Beirut 1987: The Vanished Premier and the War of the Delegates

In June 1987, Lebanon's Sunni prime minister Rashid Karami was assassinated by a bomb on his military helicopter. But that was just the final act of a bitter power struggle that had been unfolding for months. This episode unpacks the so-called 'War of the Delegates'—a political war fought from limousines and cabinet rooms while Beirut burned. We trace Karami's rivalry with Amal leader Nabih Berri, the Syrian-backed maneuvering that paralyzed the government, and the deep sectarian logic that made a prime minister a target in a country where the Shia were rising and the Sunnis were losing ground. We also look at the mysterious helicopter bombing, the shadowy group 'the Lebanese Army—the State of Greater Lebanon' that claimed responsibility, and the wave of car bombs that followed. Through Karami's story, we explore how Lebanon's civil war entered its most cynical phase—when even political leaders could be killed with surgical precision, and the state itself became a battlefield.

#Lebanon #Beirut #RashidKarami #Amal #NabihBerri #Syria #HafezAlAssad #CivilWar #WarOfTheDelegates #Assassination #1987 #Sectarianism #Sunni #Shia #MilitiaPolitics #MiddleEast #History #FexingoHistory

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