The Mountain War, also known as the War of the Mountain, was a subconflict between the 1982–83 phase of the Lebanese Civil War and the 1984–89 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, which occurred at the mountainous Chouf District located south-east of the Lebanese Capital Beirut. It pitted the Christian Lebanese Forces militia (LF) and the official Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) against a coalition of the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and the PNSF's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), Fatah al-Intifada and As-Sa'iqa backed by Syria. Hostilities began when the LF and the LAF entered the predominantly Druze Chouf district to bring back the region under government control, only to be met with fierce resistance from local Druze militias and their allies. The PSP leader Walid Jumblatt's persistence to join the central government and his instigation of a wider opposition faction led to disintegration of the already fragile LAF and the eventual collapse of the government under President Amin Gemayel.
Italian troops of the 2nd Bersaglieri Battalion "Governolo" on patrol with the Multinational Force in Lebanon, west Beirut 1982.
A view of the damage to the U.S. Embassy after the bombing, west Beirut, April 1983.
Checkpoint 4, manned by U.S. Marines and Lebanese soldiers in the outskirts of Beirut in 1982.
Lebanese Army soldiers on guard duty at Beirut International Airport in 1982.
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and also led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
Image: Martyrs Square 1982
Image: USS New Jersey firing in Beirut, 1984
Image: Beirutbarr
Image: Fateh Militia