2008 Lebanon conflict

2008 Lebanon conflict
Top to bottom, and left to right: A Lebanese Army M113 armoured personnel carrier in Beirut, Future TV building in Beirut after getting arsoned, flag of the SSNP in a Beirut street, Destroyed car in Beirut, picture of armed fighters taken from the Crowne Plaza in Beirut.
Date May 7, 2008 – May 14, 2008 (main phase, sporadic clashes continued into July) Location Lebanon Result March 8 alliance victory Doha Agreement (2008)
Belligerents
March 14 Alliance Future Movement Progressive Socialist Party	March 8 Alliance Hezbollah Amal Movement LDP SSNP Arab Democratic Party
Commanders and leaders
Saad Hariri Walid Jumblatt	Hassan Nasrallah Nabih Berri
Casualties and losses
70–110 dead

The 2008 Lebanon conflict (or the 7 May 2008 clashes; Arabic: أحداث 7 أيار) was a brief intrastate military conflict in May 2008 in Lebanon between opposition militias (mainly Shiite Hezbollah) and pro-government Sunnis,^[1] after the 18-month-long political crisis spiralled out of control,^[2] when the government's decision to dismantle Hezbollah's telecommunication system,^[3] which led to Hezbollah seizing control of majority Sunni neighbourhoods in west Beirut,^[4][5] and ended with the adoption of the Doha Accord in 2008.^[3]

The fighting between pro-government and opposition militias affiliated to respectively the Future Movement and PSP political parties on one side and Hezbollah, Amal, SSNP, LDP and the Arab Democratic Party on the other side, was sparked by a government move to shut down Hezbollah's telecommunication network and remove Beirut Airport's head of security after the discovery of a hidden remote-controlled camera monitoring one of the airport's runway and his alleged ties to Hezbollah.^[6] Clashes first occurred on May 7 after a general strike called for by the country's union federation to demand higher wages and decry high consumer prices became overshadowed by the government's decisions and escalated into low-level violence between pro-government and opposition protesters. Violence severely escalated the next morning on May 8 after a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. In his speech, Nasrallah responded to the government's decision to declare the organization's telecommunication network illegal by calling it a declaration of war on the organization, shortly after which fighting between pro-government and opposition militias broke out in Beirut.^[6] Within two days, Hezbollah-led opposition fighters had seized control of several West Beirut majority Sunni neighbourhoods from pro-government Future Movement militiamen.^[7] In the following days, fighting between pro-government and opposition militias spread to other parts of the country with major clashes in the Aley District and Tripoli.^[8] On May 15, an intervention by the Arab League brokered an immediate end to hostilities and a pledge from warring parties to send emissaries to Doha for a mediation process.^[9] The resulting Doha Agreement, reached on May 21, 2008, brought an end to the 18-month political feud that exploded into fighting and nearly drove the country to a new civil war.^[10]