On the morning of 13 April, 1975, unidentified gunmen in a speeding car fired on a church in the Christian East Beirut suburb of Ain El Rummaneh, killing 4 people, including two Maronite Phalangists. Later that day Phalangists led by the Gemayels, killed 27 Palestinians traveling on a bus in Ain El-Rummaneh going to Tal el Zaatar Palestinian Camp.

Bachir Jemayel April 15, 1975 A cease-fire was reached After more than three days of anguish, with 120 deaths and many injuries, two suspects were handed over to the Justice. Beirut and its surroundings have been the theater of violent clashes between the Phalange Party and Palestinian militias.

May 20, 1975 Five people were killed and 24 were wounded in Dekwaneh Violent confrontations opposed Palestinians from the Tel El Zaatar camp and Phalange Party members. Businesses were closed in protest against the lack of security.

Palestinian refugee camp Training young girls. July 7, 1975 An Israeli aggression against Rachidieh and Bourghoulieh camps in South Lebanon killed 12 persons and wounded 20 others. A Lebanese complaint was lodged at the United Nations.

August 5, 1975 Israel launched air, land and sea attacks against Tyr, killing 18 persons and injuring 29.

 

Palestinian refugee camp Training young Boys 1975

Phalangist Kataeb Young girls in East Beirut

September 7, 1975 Tripoli was in fire and blood
Exceptionally violent fights opposed Tripolitans to Zghortiotes, causing fires, kidnappings and street fights.
 

On September 10, 1975, Syrian-formed Saheka forces attacked the village of Der Ashash, in Northern Lebanon, killing three priests and causing its residents to flee. The following day, Saheka forces and guerrillas from the Syrian Baath Party attacked the village of Bet Mallat killing seven of its residents and kidnapping 10 others.

On October 9, 1975 Saheka forces attacked the Lebanese village of Tal Abbas in Akkar killing 15 people and injuring many others. The local church was set on fire with the hope of igniting religious strife between the residents. 

December 6, 1975 Satruday The assassination of four young Phalangists on the Fanar road provoked horrible killings in the streets of Beirut. The capital was rapidly set ablaze. It was the apocalypse. Militias launched street fights resulting in tens of innocent victims. Violence was at its peek and nothing seemed to end this thirst for blood.

January 18, 1976 Saturday  Karantina massacre
Christian forces conquered Karantina, a slum district populated primarily by poor Kurds and Armenians but controlled by a PLO detachment. More than 1000 civilians were massacred.

(January 1976) The Syrian formed and sponsored groups(Yarmouk & Sai'qa) attacking Damour city and massacring its residents, 582 were killed 

The Syrian-formed Saheka Guerrillas attacked the Christian town of Damour on January 21, 1976

The Saheka & Palestinians attack Damour, 1976

The Saheka & Palestinians entered most of the Christian housesin Damour.

The victory of the Palestinians & The Syrian-formed Saheka Guerrillas for killing and destroying the town of Damour

Destroying, looting and burning all Christian homes

Families thrown out with their babies and burning all the houses.

Syrians went in their plans hoping to create a sectarian strife among the Lebanese in order to distract the attention to their invasion of the country.

He was captured by Saheka & Palestinians and executed him in front of his family in the next picture ===>>>

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Elias Sarkis, a moderate Christian, was elected president in Lebanon 1976

Lebanese Christian militia leader Major Saad Haddad formed his South Lebanese Army (SLA) In March 1976

Heavy fighting started in Beirut  

From street to street

Christian Phalange and Kataeb fighters carry out military activities in Beirut

Lebanese army tanks

Inside the streets of Beirut

Downtown Beirut Lebanon 1976

 Beirut 1976 started to be divided East & West 

March 21st assault on the Holiday Inn Hotel in Beirut. At some point during March or April the Palestinians realized that they had gained effective control of Bank Street and so the stage was set for the biggest bank robbery in modern history.

Downtown Beirut

General looting of the banks was followed by disastrous attempts to dynamite the vaults causing serious injuries to the Palestinian thieves, so they decided to bring in professional safecrackers from Europe, possibly supplied by the mafia. Of the eleven banks robbed, the worst hit were those with safe-deposit vaults, the British Bank of the Middle East, Banca di Roma, and Bank Misr-Liban.  

