Thread by @MiddleEastEye

1/ Today marks the 45th anniversary of the start of the Lebanese civil war, which raged on for 15 years, killing between 150,000-200,000 people and forcing the exodus of around one million people from the country

2/ On 13 April 1975, an assassination attempt on Maronite Christian Phalangist leader, Pierre Gemayel, by unknown gunmen, led to a retaliatory attack by Phalangist gunmen on a busload of Palestinians, mainly civilians, killing over 27 passengers

3/ The war was ignited by long-standing sectarian tensions and disagreements over the nature of the presence of Palestinians in the country, and quickly came to be defined by deadly massacres

4/ After Black Saturday on 6 December 1975, when four Phalange members were killed, roadblocks were set up in which many Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims were targeted and killed

In a vicious spiral of sectarian violence, Beirut was soon divided into Christian and Muslim areas

5/ On 18 January 1976, an estimated 1,000-1,500 people were killed by Maronite forces in the Karantina Massacre. Two days later, Palestinian militias struck the Maronite town of Damour killing between 100 and 500 of its inhabitants

6/ In June 1976, 30,000 Syrian troops entered Lebanon in a bid to restore order, but it was believed to be a covert operation to claim Lebanon – which it had not recognised as independent since 1943]

7/ After an attack by Palestinian commandos on an Israeli kibbutz between Haifa and Tel Aviv, and a bus hijack, 25,000 Israeli soldiers crossed the Lebanese border on 14 March 1978 to end the Palestine Liberation Organisation's presence in Lebanon

8/ Five days later, the UNSC adopted Resolution 425 calling on Israel to withdraw from South Lebanon and for the establishment of a 4,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, which is still present today

Israel withdrew three months later, on 13 June

9/ Four years later on 6 June, Israel invaded Lebanon again, led by General Ariel Sharon, which allowed the army to reach the southern suburbs of Beirut

An estimated 18,000 people, mostly Lebanese civilians, were killed in the invasion

10/ Following US-led mediation efforts, on 30 August 30 1982, Yasser Arafat and the PLO, which had operated as a state-within-a-state in West Beirut and South Lebanon, evacuated Lebanon and moved to Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza

11/ Under the supervision of Israeli forces, Christian militiamen were moved into the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps on 15 September 1982, to kill the last of the Palestinian fighters

Instead, 2,000-3,000 Palestinian civilians were massacred

12/ The final eight years were defined by internal wars and devastating intra-Christian fighting

The war officially ended on October 13 1990 as a result of the Taif agreement, brokered by the Arab League, which reapportioned power in Lebanon

13/ 📷: AFP