| Battle of Khiam (2000) | |||||||
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| Part of the South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 South Lebanese Army |  Hezbollah | ||||||
The battle of Khiam, fought between Hezbollah and the South Lebanon Army (SLA) in April and May 2000, which became a crucial step in the disintegration of the South Lebanon Army, in light of the coming withdrawal of IDF troops from South Lebanon.
The Khiam detention center was originally a French barrack complex, built in the 1930s. It became a base for the Lebanese army, before falling under control of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and in 1985 was converted into a prison camp. It remained in use until Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.
In July 1999, Ehud Barak became Israel's Prime Minister, promising Israel would unilaterally withdraw to the international border by July 2000. Prior to his actions, many believed that Israel would only withdraw from South Lebanon upon reaching an agreement with Syria. During the spring of 2000, Hezbollah operations stepped up considerably, with persistent harassment of Israeli military outposts in occupied Lebanese territory. As preparation for the major withdrawal plan, Israeli forces began abandoning several forward positions within the security zone of South Lebanon.
In April 2000, a Hezbollah force approached the Khiam detention center in an attempt to make a surprise attack on the SLA facility. The force was repelled with casualties.
In May 2000, upon increasing disintegration among the SLA ranks, Hezbollah fighters reinforced by local Shia residents and civilians of Khiam [1] attacked the facility and following a short battle took over the prison. Several SLA soldiers were taken captive. The prisoners of the detention center (mostly Hezbollah militants and activists) were released.
On 24 May, Israel announced that it would withdraw all troops from South Lebanon. All Israeli forces had withdrawn from Lebanon by the end of the next day, more than six weeks before its stated deadline of 7 July. [2] Just prior to the announcement many of the command staff of the South Lebanon Army abandoned their positions and fled into Israel with their families. The announcement further escalated the disintegration and with the completion of Israeli withdrawal, some 6,000 former SLA soldiers and commanders with their families fled to Israel, abandoning their weaponry and homes. On June 16, 2000, UN Security Council concluded that Israel had indeed withdrawn its forces to internationally recognized border with Lebanon, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 (1978).
Though Israel considered this move as tactical withdrawal, the withdrawal of the IDF and the disintegration of the South Lebanon Army eventually led to complete take over of Hizbullah over south Lebanon and increasing Hizbullah's strength in Lebanese politics. The low level conflict with Israel had continued along the border in the vicinity of Shabaa, where Hizbullah engaged continuous bombardment of Israeli positions and abducted the bodies of 3 Israeli soldiers in October 2000.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, adopted on 19 March 1978, five days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War, called on Israel to withdraw immediately its forces from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL). It was adopted by 12 votes to none; Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union abstained, and China did not participate.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, is a UN peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon which Israel had invaded five days prior, in order to ensure that the government of Lebanon would restore its effective authority in the area. The 1978 South Lebanon conflict came in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War.
The Blue Line is a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel and Lebanon and the Golan Heights published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon. It has been described as: "temporary" and "not a border, but a “line of withdrawal”.
The 1978 South Lebanon conflict began after Israel invaded southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in March 1978, in response to the Coastal Road massacre near Tel Aviv by Lebanon-based Palestinian militants. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 1,100–2,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, 20 Israelis, and the internal displacement of 100,000 to 250,000 people in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces gained a military victory against the Palestine Liberation Organization as the latter was forced to withdraw from southern Lebanon, preventing it from launching attacks on Israel from across its land border with Lebanon. In response to the outbreak of hostilities, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 425 and Resolution 426 on 19 March 1978, which called on Israel to immediately withdraw its troops from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army, also known as the Lahad Army or as the De Facto Forces (DFF), was a Christian-dominated militia in Lebanon. It was founded by Lebanese military officer Saad Haddad in 1977, amidst the Lebanese Civil War, and evolved to operate as a quasi-military during the South Lebanon conflict, basing itself in Haddad's unrecognized State of Free Lebanon.
Antoine Lahad was the leader of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) from 1984 until 2000, when the army withdrew from Southern Lebanon and was dissolved.
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This is a timeline of events related to the 2006 Lebanon War.
The Israeli–Lebanese conflict, or the South Lebanon conflict, is a series of military clashes involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria, the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as various militias and Militants acting from within Lebanon. The conflict peaked in the 1980s, during the Lebanese Civil War, and has abated since.
The South Lebanon conflict, designated by Israel as the Security Zone in Lebanon Campaign, was a protracted armed conflict that took place in southern Lebanon from 1985 to 2000. It saw fighting between Israel and the Catholic Christian-dominated South Lebanon Army (SLA) against Hezbollah-led Shia Muslim and left-wing guerillas within the Israeli-occupied "Security Zone"; the SLA had military and logistical support from the Israel Defense Forces over the course of the conflict and operated under the jurisdiction of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon provisional administration, which succeeded the earlier Israeli-backed State of Free Lebanon. It can also refer to the continuation of the earlier conflict in this region involving the growing Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon against Israel following the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan after Black September. Historical tensions between Palestinian refugees and Lebanese factions contributed another layer to the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), which saw the Maronite-led Lebanese Front and the Shia Amal Movement at war with the PLO. Hence, the South Lebanon conflict can partly be seen as an extension of the civil war that ended in 1990.
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The Khiam detention center was an army barracks complex originally used by the French military in the 1930s in Khiam, French Lebanon. Following the establishment of independent Lebanon in 1946, it was used by the Lebanese military until the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, during which time it came under the control of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), an Israel-backed Lebanese Christian militia. With the beginning of the South Lebanon conflict in 1985, the base was converted into a prisoner-of-war camp and used to hold captured Muslim militants. The facility remained in use in this capacity until Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000 and the subsequent collapse of the SLA. After the Israeli withdrawal, the camp was preserved in the condition it was abandoned in, and converted into a museum by the Lebanese government.
The 2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict was a low-level border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah for control of Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory located on the Golan Heights–Lebanon border. Fighting between the two sides primarily consisted of Hezbollah rocket and mortar attacks on Israel and Israeli artillery barrages and airstrikes on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Clashes began a few months after the 2000 Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, which Hezbollah viewed as incomplete due to the presence of the Israel Defense Forces in Shebaa Farms. The conflict culminated in the 2006 Lebanon War; Israel retains control over the territory.
The 2005 Hezbollah cross-border raid was a failed attempt by Hezbollah to abduct Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. It was the largest operation of this type mounted prior to the 2006 Lebanon War.
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Aql Hashem, also spelled Akel Hashem, was a Colonel in the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and served under Colonel Saad Haddad and later Lieutenant General Antoine Lahad. He was killed in a remote-controlled bomb attack by Hezbollah in his farm in January 2000. His death was widely interpreted as the beginning of the end of the Israel-backed SLA.
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