IDF seizes control of most of West Beirut, overcoming resistance by small groups of LNM militia; Israelis tell residents to turn in weapons, claim IDF role is limited;...
IDF and PLO forces fight rocket, tank and artillery duels across Beirut in evening after a day of intermittent shelling; thousands of civilians flee to shelters;...
Israeli planes shower leaflets on Beirut warning people to "flee for their lives" and suggesting two escape routes (pandemonium in streets as people try to enter E. Beirut...
IDF seizes control of most of West Beirut, overcoming resistance by small groups of LNM militia; Israelis tell residents to turn in weapons, claim IDF role is limited; brief fighting west of port; IDF shells headquarters of Murabitun; by 11:30 AM, IDFannounces it controls all key points in West Beirut, completely encircles Sabra, Shatila and Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camps; random killings of civilians by Phalange using knives and sniper fire reported during morning; after 2 meetings of Phalange commanders with Drori, Phalange militia sets up command post near Shatila camp entrance, across street from IDF observation post looking down into camp; Phalange militia assembles by foot and truck, enter Sabra and Shatila camps and begin house-to-house searches; IDF illuminates camps with flares fired by Israeli mortars, aircraft; Phalange commanders in radio contact with IDF officers during operation; IDF rations provided; isolated gunmen break into homes, kill whole families, some civilians axed to death; in evening, IDF soldiers meet hysterical Palestinian women running from camps telling of massacre, relay reports to IDF officers; Gaza Hospital staff report steadily increasing gunfire, explosions; Phalange commander at Shatila tells IDF at 11 PM "Until now, 300 civilians and terrorists killed," report sent to IDF HQin Tel Aviv, circulated among 20 top officers.
Casualties:
48 Murabitun militiamen killed in 2 days; Bank of Lebanon catches fire during IDF shelling; IDF tanks crush cars; residents seek shelter in basements to escape shelling; glass and tree limbs litter area of fighting; IDF soldiers question, detain civilians; by noon, Gaza Hospital reports 100 casualties, by evening, over 2,000 Palestinians and Lebanese jam corridors seeking to escape Phalange/ Haddad militias and report whole families being butchered.
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israeli Cabinet, at late night meeting, rejects renewed US call for withdrawal from West Beirut, says it will remain until Lebanese Army can ensure order in the wake of Gemayel's death; Sharon and Eitan win approval without dissent for IDF entry into West Beirut, use of Phalange forces in camps despite some Ministers' reservations and Eitan warning that entry may lead to "blood vengeance" by Phalange; Sharon tells Draper IDF will remain; Peres criticizes IDF entry into West Beirut, calls for redeployment of multinational force.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: Phalange Party nominates Amin Gemayel (Member of Parliament and brother of Bashir) as new presidential candidate 7 days before end of Sarkis' term; Sarkis and Wazzan ask Reagan to persuade IDF to withdraw; Lebanon calls on UN Security Council to condemn IDF attacks; 4 LNM leaders meet with IDF officers at a former PSP (jumblatt) headquarters to consider non-resistance but reject it; Wazzan says he ordered Lebanese Army to resist IDF advance but it disobeyed; Arafat demands 3 nations return peacekeeping forces to Beirut to protect civilians, including refugees; PLO Research Center ransacked and looted by IDF.
US and Other Countries: US calls Israeli action a "violation," demands immediate pullout (one official says US credibility in Arab world at stake, may undermine Reagan initiative); Italians support return of peacekeeping forces to Beirut; Italian Jews protest Arafat-Pope visit in Rome.
UN: Security Council meets to condemn Israeli occupation of Beirut.
Military Action:
IDF and PLO forces fight rocket, tank and artillery duels across Beirut in evening after a day of intermittent shelling; thousands of civilians flee to shelters; Palestinian areas of Barbir and Mazraa reportedly hard hit along with southern outskirts; PLO fire targets IDF emplacements in Hadeth, near East Beirut; shells land at major crossing points, Beirut racetrack, the airport and Burj al-Barajneh; 10 members of 50-man Lebanese security guard unit at airport wounded in shelling; Lebanese Defense Ministry indirectly accuses PLO of starting outbreak by shelling Galerie Semaan crossing; IDF using C-130 Hercules planes to ferry arms and equipment into Lebanon; IDF has reportedly widened and improved a small airstrip at Ansar, west of Nabatiyeh near detention camp.
Casualties:
Beirut experiences major gas shortages, gunfights break out at gas lines; despite token IDF troop pullback to let Wazzan pass and Israeli denial that food was being kept out of W. Beirut, IDF soldiers continue to turn away food lorries as well as fuel and medicine; IDF spokesman says Israel has captured 9,000 suspected PLO guerrillas, 30-60 reportedly being arrested every day; small bands still hiding in hills east of Sidon, occasionally attacking IDF troops; Lebanese police estimate 50 killed, 200 wounded in fierce artillery and rocket duels in the evening; Beirut's 3 main hospitals report 515 killed, 2,200 wounded at their facilities alone since the invasion.
