my earlier posting should have read that Israel devastated the Lebanon once before in the 1980s. Apologies for the typing error.

That was another huge assault on the population...around 20000 were thought to be killed in a sort of bloodlust by the Israeli military which destroyed the capital city Beirut, raining shells,bombs and missiles down on its inhabitants.

The military commander was Ariel Sharon and he was later found to be culpable for the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugees camps where despite guarantees of safety right wing fascist murder squads entered the unarmed camps to slaughter and rape .Over 2000 women,children and old people were slain while the perimeters of the camps were maintained by the Israelis who fired flares so that the murder squads could find their victims.One Israeli commander later congratulated the phalange leader for a murder job well done.
hugo