Operation Peace for Galilee

Operation Peace for Galilee (1982)

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    Tension along Israel's northern border increased during the 1970's and early 1980's. There was frequent firing of rockets and terrorist attacks against Israeli civilian targets in Israel and abroad by the PLO, which had created an informal state-within-a-state in Lebanon after being forced out of Jordan in 1970. On 3 June 1982 the Palestinian Abu Nidal organization shot and seriously wounded Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov.
    On 6 June 1982 the IDF launched a military operation in Lebanon aiming at removing the military threats from northern Israel, destroying PLO's forces, ending Syrian presence and influence, and assisting in forming a more friendly government in Lebanon that would be able to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
    Operation Peace for Galilee achieved some of its goals. The PLO leadership and its forces were expelled from Lebanon and Tunisia became the new PLO headquarters. But in Lebanon, other terrorist organizations, including the newly formed Shi'ite organization, Hizballah, an Iranian proxy, continued to attack Israeli forces there.
    In 1985 IDF forces pulled back to a security zone in southern Lebanon designed to protect Israeli towns and villages in the Galilee. The IDF forces withdrew completely from Lebanon in May 2000.

    Operation Peace for Galilee
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     © IDF Mapping Unit
    This map is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered authoritative.
     
     
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