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: Mayor Rashid al-Shawa of Gaza is dismissed by the Israeli Defense Ministry, becoming the seventh Arab mayor ousted since March after refusing to lift a 2-month municipal strike against cooperation with new Israeli "civil administration"; 35 IDF reserve soldiers involved in Entebbe rescue in 1976 protest the war in Lebanon in letter sent to Begin; 86 reserve officers and soldiers recently released from their units ask Defense Ministry not to be sent back to Lebanon, appeal for evacuation of all Israeli troops; Communications Minister Zipori opposes setting final deadline for getting "terrorists" out of Beirut; demonstrators in Nablus stone IDF soldiers, tear gas and gunfire used to disperse demonstrators; military authorities ban request of Palestine Bank in Gaza Strip to collect money for Lebanon war victims.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: Beirut negotiations falter amidst contradictory signals: PLO leader Kaddoumi's statement in London that PLO has agreed to leave Beirut countered by PLO statement in Beirut that PLO has not agreed to leave country, only to move its headquarters from Beirut; adviser to Arafat Hani al-Hassan affirms agreement with Lebanese Government to pull PLO out of Beirut when an international force sanctioned by the UN and containing Americans enters the capital to guarantee the PLO's safe exit and protect remaining Palestinian civilians; Habib reportedly resists deployment of international force before PLO withdrawal to avoid any implicit US recognition of PLO; PLO rejects pullout by sea; PLO insists on maintaining political presence in Lebanon; Wazzan ends 5-day boycott of negotiations, takes PLO demands to Baabda following easing of IDF blockade; Bashir Gemayel states opposition to US troops entering Lebanon, says Lebanese Army should secure W. Beirut; Habib contacts Sharon, who reportedly favors a military solution.
Arab Governments: Syria refuses to receive PLO guerrillas from Lebanon, saying they should stay in Lebanon until they return to Palestine; Arab League delegation including PLO's Kaddoumi in London for talks.
US and Other Countries: Morris Draper, Habib aide, reportedly sent to Syria to get it to accept PLO forces temporarily; Habib reportedly rejects two-stage withdrawal; US Sixth Fleet waits off Lebanese coast; White House officials expect negotiation breakthrough soon, describe IDF cut-off of water and electricity as "outrageous"; issue reportedly taken up by Reagan in letter to Begin; Habib plan reportedly calls for IDF pullback of 1 km. while PLO forces begin evacuation; State Department says US "deeply regrets" Shawa dismissal; Britain declines role in peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
Military Action:
Israeli planes shower leaflets on Beirut warning people to "flee for their lives" and suggesting two escape routes (pandemonium in streets as people try to enter E. Beirut; Phalangists refuse to let Palestinians through their lines); Phalange reported openly cooperating with IDF; large IDF troop maneuvers along Beirut-Damascus highway; Israel dis-plays stockpile of weapons from PLO bases in Lebanon; Israeli Government acknowledges use of US-supplied cluster bombs in Lebanon; car bombings continue in Beirut; 700 IDF tanks, 1000 armored cars, 210 heavy artillery pieces surround Beirut; special IDF unit trained in street fighting arrives from Golan.
Casualties:
Three killed, 20 injured in explosion near Agence France Presse building in Beirut; French paper says 209 died and 153 were wounded in mountains; latest Lebanese police figures are 10,112 dead, 19,000 wounded (expected to be higher); foreign correspondents are still not allowed into Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp (near Sidon) and Rashidiyeh (near Tyre); less than half of Palestinian refugees remain in 3 Palestinian camps, few have anywhere to go.
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israeli Cabinet issues "peace plan" demanding that all PLO members, not just leadership, exit to Syria, urges Lebanese Army to enter West Beirut; government officials express some concern over George Shultz; Sharon denies Begin promised Reagan IDF would not invade Beirut; former IDF chief of staff Gur says past 2 weeks of fighting and Israeli deaths pointless; Labor Alignment demands that IDF not ente: Beirut (300 Labor doves demonstrate outside Prime Minister's office); group of army reservists, back from serving in Lebanon, announces round-the-clock protests; 20,000 protest the war in Tel Aviv; blood bank in Gaza sends blood to Sidon victims through Red Cross; 2 mukhtars from Nablus area fired by Israeli government for refusing to join Israeli-sponsored Village Leagues; Nablus Mayor Shakaa condemns US veto of French resolution at the UN.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: Gemayel's Phalangists expand control in areas seized by IDF (re-ports of interrogations regarding political sympathies at gunpoint, beatings, even killings); hostility of villagers toward IDF in Bekaa area and mountains reported; Prime Minister Wazzan meets with Arafat; Arafat agrees in principle on PLO disarming and leaving Lebanon.
Arab Governments: Advisor to Mubarak says PLO will be radicalized; Saudi Arabia reportedly presses for IDF pullback; Syria reluctant to take PLO guerrillas, fearing Syria would become target for IDF raids; Tunis meeting of Arab foreign ministers reported as a fiasco (though ad hoc committee formed to pressure 5 permanent members of UN Security Council to demand IDF withdrawal).
US and Other Countries: US issues stern warning to Israel not to invade Beirut; Finnish medical therapist says IDF arrested bedridden patients in Sidon.
