Town of Zahle. The battle took place in the mountains surrounding the town and the roads leading to it.
Date
December 22, 1980 – June 30, 1981[2]
(6 months and 8 days)
Location
Zahlé, Lebanon
Result
Lebanese Forces strategic victory
Belligerents
Lebanese Forces
Arab Deterrent Force
Syrian Armed Forces
Palestine Liberation Organization
Hannache Group[1]
Commanders and leaders
Bachir Gemayel
Hafez Al Assad Elias Hannache
Units involved
Lebanese Forces:
Al Wahdat el-Markaziya (Special LF Central Units)[3]
ISF (Internal Security Forces)[4]
Zahlawi Local Resistance groups[4]
Syrian Army Forces:[5]
35th Brigade (Special Forces)
41st Brigade (Special Forces)
47th Brigade (Mechanized Infantry)
51st Brigade (Ind. Armored)
62nd Brigade (Mechanized Infantry)
67th Brigade
85th Brigade
78th Brigade
Palestine Liberation Organization:[6]
al-Yarmouk Faction
al-Kostol Faction
Casualties and losses
est. 200 killed 200 wounded Total: 400 casualties[7]
est. 300 killed 400 wounded 32 tanks and Armored personnel carrier Total: 700 casualties[8]
200 civilians killed and 2,000 wounded[9]
v
t
e
Lebanese Civil War
First phase: 1975–1977
Bus massacre
Black Thursday
Hotels
ASALA insurgency
Black Saturday
Karantina
Damour
1976 Syrian intervention
Tel al-Zaatar
Chekka
Aishiyeh
Second phase: 1977–1982
Chouf
St George's Church attack
Hundred Days' War
Litani
Kaukaba
Ehden
Qaa
Qnat
At Tiri
Safra
Zahleh
1981 Israeli bombing
Iraqi Embassy bombing
Third phase: 1982–1984
1982 Beirut bombing
1982 Lebanon War
1982 Iranian diplomats kidnapping
Assassination of Bachir Gemayel
Sabra and Shatila
U.S. Embassy bombing
Barracks bombings
Mountain War
Tripoli
February 6 Intifada
1984 Sohmor massacre
Fourth phase: 1984–1990
U.S. embassy annex bombing
War of the Camps
1985 Beirut bombings
LF coup
Assassination of Rashid Karami
War of Brothers
War of Elimination
War of Liberation
Dahr al-Wahsh massacre
Assassination of René Moawad
Sidon
Cantons and puppet states
East Beirut canton
People's Republic of Tyre
Northern Canton
Civil Administration of the Mountain
State of Free Lebanon
South Lebanon security belt
administration
The Battle of Zahleh (Arabic: معركة زحلة) was a battle in the Lebanese Civil War that took place between December 1980 and June 1981. During the seven-month period, the city of Zahle endured a handful of political and military setbacks. The opposing key players were on the one side, the Lebanese Forces (LF) aided by Zahlawi townspeople, and on the other side, the Syrian Armed Forces, then part of the peace-keeping Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) aided by some Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) factions.[10] Demographically, Zahleh is one of the largest predominantly Christian towns in Lebanon.[11] Adjacent to the town's outskirts, the Bekaa valley, spanning the length of the Syrian borders. Given Zahleh's close proximity to the Bekaa Valley, the Syrian Armed Forces feared a potential alliance between Israel and the LF in Zahleh. This potential alliance would not only threaten the Syrian military presence in the Bekaa valley, but was regarded as a national security threat from the Syrians' point of view, given the close proximity between Zahleh and the Beirut-Damascus highway.[12] Consequently, as a clamp-down strategy, the Syrian forces controlled the major roads leading in and out of the city and fortified the entire Valley. Around December 1980, tension increased between Zahlawi Lebanese Forces and Syrian-backed Leftist militants. From April to June 1981, throughout the four-month period, a handful of LF members, aided by Zahlawi Local Resistance, confronted the Syrian war machine and defended the city from Syrian intrusion and potential invasion.
^Mclaurin, R. D. (1986). The battle of Zahle (Technical memorandum 8-86). MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory.
^Menargues, Alain (2004). Les secrets de la guerre au Liban: du Coup d'Etat de Bachir Gémayel aux Massacres des Camps Palestiniens. Albin Michel. pp. 106–170.
^Abou Nade, Fouad. "On Battle of Zahleh". YouTube video. michel10452. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
^ abMclaurin, R. D. (1986). The battle of Zahle (Technical memorandum 8-86). MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory. p. 10.
^Mclaurin, R. D. (1986). The battle of Zahle (Technical memorandum 8-86). MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory. p. 11.
^Menargues, Alain (2004). Les secrets de la guerre au Liban: du Coup d'Etat de Bachir Gémayel aux Massacres des Camps Palestiniens. Albin Michel. pp. 106–107.
^Menargues, Alain (2004). Les secrets de la guerre au Liban: du Coup d'Etat de Bachir Gémayel aux Massacres des Camps Palestiniens. Albin Michel. p. 171.
^Choueifaty, Clovis (2010). The Battles of Syria In Lebanon Vol 2. self-published. p. 166.
^Menargues, Alain (2004). Les secrets de la guerre au Liban: du coup d'Etat de Bachir Gémayel aux Massacres des Camps Palestiniens. Albin Michel. pp. 106–107.
^Mclaurin, R. D. (1986). The battle of Zahle (Technical memorandum 8-86). MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory.
^Menargues, Alain (2004). Les secrets de la guerre au Liban: du coup d'Etat de Bachir Gémayel aux Massacres des Camps Palestiniens. Albin Michel. pp. 106–107.
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