Kim Ghattas

The Sunnis don't really show up.

And he gets summoned to Israel, to Nahariya, and he does not like how he's treated.

Like a man who is not delivering for the people who helped him.

He's no longer seen as a whiny boy, but he's not delivering for the Israelis.

On the 14th of September, he's assassinated and he is speaking at his headquarters in Christian Ashafi district of Beirut.

And the bomb is placed on the second floor of that building and collapses on him.

There are wild rumors.

It's the Syrians, it's the Palestinians, it's the Israelis, it's other Christian factions.

We will learn soon enough by the investigation that it was actually the Syrians who ordered this assassination.

Because you have to remember that this is already playing out in a much wider geopolitical game.

where the Syrians don't want to see the Israelis victorious in Lebanon.

They don't want to see the Christians become strong in Lebanon with Israel as their backer.

They don't want to see an American project succeed in Lebanon.

And so they want to get rid of Bashir Jemayel.

And they do.

And those two things, Kasper Weinberger deciding that the Marines should leave early and Bashir Jemayel getting assassinated, lay the stage for one of the worst horrors of the Lebanese civil war, which is the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

The Israelis start moving into West Beirut.

So you have to remember that the southern suburbs and where the camps are is also considered to be part of West Beirut.

So they start moving closer and they start positioning themselves on buildings overlooking the camps.

also on the other side of West Beirut, by the sea, by the Corniche, where the American embassy is.