The United States, Israel and the 1976 Red Lines in Lebanon

Abstract

During the first half of 1976 the United States mediated Israel’s indirect dialogue with Syria on de facto spheres of influence in Lebanon. This work analyzes those understandings, drawing on U.S. and Israeli archival records to assert that of Israel’s stipulations regarding Syrian intervention, the demarcation on a map it transmitted via Washington was the boundary the crossing of which would have provoked a violent response. Israel evinced flexibility regarding several of its conditions, but Syria clearly understood that the geographic line in southern Lebanon was the limitation it must not violate.