Lebanon '82

Stroock's First Rule of military history: The Israelis only fight interesting conflicts.

Of great interest is 1982's Operation Peace for Galilee, the invasion of Lebanon.

In 1982 South Lebanon was occupied by Yassir Arafat's Fatah. From here Arafat launched terror attacks and rockets at northern Israeli. As Lebanon had been in a Civil War since 1975 it was divided into several factions. Taking advantage of the chaos, Syria invaded Lebanon and occupied the Bekaa Valley. Several Syrian brigades were in the valley and on the Beirut/Damascus Highway. Nineteen SAM batteries were in the Valley as well. These were of great concern to the IDF and defence minister Aerial Sharon.

When the IDF rolled into Lebanon it fought two kinds of battles, an anti-terror guerrilla campaign in the west and a conventional ground war in the Bekaa Valley. In the air the IAF defeated the Syrian air force 86-0 while on the ground the Israeli army pushed the Syrians out of the Bekaa and off the Beirut-Damascus Highway. In the west the Israelis cleared out Fatah and eventually entered Beirut.

Going into Beirut was a step too far but otherwise Operation Peace for Galilee was highly successful. The Syrians were out of the Bekaa and Fatah out of Lebanon.

Here's an excerpt of our own write up of Operation Peace For Galilee available in Israel at War, and Her Enemies.

The Israelis had never gathered a mightier army.  Division 91(three mechanized brigades and six infantry brigades) assembled on the coast for drive up to Sidon and beyond and a link up with Phalangist militia somewhere east of Beirut. In the center, Division 36 (the Golani Brigade plus two armored brigades and an artillery brigade) stood poised to cross the border, take the castle at Beaufort and drive north to cut the Beirut Damascus highway while Division 162 (A tank brigade, an infantry brigade and an artillery brigade) would cover their right flank. In the east, Division 90 (three tank brigades and an artillery brigade), Division 252 (two tank brigades, one infantry brigade and an artillery brigade) , and an ad-hoc formation of two brigades called Vardi Force would drive north toward the Bekaa Valley. Division 96 (the Paratroopers brigade plus a tank brigade and an artillery brigade) would make an amphibious landing somewhere in the vicinity of Sidon.