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South Lebanon Security Zone | |||||||||
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Israeli-occupied territory of Lebanon | |||||||||
1985[1]–2000 | |||||||||
![]() 1988 Israeli map of the occupied belt in Southern Lebanon | |||||||||
Capital | Marjayoun | ||||||||
Population | |||||||||
• 1993 | 180,000 | ||||||||
Government | |||||||||
• Type | Military occupation | ||||||||
Administrator | |||||||||
• 1985–2000 | Antoine Lahad | ||||||||
Historical era | Lebanese Civil War | ||||||||
16 February 1985[1] | |||||||||
25 May 2000 | |||||||||
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The Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon[a] formally began in 1985 and ended in 2000 as part of the South Lebanon conflict. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon in response to a spate of attacks carried out from Lebanese territory by Palestinian militants, triggering the 1982 Lebanon War. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and allied Christian Lebanese militias subsequently seized large parts of Lebanon, including the capital city of Beirut, amid the hostilities of the wider Lebanese Civil War. Israel later withdrew from most of the occupied territory between 1983 and 1985, but retained control over areas along the Israel–Lebanon border that would later comprise the Israeli "Security Zone"[b] in coordination with the separatist State of Free Lebanon, which collapsed in 1984. From 1985 onwards, Israel supported the South Lebanon Army (SLA), the Lebanese Christian quasi-military of the collapsed Free Lebanon State, against Hezbollah and other Muslim militants in most of Southern Lebanon; Israel's overall stated purpose for the Security Zone was to create a buffer separating Israeli civilians in northern border towns from Lebanon-based terrorists.[citation needed] In 1993, it was estimated that there were 1,000–2,000 Israeli troops and 2,300 SLA troops active in the area.[2]
After the end of Israel's Operation Litani in 1978, the areas of Southern Lebanon that would later comprise Israel's Security Zone also hosted United Nations peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). While the IDF oversaw the region's general security, the SLA managed most of the occupied territory's ground affairs, including the operation of the Khiam detention centre.
The occupied strip of territory was ten-kilometers-wide except for a salient which reached north to Jezzine and the Litani River and put Tyre and Sidon as well as the Beqaa valley within artillery range. The total area covered was 900 square kilometres (350 sq mi), and comprised approximately 10% of Lebanon's total land area. It was home to around 180,000 people – 6% of the total population of Lebanon – living in around a hundred villages and small towns.[3]
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