ‘The South’ itself have become symbols of Israeli occupation, aggression, and violence without accountability. In 2000, Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory, ending a 22 year occupation, erupted in euphoric celebration throughout the country. This day of May 25 is marked as ‘Liberation Day,’ in the Lebanese calendar, a national holiday to commemorate the liberation of the South of Lebanon.
A checkpoint set up by the Israeli Army close to the Lebanese city of Tyre in 1985, during the Israeli occupation.
The beginning of Hezbollah
These events and Israel’s role in them have contributed to widespread hostility and resentment towards Israel in Lebanon, which fuelled support for the Shiite political party and armed group Hezbollah. It was founded following Israel’s invasion in 1982, and gained traction during Israeli occupation of the south. With the support of Iran, Hezbollah set their goal to fight Israel’s expansion and resist their occupation of Lebanon through guerilla warfare. Over time, the organisation grew and became more than a group conducting guerilla warfare - as a military actor, the only to have been allowed to keep its arms after the end of the Lebanese Civil War in light of the Israeli Occupation of the South, and as a political actor, as they developed a social welfare program as well as a political arm. Since 1992, it has participated in Lebanese elections and has several seats in parliament. Many states, including most of the EU, have labelled Hezbollah’s military arm as a terrorist organisation. Some other states, including Germany and the UK, have labelled the whole organisation, including the political and social welfare branches, as such. Other states and none-state actors, both inside and outside of Lebanon, consider them a legitimate resistance against occupation, colonialism and expansionism.
The empty Khiam prison is a museum and a memorial for victims since the end of Israel's occupation in 2000. It was bombed by Israel during the 2006 war which the manager of the museum believes was done by Israel to remove the evidence of what happened at the prison.
The struggle between Israel and Hezbollah has since the latter’s founding been the reason for much violence in Lebanon. Often, Hezbollah conducts guerilla operations, while Israel responds with airstrikes. One such escalation took place in July 2006, when Hezbollah ambushed Israeli soldiers on the border, killing three of them and kidnapping two. Israel responded by attacking Lebanon with airstrikes and artillery which damaged civilian infrastructure, such as the international airport and many roads and bridges, and caused the widespread destruction of the south of the country as well as the southern suburb of Beirut. Among the targets was the museum and memorial in Khiam, honoring the victims of torture and detention during the Israeli occupation. The war, that lasted for just over a month, left at least 1,100 dead in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and close to a million displaced. On the Israeli side, 43 civilians lost their lives along with 116 soldiers. The current escalation follows a similar pattern, in which Hezbollah initiates an attack on military targets, while Israel responds with destroying civilian structures and killing non-combatants.
The start of the recent war
In 2023 Lebanon became part of the war by Hezbollah opening their ‘support front’. This followed Hamas’ premeditated attacks on Israel on October 7. The attacks led to the death of approximately 1200 people and the abduction of 252 who were taken to Gaza as hostages. Hezbollah’s decision to enter the war was not popular among all Lebanese, especially not the Christian and Sunni fractions – Hezbollah’s political rivals. Even before entering the war on 8 October 2023, Hezbollah was a polarizing actor accused of hijacking the Lebanese state, and constructing a ‘state within a state’ thanks to its superior military power. While the period between 8 October 2023 and September 2024, saw the fighting limited mainly to the South, with the exception of targeted assassinations and occasional strikes in other parts of the country, in mid-September, the war widened to encompass all of Lebanon.
This widening of the conflict started on September 17 2024, when some 2,800 people were injured and at least 9 killed, caused by pager devices suddenly exploding across the country. These slightly outdated devices were used by Hezbollah members to communicate without interception, but also by nurses and doctors in hospitals. The indiscriminate nature of the attacks, the disguising of a weapon in a seemingly harmless device, as well as what seems as an intention to spread terror among civilians has led experts to label it as a violation of international law. This was not only a new form of warfare leading to widespread shock and fear of electronic devices, but also an increase in escalation in Israel’s war on Lebanon. Following the pager attack, the airstrikes became more frequent and unpredictable and soon after Israeli soldiers entered the South. The first day of Israel’s extended bombardment, 23 September, was the deadliest day in Lebanon’s history, with almost 600 people losing their lives. The Israeli assault also led to over 1 million people displaced, and more than 4000 dead. Civilians have been disproportionately impacted, which indicates that Israel is committing war crimes in Lebanon.
Destruction of a home in Lebanon after Israel's bombardment, 2024.
Memories echoing in the present
Clearly, the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is not new, but has been cyclical over decades. When Israel entered the south of Lebanon on 1 October 2024 in what they claimed was a limited ground invasion to eliminate Hezbollah along the border, to Lebanese, this marked the fourth Israeli invasion of their country. Even though this time is different in scope, the threat from Israel is a constant; many in Lebanon suspect that this “limited ground invasion” is a first step to reoccupy the South or even larger parts of Lebanon. The massacres witnessed in villages in the South during the last year bear similarities to what was seen in 1982, 1996 and in 2006. The torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons reported in the news are reminders of what happened in Khiam. The attacks on civilians sheltering in many UNRWA schools in Gaza, are also reminders of Israeli attacks on UN compounds in Lebanon, such as at Qana. People in Lebanon are today forced to flee their homes, and some even the country, as they did in 2006.
For the people of Lebanon, the narrative of the enemy is rooted in very real memories, experiences and fears, as it is for other parties to the conflicts currently encompassing large parts of the Middle East region. In order to reach any real solution, these conflicting narratives and pains have to be acknowledged and given space to exist at the same time because giving simple labels to actors and excluding their perspective from a conflict, will only drive them farther apart. The current situation in Lebanon and whether the ceasefire will hold is not clear. If it does, it is not the end to the conflict, but it should be the beginning of engaging with the narratives it produces.