Lebanon War Research Articles

Elie Karam: pioneering mental health care and research in Lebanon

“During the Lebanon wars in the 1980s, you were supposed to be ready to run from your apartment at any time, take your ID and some money because you didn't know what's going to happen”, recalls Elie Karam. For Karam, however, another essential item was a carrier bag of computer diskettes containing his research data. He recollects a missile hitting his apartment one time, and escaping, carrier bag in tow. He took the diskettes with him on his Fulbright Scholarship to the USA 4 weeks later and analysed his data in safety.

CHAD ELIAS, Posthumous Images: Contemporary Art and Memory Politics in Post-Civil War Lebanon (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018)

CHAD ELIAS, Posthumous Images: Contemporary Art and Memory Politics in Post-Civil War Lebanon (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018)

How Special Operations Forces Can Contribute Strategically to Modern Wars

The commission of inquiry into the events of military engagement in Lebanon in 2006 asserted that Israeli special forces were improperly deployed during the Second Lebanon War. In this article, Yair Ansbacher and Ron Schleifer explore why the Israeli special operations forces’ (SOF) contribution to campaigns have been marginal, using the 2003 US deployment of SOF in Iraq as a point of comparison. They aim to identify and define the most effective deployment modes of modern SOF in war, and explain the changes that Israeli SOF must undergo to enhance future performance.◼

Daring to Teach the Civil War in Lebanon

Daring to Teach the Civil War in Lebanon

The volume of general surgery emergency cases in a government hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic and two other periods: a comparative, retrospective study

BackgroundDuring March and April 2020, reductions in non-COVID-19 hospital admissions were observed around the world. Elective surgeries, visits with general practitioners, and diagnoses of medical emergencies were consequently delayed.Objective To compare the characteristics of patients admitted to a northern Israeli hospital with common surgical complaints during three periods: the lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and a regular period.MethodsDemographic, medical, laboratory, imaging, intraoperative, and pathological data were collected from electronic medical files of patients who received emergency treatment at the surgery department of a single hospital in northern Israel. We retrospectively compared the characteristics of patients who were admitted with various conditions during three periods.Results Patients’ mean age and most of the clinical parameters assessed were similar between the periods. However, pain was reportedly higher during the COVID-19 than the control period (8.7 vs. 6.4 on a 10-point visual analog scale, P < 0.0001). During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Second Lebanon War, and the regular period, the mean numbers of patients admitted daily were 1.4, 4.4, and 3.0, respectively. The respective mean times from the onset of symptoms until admission were 3, 1, and 1.5 days, P < 0.001. The respective proportions of surgical interventions for appendiceal disease were 95%, 96%, and 69%; P = 0.03.ConclusionsCompared to a routine period, patients during the COVID-19 outbreak waited longer before turning to hospitalization, and reported more pain at arrival. Patients during both emergency periods were more often treated surgically than non-operatively.

The Greek ‘discovery’ of Syria: the 1860 civil war in Lebanon and Damascus and Greek public opinion

ABSTRACT The civil war in Mount Lebanon and the massacres of Christians in Damascus and other cities in 1860 ushered in a new era to the Levant region, leading to the establishment of the Mount Lebanon Mutassarifate and strengthening the move towards confessionalism in public life. This paper, based on unpublished documents from the Archives of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as articles in the Greek press and literary reviews, aims to explore the image of the various ethnic, linguistic and religious groups of Syria in the Kingdom of Greece during the 1840s–1860s. The presence of Greek merchants in the region and above all the strong ecclesiastical ties of the local Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch with the Constantinople Patriarchate add broader perspectives to the Greek ‘discovery’ of Syria. The character and ‘mission’ of the Greek Orthodox Church in the region was analysed by the Greek consuls in Beirut, who also formulated or advanced blueprints for the aims of Greek ‘cultural diplomacy’ in Syria. The different shades of opinion were highlighted during the first Greek ‘humanitarian intervention’, in the summer and autumn of 1860, when Greek war vessels sailed to Beirut to assist the needy and transport some local Christian refugees to Greece. For the government in Athens, this mission was a question of prestige. For Greek journalists and writers, it had much broader implications since it reinforced a feeling of cultural affinity between Greeks of the nation-state and the Christians of Syria.

