Lebanese Civil War: Volume 1: Palestinian Diaspora, Syrian and Israeli Interventions, 1970-1978 (Middle East@War) - Softcover

Formerly known as the `Switzerland of the Middle East', an island of economic stability and social progress, Lebanon was shattered by a civil war that raged from 1975 until 1990. Pitting the central government against different factions and alliances of Christians, Sunni and Shi'a Moslems, leftists, and Syrian armed forces, this multifaceted conflict experienced a major escalation when Israel launched an invasion with the aim of destroying the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), in 1982. Also known as the First Lebanon War, or Operation Peace for Galilee, the Israeli enterprise was run in cooperation with Christian allies and the self-proclaimed Free Lebanon State. Except for attacking the PLO and surrounding its leadership in West Beirut, it provoked a major showdown with Syrian armed forces deployed inside Lebanon, and resulted in a series of bitter battles. Ever since, fighting on the ground and in the sky of the Beka'a Valley is a synonym for modern-day conventional air-land battle in the age of high-technology warfare. Focusing on military-related developments, and rich in exclusive details and illustrations, `Lebanese Civil War: Israeli Invasion, 1982' is dissecting military forces, their equipment, intention and capabilities, and their combat operations.

Sergio Santana is a Brazilian and working as military aviation and defence researcher since 2005. He holds a bachelor degree in aeronautical sciences and has penned and presented multiple research papers on congresses and seminars in his country. Except for publishing dozens of articles, he also authored a book about military variants of the Embraer EMB.145 jet. More recently, he specialised in research on intelligence-, surveillance-, and target acquisition aircraft, as well as little-known aspects of major armed conflicts. This is his first title for Helion's @War series. Tom Cooper is an Austrian aerial warfare analyst and historian. Following a career in worldwide transportation business - during which he established a network of contacts in the Middle East and Africa - he moved into narrow-focus analysis and writing on small, little-known air forces and conflicts, about which he has collected extensive archives. This has resulted in specialisation in such Middle Eastern air forces as of those of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, plus various African and Asian air forces. Except for authoring and co-authoring more than 30 books - including about a dozen of titles for Helion's @War series - and over 1000 articles, Cooper is a regular correspondent for multiple defence-related publications.