Karantina massacre
The Karantina massacre (Arabic: مجزرة الكرنتينا; French: Massacre de La Quarantaine/Karantina) took place on January 18, 1976, early in the Lebanese Civil War. La Quarantaine, 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 inhabited by Palestinians, Kurds, Syrians, Armenians and Lebanese Shiites. The fighting and subsequent killings also involved an old quarantine area near the port and nearby Maslakh quarter. According to then-Washington Post-correspondent Jonathan Randal, "Many Lebanese Muslim men and boys were rounded up and separated from the women and children and massacred," while the women and young girls were violently raped and robbed.
| Karantina massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Lebanese Civil War | |
Palestinian refugees Zuhaiba Alshaheen, Mohammed Amcha and grandchildren Ahmad Jawhar and Ahmad Kinj in Karantina, 1976 (photo taken by Françoise Demulder) | |
Beirut Beirut (Lebanon) | |
| Location | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Coordinates | 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E |
| Date | January 18, 1976 |
| Target | Karantina district of Beirut |
Attack type | Massacre |
| Deaths | ~1,500 civilians |
| Perpetrators | Kataeb, Guardians of the Cedars, Tiger militia |
| Motive | Anti-Palestinianism |
Karantina was overrun by militias of the right-wing and mostly Christian Lebanese Front, specifically the Kataeb Party (Phalangists), resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,500 people, mostly Lebanese Muslims. After Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF), Guardians of the Cedars (GoC), National Liberal Party's Tiger militia and Lebanese Youth Movement (LYM) forces took control of the Karantina district on 18 January 1976, Tel al-Zaatar was placed under siege, leading to the Tel al-Zaatar massacre.
The Damour massacre was a reprisal for the Karantina massacre.