The Karantina massacre (; ) took place on 18 January 1976, early in the Lebanese Civil War. La Quarantine, known in Arabic as "Karantina", was a Muslim-inhabited district in mostly Christian East Beirut controlled by forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Lebanese National Movement (LNM),Noam Chomsky (1989) Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies South End Press, p 171 and inhabited by Palestinians, Kurds, Armenians, Syrians, and Lebanese Muslims.Jonathan C. Randal (1990). The Tragedy of Lebanon: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers and American Bunglers Hogarth, pp 88–90 The fighting and subsequent killings also involved an old Quarantine area near the port and nearby "Maslakh" quarter.Lokman I. Meho, Kelly L. Maglaughlin (2001) Kurdish culture and society: an annotated bibliography Greenwood Publishing Group, p 35Jonathan C. Randal (1990) The Tragedy of Lebanon: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers and American Bunglers Hogarth, p 88
Karantina was overrun by militias of the right-wing and mostly Christian Lebanese Front, primarily the Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF) militia of the Kataeb Party (a.k.a. Phalangists),Noam Chomsky, Edward W. Said (1999) Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians South End Press, pp 184–185 resulting in the deaths of approximately 600–1,500 people.Harris (p. 162) notes "the massacre of 1,500 Palestinians, Lebanese Muslims, and others in Karantina and Maslakh, and the revenge killings of hundreds of Christians in Damour" According to then-Washington Post-correspondent Jonathan Randal: "Many Muslim men and boys were rounded up and separated from the women and children and massacred; while many of the women and young girls were violently raped and murdered."
Before the Karantina massacre, on January 9, 1976, the LNM and the PLO laid siege to the Christian towns of Jieh and Damour, cutting off access to water, food, and medical aid. Mass killings of civilians continued in Damour leading to the Damour massacre, which the LNM and the PLO perpetrated after the Karantina massacre.Noam Chomsky, Edward W. Said (1999) Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians South End Press, pp 184–185
After the Lebanese Front militias took control of the Karantina district, the Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp was besieged for five months, ending in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre.
See also List of massacres in Lebanon Damour massacre Tel al-Zaatar massacre Chekka massacre Sabra and Shatila massacre Palestinian refugees in Lebanon List of extrajudicial killings and political violence in Lebanon
References
Sources Chomsky, Noam (1989) Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies South End Press, Fisk, Robert (2001) Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War Oxford University Press, , William Harris, (1996) Faces of Lebanon. Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, US