The Dialectic of Military Dissent: Civil Militarism in Israel and the 2006 Reserve Soldiers’ Protest

Hundreds of Israeli reservists fulfilled their military obligations during the Second Lebanon War—and immediately after, voiced their criticism of it.1 The months-long reserve soldiers’ protest, wh...

A Tug of War: The Israeli Sports Media During the Second Lebanon War

In times of conflict or crisis, the media tends to “rally round the flag” and express mostly patriotic views in its news coverage. The current study aims to examine whether this phenomenon is also true for other covered topics that are not hard news related—while focusing on the coverage of the sports section. Examining the coverage of the sports sections in three leading Israeli newspapers during the Second Lebanon War (July–August 2006), the findings show that the rally effect was salient in sports coverage in the initial stages of the war. Three central themes were identified: (a) expressions of patriotism, (b) discussions about the foreign players, and (c) minimal criticism. In accordance with previous literature, the evidence suggests that the rally-round-the-flag concept has an effect on coverage of sports news not directly related to the conflict. Here, too, it is shown that sport plays a significant component in the formation and strengthening of the national spirit.

Objects of transgenerational memory: challenging hegemonic historical narratives of war in Lebanon

This article examines how objects embedded in the domestic life of the generation of the Lebanese civil war and the subsequent generations evoke stories that disrupt the state�s hegemonic production of history. The article explores stories surrounding two objects that survived the war, and took on residues of memory later heard and retold by the subsequent generation. These objects illuminate ways in which the legacy of intergenerational memory is produced and transmitted�and how these alternative spaces and stories emerge in present struggles, including the October 2019 revolution. In the first section, the article examines how material objects operate as intergenerational symbols of the experiences of war and as media for the process of narrativisation. In the second section, the argument explores the role of the material as a witness to what resists language and as a locus to memory�s temporality. In the third section, the article looks into the affective dimension of the material object as it provokes an opening to narration and challenges linear understandings of history. This search through material and domestic objects seeks stories that resist closure, and is essential to understanding today�s struggle against the Lebanese political class.

The Contribution of Empathy to the Adjustment of Military Veterans and Their Female Partners

ObjectiveEmpathy plays an important role in romantic relationships; and thus, this study examined the contribution of both Israeli male military veterans' and their female partners' cognitive and emotional empathy to both partners' adjustment defined as posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and functioning, comparing veterans who asked for mental health help and a comparison group of veterans who did not.MethodParticipants were 300 Israeli male veterans of the 2006 Israel–Lebanon War and their female partners, all of whom completed self‐report questionnaires.ResultsResults demonstrated significant differences between the models in the groups. Among the male veterans in the research group, higher levels of veterans' own emotional and cognitive empathy were associated with higher levels of their PTSS and lower levels of functioning. In the comparison group, females' Personal Distress and Fantasy subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index were positively associated with their own PTSS, whereas the Empathic Concern subscale was negatively associated. Females' Perspective‐Taking served as a protective factor only for those in the research group and was negatively associated with females' PTSS. In each of the models, the cross effects (from one partner to the other) were limited.ConclusionThe various facets of empathy and its dyadic nature appear to play a different role in the adjustment of each partner in military couples. The associations among the research group were stronger than in the comparison group.

The gender gap in voting in post-conflict elections: Evidence from Israel, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire

In this article, we first formulate some theoretical expectations about the development of the gender gap in voting in post-conflict situations. Second, we test these expectations on five cases, including two civil wars, the Ivorian Civil War (2011) and the Malian Civil War (2013–2015), and three major international Israeli conflicts, the Yom Kippur War (1973) and the First and Second Lebanon Wars (1982–1985 and 2006). We do so by comparing women’s and men’s turnout before and after a conflict using individual voting data and find that the sum of the nine factors we identify (i.e. duration of war, type of warfare, end of fighting after ceasefire/peace settlement, change in workforce participation, international involvement in the peace process, international development aid, the militarization of politics and female social movement activism) explain changes in the gender gap in voting after the conflict in three of the five cases we study.