The Guinness Book of Records claims the BBME alone lost a minimum of $20 million but probably $50 million, that is equivalent to $175 million today. Saiqa, the pro Syrian wing of the PLO were identified with the Banca di Roma thefts and marxist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was deemed responsible for the theft of the BBME. At one point a fire fight broke out between the two factions as Saiqa tried to steal the DFLP loot.

Christian girls fighting

Palestinian captured a church and shooting at Christians   

The ' Holiday Inn ' occupied by the Phalange Party fell in the hands of the Mourabitun and their allies.
According to some sources, the Phalange Party succeeded in evacuating some of its militiamen who took with them seven dead bodies, three of which were young girls. According to other sources, 65 militiamen were able to run away using an underground passage. The Holiday Inn had been subject to repeated assaults for the past ten months.

On 21st March 1976, a major assault by a special Palestinian commando units using armoured vehicles lent by the Khatib's Arab Army and supported by the leftist Muslim militias finally dislodged the Phalange. The leftist militias who had been handed the hotel by the Palestinians for propaganda purposes got so carried away celebrating that the Phalange was able to sneak back in at dawn the next day. The Palestinians therefore had to do the job all over again on the 22nd of March, and over the next few days the Phalange were pushed back to their defensive line at Martyrs Square.

Leftist (Yassarie) gunmen in a car drag the body of a Phalangist (kataeb)

Lebanese Arab Army with the help of the Syrians planning for attacks on Christian villages 1976 

March 23, 1976 The ' Beirut Battle ' continued amid shelling. The past 48 hours resulted in 150 deaths and 300 injuries. The control of downtown was at stake. Moslem-Progressive forces backed by Palestinian organizations were determined to eliminate any Phalangist presence West of the Martyrs Square. The new front was established on the axis Starco Hilton, while Phalangist militiamen faced assaults launched from the Riad El Solh and the Nejmeh Squares towards the Port area.

On the left is Major Ahmed Boutari of the Lebanese Arab Army, and George Habash, Leader of the PFLP, PLO chief, Yasser Arafat and Lt. Ahmed Khatib, Commander of the Lebanese Arab Army claiming the victory.

May 8, 1976 Elias Sarkis, the 52 years old Central Bank Governor, was elected President of the Republic at the second ballot by a majority of 66 votes out of 69 attending deputies. The election took place in a tense atmosphere at the villa Esseily-Hussein Mansour, which was turned into a temporary Parliament around which mortar shells were falling. Lebanese leftist parties were opposed to the elections.

Arab Deterrent Force consisted of 30,000 men, of whom 27,000 were Syrian. The remainder were token contingents from Saudi Arabia, the small Persian Gulf states, and Sudan; Libya had withdrawn its small force in late 1976. after more than one and one-half years of devastation the exact cost of the war will never be known, deaths may have approached 44,000, with about 180,000 wounded; many thousands of others were displaced or left homeless, or had migrated.

May 27, 1976 Linda Joumblatt, Kamal Joumblatt's 55 years old sister, was cowardly assassinated in her home in Beirut. A group of armed men broke into her apartment and opened fire on her. She was killed while her daughters Nouha, 28 years old, and Samar, 18 years old were injured.
 

May 30, 1976 An avalanche of missiles and shells hit Beirut while combats continued on all fronts. The bombings reached the airport, imposing the closure of runways to air traffic at night.
 

June 1, 1976 Syrian troops intervened in the Akkar region to raise the siege imposed on Kobeyate by officer Maamari from the 'Army of Arab Lebanon.' The Syrian contingent counted approximately 2000 men. 600 other soldiers entered the Bekaa region with over 200 tanks.

June 27, 1976 The Beirut International Airport was heavily bombed. An MEA Boeing 707 caught fire on the runway. The airplane's pilot died in the accident.

July 5, 1976 The PLO and their allies launched a massive offensive against the Kura and the Christian town of Chekka north of Beirut.