Beirut 1958: The Summer Lebanon Almost Split Apart

In the summer of 1958, Lebanon teetered on the edge of civil war. President Camille Chamoun, a Maronite Christian, sought to amend the constitution for a second term, inflaming tensions with Muslim factions who saw it as a power grab. The crisis drew in the United States, which landed 14,000 Marines on Beirut's beaches under Operation Blue Bat, and the newly formed United Arab Republic under Gamal Abdel Nasser. Lucas and Luna explore the sectarian fault lines — Maronite, Sunni, Druze, Greek Orthodox — that erupted in street battles across Beirut and Tripoli. They examine the role of the CIA, the Arab nationalist tide, and the quiet compromise that led to General Fuad Chehab's presidency, a fragile peace that held until 1975. This episode dives into the little-known American intervention, the backroom deals at the Mena House in Cairo, and the legacy of the 1958 crisis as a prelude to Lebanon's long war.

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