Biztonsági kihívások hálójában, avagy az Izraeli Védelmi Erők esete az aszimmetrikus hadviseléssel

Az elmúlt évtizedekben az aszimmetrikus kihívások és fenyegetettségek feltérképezése, prognosztizálása és a lehetséges válaszok kialakítása határozta meg a hadtudományt. Bár az aszimmetrikus hadviselés nem új jelenség, a modern kor haderői számára mégis problémát okoz, hogy az ilyen jellegű kihívásokat megfelelő módon kezeljék. Ez egyrészt a kihívások sokféléségéből, másrészt dinamikus, gyors változásukból ere-deztethető. Az aszimmetrikus hadviselés által elveszik a rend, amely korábban formába öntötte a hadviselést. Az Izraeli Védelmi Erők (IDF1) a világ egyik legjobban felszerelt és kiképzett hadereje, amely 2006-ban a második libanoni háborúban első kézből tapasztalta meg az aszimmetrikus hadviselés hatását egy olyan szervezetre, amely nem elég rugalmas vagy innovatív. A felismerés alapvetően rázta meg az izraeli védelmi politikát, hiszen a legyőzhetetlenség látszata mellett megingott az a tudat, hogy egy adaptív, mindenre felkészült, gyorsan akklimatizálódó haderő látja el az ország védelmét. A szerző tanulmányában az elméleti keretek áttekintését követően felvázolja a 2006-os libanoni offenzíva tanulságait és az IDF-re gyakorolt hatásait, valamint az ezekből faka-dó szemléletváltást. Az izraeli biztonsági helyzet jellemzői alapján a kérdés, amelyre választ keres, hogy „ma” vajon a hagyományos vagy az aszimmetrikus hadviselésre történő felkészülésnek kell prioritást élveznie annak érdekében, hogy az IDF megfelelően felkészül-jön a „holnap” konfliktusaira.

The 1967 war as point of departure for the 1982 war in Lebanon: an uncommon interpretation

Israel’s 1982 war in Lebanon is one of the most controversial events in its history. It is considered the war of Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his defense minister, Ariel Sharon, and hence a war of choice. One of the historical questions concerning that war revolves around its origins. The widespread assumption is that the roots can be found in 1981, the year in which Israel was on the verge of war with both Syria and the PLO. However, this article claims that the 1967 Six-Day War was the point of departure to the 1982 Lebanon War when the PLO settled in Lebanon. The issue of the origins of the 1982 war is not an exclusively historiographic matter. It has broader implications concerning the nature of the war. If the roots of the conflict can be found in 1967, then the war was a result of a prolonged process. Indeed, Israel started the war, but it was only after other options that it exercised had failed. Hence, it was not at all a war of choice.

Israeli underground hospital conversion for treating COVID-19 patients.

This paper describes how a large academic medical center solved the challenges of war preparedness and subsequently adapted them for the COVID-19 pandemic. A 1,000-bed academic medical center in Northern Israel has faced two extreme challenges since 2006: operating under missile attack during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and rapid establishment of a scalable infrastructure for COVID-19 patients. The first challenge led to construction of a dual-use facility: a parking lot during peacetime, and a fully functioning fortified underground emergency hospital (FUEH) in times of emergency. Several drills have confirmed readiness for various scenarios including conventional and unconventional warfare, and treating isolated patients during the Ebola and SARS threats. The hospital achieved preparedness for patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic, including all facilities and personnel, including infrastructure, laboratories, and innovations, to maintain standard patient care and separate COVID-19 treatment facilities. The hospital's second challenge represented by the COVID-19 pandemic led to adaptation of the FUEH as a key strategic facility in Northern Israel for treating hundreds of COVID-19 patients. Each solution was supported by innovations targeted for specific purposes and needs. The function and unique mechanisms used to leverage use of a dual facility was proven viable for several emergency conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Infrastructure and technological flexibility is essential when planning for handling different emergencies situations.

