Beirut 1978: The Hundred Days War That Redrew the Green Line

In February 1978, as Lebanon's civil war entered its third year, a brutal and often overlooked campaign erupted in Beirut's eastern suburbs. Syrian troops — nominally peacekeepers — turned their guns on the Christian Kataeb forces, shelling residential neighborhoods and battling street by street for over a hundred days. This episode tells the story of that forgotten war within a war: the alliances that shattered, the neighborhoods that burned, and the lasting scars it left on Lebanon's map. We follow the rise of Bachir Gemayel's Lebanese Forces, the Syrian regime's calculations under Hafez al-Assad, and the quiet role of the United States. We also look at the civilian toll — families trapped in basements, the collapse of the old cross-sectarian coexistence, and how the Green Line hardened from a frontline into a permanent border. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, diplomatic cables, and recent scholarship, we explore why this battle is rarely mentioned in the standard civil war narrative — and why it matters for understanding Lebanon today.

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