Siege of Zahle -

Massacre

In late March and early April 1981, the battle of Zahleh began. The LF was seeking to regain control over the Christian city of Zahleh—a strategic location for Syria, close to its borders. Previously, there had been an armed confrontation between the LF and the Syrian Army in and around the city. The Syrian Army made repeated attempts to invade the city, but failed. The Syrian Army fired hundreds of bombs on Zahleh, hitting residential neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, and Lebanese Red Cross convoys. It continued to attack the residential areas and maintained its siege. In the three-month siege of Zahleh, 200 civilians were killed, and more than 2,000 injured out of a civilian population of 200,000.