A Book Review in the Form of a Polemic Chad Elias's Posthumous Images: Contemporary Art and Memory Politics in Post-Civil War Lebanon and the Old New World Order

Chad Elias' 2018 book Posthumous Images: Contemporary Art and Memory Politics in Post-Civil War Lebanon attempts to deal with the question of post-civil war representation, image-making and contemporary art from the perspective of memory studies in Lebanon. Dealing with a particular group of artists working since the 1990's in installation, video, film, and performance, the book attempts to create a relation between their artistic propositions and narratives on the one hand, and the post-war reckoning with the missing and disappeared, the history of former Leftist combatants, neglected space programs, reconstruction and urban space, on the other. The book has a series of shortcomings and structural, theoretical blind spots that this review essay attempts to redress. For instance, Posthumous Images has no framework for the notions of communities of witnessing, collective memory, or post-war amnesia that seems to underpin its claims, as they seem to figure only nominally. In these theoretical omissions, the essay argues, the book adopts and furthers the ideology human rights as this relates to the politics of remembrance, as well as to Lebanon's neoliberal post-war realities. Moreover, it lacks a rigorous art historical frame to study the given artworks formally, or theoretically, leaving the book open to a post-historical method that disavows a critical, social history of art needed for an analysis of post-civil war and post-Cold war art forms in Lebanon and beyond.

Ideology in the Translation of Political Speeches during the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Ideology plays a central role in people’s lives and thus in shaping politicians’ decisions and translators’ choices. This role becomes clearer and more active in the context of the Middle East political domain, due to the constant ideological conflict in the region. This paper aims to analyse the translations of political speeches delivered by the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders during two Arab-Israeli conflicts: Lebanon War 2006 and Gaza War 2008/9. These translations often took the form of news reports that included translated excerpts from the speeches. The study suggests that there was a degree of distortion in the translation and editing processes by key English-speaking media outlets. Certain ideological strategies and devices were used by news outlets to manipulate the translation of the messages embedded in the speeches. The study investigates the role of the translator as well as the patron in deciding the outcome of the translation process.&#x0D;

Neck injuries – israel defense forces 20 years' experience

BackgroundNeck injuries are an important cause of combat mortality and morbidity. This study's objective was to examine the characteristics and causes of neck injuries among Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and emphasize the best treatment protocols for the advanced life support providers in the prehospital combat environment. MethodsThe IDF Trauma Registry (IDF-TR) includes prehospital data regarding casualties treated by the IDF's medical forces. This study was a retrospective, observational study that included all casualties who were injured between January 2006 and December 2018. ResultsBetween January 2016 and December 2018, 3294 casualties were recorded. During the study period, 1% (41/3,394) of all injury casualties in the registry were isolated neck injuries compared to 94% (3185/3,394) without neck injury. 42% (14/41) percent of the neck casualties were classified as urgent compared to 26% (830/3185, P = 0.09) in the no neck group. The most frequent type of injury mechanism in the neck casualties was penetrating injury (54% 22/41), mostly due to shrapnel (68% 15/22). 60% of neck injured personnel were injured during the 2nd Lebanon War and Operation Protective Edge in high-intensity conflicts. As for life-saving interventions, advanced airway interventions were performed in 12% of neck injured group (5/41) compared to 3% (104/3185, P = 0.02) in the no neck group. We revealed that cricothyroidotomy was performed in almost 10% (4/41) of neck injured casualties compared to only 1% (19/3185, P<0.0001) in no neck casualties. As for damage control resuscitation, neck injury casualties received higher amounts of Fresh Dried Plasma 7% (3/41) Vs. 1% (32/3185, P = 0.02) and Tranexamic acid 15% (6/41) Vs. 4% (124/3185, P = 0.01) compared to non-neck casualties. ConclusionsMilitary neck injuries are a significant cause of substantial disability and result in incompatibility with combat duties in previously healthy soldiers. Prompt medical care, especially urgent hemodynamic and airway management, is paramount in these injuries. Routine use of designated neck protection might lower the number of neck injuries, mitigate their severity, and even decrease mortality. Level of EvidenceLevel III (Retrospective study with up to two negative criteria)

