The Sabra and Shatila massacre was the 16–18 September 1982 killings of between 700 and 3,500 civilians—mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shias—in the city of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. It was perpetrated by the Lebanese Forces, one of the main Christian militias in Lebanon, and supported by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that had surrounded Beirut's Sabra neighbourhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp.

The Lebanese Forces was one of the main Lebanese Christian factions of the Lebanese Civil War. Originally an umbrella organization for different parties, the Lebanese Forces later became a separate organization. The Lebanese Forces replaced the previous Kataeb Regulatory Forces as the military arm of the Christian Kataeb Party. It was mainly staffed by Maronite Christians loyal to Bachir Gemayel, and fought against the Lebanese National Movement, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Syrian Army among other enemies. The group gained infamy for their perpetration of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, which primarily targeted Palestinian refugees following Gemayel's assassination.