On This Day: The Israel-Lebanon Security Agreement

On May 17th, 1983, Israel and Lebanon signed a treaty ending the state of war both sides were in since 1949. June 14th marks the day the Lebanese Parliament confirmed the treaty.

As you most likely know by now, In 1982, the Second Lebanon War broke out, resulting in many losses and injuries on both sides. With the United States' assistance, Israel and Lebanon agreed to sign a security agreement, in order to stop the violence between both states.

The agreement's main points were as follows:

• The war between both states was over, and both sides commit to honor each other's territorial sovereignty.

• A mutual commitment to stop and prevent acts of terror on both states' land.

• Resolving future conflicts in a peaceful manner, and creating a security zone in the south of Lebanon, by the Israeli border, which was to result in the IDF troops leaving the Southern Lebanese territory.
  

Those were the treaty's main points, the paper was much more detailed obviously, but we won't bother you with all the details because, well, as you probably know or can just assume - the treaty didn't last too long.

In fact, it only lasted around half a year, up until February 1984. That February the Lebanese Army, which was supposed to protect the security zone, fell apart. Furthermore, the Syrian forces refused to leave Lebanon, which was one of Israel's main demands in the treaty. Also, the whole Arab world basically refused to recognize Israeli sovereignty, so that pretty much was the straw that broke the fragile camel's back.

On March 5th, 1984 the Lebanese government announced that the agreement officially fell through, and the fighting renewed. This resulted in decades of a bloody battle, as Israel aimed to fight the terrorist Hezbollah organization that took over southern Lebanon. The IDF stayed in the south of Lebanon until the year 2000, and in 2006 the Second Lebanon War broke out, but asides from some altercations here and there, the northern border has been relatively quiet for the past few years. Let's just hope it stays that way!