The long-term burden of war injuries in LMICs: Case of the Lebanese War of 2006

Abstract Background Armed conflict is a major cause of disability and mortality, particularly in LMICs. July 12, 2006 marks the start of a 33-day war in Lebanon which resulted in at least 1191 deaths and 4409 injured, the vast majority of whom were civilians. Little is known about the consequences of war-injuries inflicted on civilians. The AUB arm of the NIHR PrOTeCT Group aims to identify 1) war-injury characteristics associated with high burden of care 2) the long-term socioeconomic burden and 3) the quality of life of the injured civilians and their access to healthcare and medicine under conditions of war. Methods This study employs a mixed-method research design by reviewing medical records of patients admitted to hospitals in Lebanon between July 12th and August 15th, 2006, conducting interviews with patients, and administering the EQ5D5L questionnaire to understand the burden of injuries and the quality of life of patients 13 years after injury. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods will be used. Preliminary Results 25 interviews have been conducted so far. Injured civilians were mostly males, average age 27. The most common mechanism of injury was blast injury. Most patients underwent multiple surgeries as well as revision surgeries. The emerging themes include description of the 1-scene and type of injury; 2-referral process from the injury site to the hospital; 3-the types of services received; and 4-the financial and non-financial long-term impact. They described the long-term burden including chronic pain, poor mobility, anxiety or depression, and limited activities of daily living. Conclusions These preliminary results show that civilians injured during the July 2006 war are experiencing physical and psychological sequelae; thus, more services need to be offered to civilians injured during war. Key messages Physical impairments related to war injuries influenced the quality of life of study participants. Affordable or free rehabilitation services need to be offered to civilians injured during war.

The Israel-Lebanon conflict in war cinema: an organisational and comparative analysis

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the organisational aspects of combat as represented in Israeli films about the Lebanon Wars. It analyzes four prominent films that relate to Israel’s engagement in Lebanon from the 1982 war to its operations in the southern security strip. The analysis is augmented by comparison to prominent Israeli war films on the 1973 Yom-Kippur War. These films reflect a common and coherent Military Habitus that originates in the organisational principals that define ‘Israeli National Way of War.’ This analysis offers an alternative viewpoint to interpretations that view war cinema as manifestations of broader national narratives.

헤즈볼라의 정치군사적 발전에 대한 분석과 전망 : 제1, 2차 레바논전쟁을 중심으로

1982년 제1차 레바논전쟁 중에 창설된 헤즈볼라는 단순한 테러조직에서 이제는 아랍세계를 대표하는 대 이스라엘 저항군, 그리고 레바논의 핵심 정치세력으로 성장했다. 그럼에도 불구하고 헤즈볼라를 테러조직으로만 보는 시각이 여전히 존재한다. 이것은 헤즈볼라에 대한 올바른 이해를 방해하고 헤즈볼라의 주 활동무대인 레바논의 정치상황, 더 크게는 중동지역의 정치상황에 대해서도 잘못된 예측을 하게 만든다. 따라서 헤즈볼라에 대해 올바로 이해하는 것이 무엇보다 중요하다.<BR> 이 논문에서는 헤즈볼라의 정치군사적 발전과 전망에 대해 살펴보았다. 헤즈볼라는 제1차 레바논전쟁을 통해 군사중심적인 행태를 보였으며 정치적 역할은 상대적으로 약했다. 그러나 제2차 레바논전쟁을 통해 정치적 역할이 강화되었다. 여기에는 전쟁에서의 승리와 효과적인 전후 복구사업 등을 통한 국민들의 지지가 큰 역할을 했다고 볼 수 있다.<BR> 앞으로 헤즈볼라는 레바논의 핵심 정치세력으로서 역할을 확대할 것이고, 저항군으로서의 역할도 계속 유지할 것이다. 그러나 테러는 정치 및 저항군으로서의 역할에 부정적인 영향을 줄 수 있기 때문에 그 역할은 줄어들 것이다. 다만 헤즈볼라가 처한 대내외적 상황, 즉 헤즈볼라를 후원하는 이란 및 시리아의 상황전개, 헤즈볼라에 대한 국내정치적 지지 변화 등이 향후 헤즈볼라의 역할변화에 중요한 변수가 될 것이다.