In February 1975, Tyre saw pro-PLO and anti-government demonstrations after Arab Nationalist MP and PNO leader, Maarouf Saad, had been killed in Sidon, allegedly by the army.[1] Then, in early March 1975, a PLO commando of eight militants sailed from the coast of Tyre to Tel Aviv to mount the Savoy Hotel attack, during which eight civilian Hostages and three Israeli soldiers were killed as well as seven of the attackers.[2] Five months later - on 5 August 1975 - Israel attacked Tyre "from land, sea and air". More assaults followed on 16 and 29 August, as well as on 3 September.[3]
PLO and LAA takeover of Tyre
In 1976, local commanders of the PLO took over the municipal government of Tyre with support from their allies of the Lebanese Arab Army (LAA).[4] They occupied the army barracks, set up roadblocks and started collecting customs at the port.[5] Parts of Kazem al-Khalil's estate were confiscated as well.[6] Most of the funding, according to Robert Fisk, came from Iraq though, while arms and ammunition were provided by Libya.[7]
The new rulers thus declared the founding of the "People's Republic of Tyre".[8] However, they quickly lost support from the local population[9][better source needed] because of their "arbitrary and often brutal behavior".[10][better source needed] Even Tyre's veteran politician Jafar Sharafeddin[9] was quoted criticising the PLO for "its violations and sabotage of the Palestinian cause".[11]
References
^El Khazen, Farid (1999). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. London / New York: I.B. Tauris. pp. 198, 268.269. ISBN978-1860643200.
^Nisan, Mordechai (2015). Politics and War in Lebanon: Unraveling the Enigma. New Brunswick / London: Transaction Publishers. p. 55. ISBN978-1412856676.
^Abisaab, Rula Jurdi; Abisaab, Malek (2017). The Shi'ites of Lebanon: Modernism, Communism, and Hizbullah's Islamists. New York: Syracuse University Press. pp. 9–11, 16–17, 24, 107. ISBN9780815635093.