:Karantina massacre

{{Short description|Massacre during the Lebanese Civil War}}

{{Infobox civilian attack

| title = Karantina massacre

| partof = the Lebanese Civil War

| image = Karantina Massacre.jpg

| image_size =

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption = Palestinian refugees Zuhaiba Alshaheen, Mohammed Amcha and grandchildren Ahmad Jawhar and Ahmad Kinj, with Zuhaiba seen confronting a militant, in Karantina, 1976
(photo taken by Françoise Demulder){{Cite web |url=http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=173&Itemid=115&bandwidth=high |title=1976 – World Press Photo |access-date=2008-03-29 |archive-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718210959/http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=173&Itemid=115&bandwidth=high |url-status=dead }}

| map = {{Location map | Lebanon

| width = 250

| label = Beirut

| position = center

| coordinates = {{coord|33|53|13|N|35|30|47|E}}

}}

| location = Beirut, Lebanon

| target = Karantina district of Beirut

| coordinates = {{coord|33|53|13|N|35|30|47|E}}

| date = {{start date|1976|01|18}}

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| type = Massacre

| fatalities = 600–1,500{{Cite web |last=ictj |date=2014-07-28 |title=Attack on Maslakh-Karantina camp |url=https://civilsociety-centre.org/sir/attack-maslakh-karantina-camp |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=Civil Society Knowledge Centre |language=en}}

| injuries =

| victims = Palestinians, Kurds, Syrians, Armenians, Lebanese SunnisMichael Johnson (2001) All Honourable Men: The Social Origins of War in Lebanon I.B.Tauris, {{ISBN|1-86064-715-4}} p 62

| perpetrators = Kataeb, Guardians of the Cedars, Tiger militiaKazziha, Walid (1979) Palestine in the Arab dilemma Taylor & Francis, {{ISBN|0-85664-864-7}} p 52

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| motive = Anti-Palestinianism and Islamophobia

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| notes = The massacre was followed by the Damour massacre as a reprisal.

}}

{{Campaignbox Lebanese Civil War}}

The Karantina massacre ({{langx|ar|مجزرة الكرنتينا}}; {{langx|fr|Massacre de La Quarantaine/Karantina}}) took place on January 18, 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),Noam Chomsky (1989) Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies South End Press, {{ISBN|0-89608-366-7}} p 171 and inhabited by Palestinians, Kurds, Syrians, Armenians and Lebanese Sunnis.Michael Johnson (2001) All Honourable Men: The Social Origins of War in Lebanon I.B.Tauris, {{ISBN|1-86064-715-4}} p 62Jonathan C. Randal (1990). Many Lebanese Muslim men and boys were rounded up and separated from the women and children and massacred. Their families still search for their remains. Women and young girls were violently raped and robbed by the Christian warlords led by Bachir Gemayel, also Bashir Gemayel was a senior member of the right-wing Christian Phalange party and the founder and supreme commander of the Lebanese Forces militia during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War. The Tragedy of Lebanon: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers and American Bunglers Hogarth, {{ISBN|0-7012-0909-7}} 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, {{ISBN|0-313-31543-4}} p 35Jonathan C. Randal (1990) The Tragedy of Lebanon: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers and American Bunglers Hogarth, {{ISBN|0-7012-0909-7}} p 88

Karantina was overrun by militias of the right-wing and mostly Christian Lebanese Front, specifically the Kataeb Party (Phalangists),{{cite book|author=William W. Harris|title=The New Face of Lebanon: History's Revenge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e5R7Ci2btbIC&pg=PA162|accessdate=July 27, 2013|date=2006|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|isbn=978-1-55876-392-0|page=162|quote=the massacre of 1,500 Palestinians, Shi'is, and others in Karantina and Maslakh, and the revenge killings of hundreds of Christians in Damour}}Noam Chomsky, Edward W. Said (1999) Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians South End Press, {{ISBN|0-89608-601-1}} pp 184–185 resulting in the deaths of approximately 600–1,500 people.{{Cite web |last=ictj |date=2014-07-28 |title=Attack on Maslakh-Karantina camp |url=https://civilsociety-centre.org/sir/attack-maslakh-karantina-camp |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=Civil Society Knowledge Centre |language=en}}Harris (p. 162) notes "the massacre of 1,500 Palestinians, Shi'is, and others in Karantina and Maslakh, and the revenge killings of hundreds of Christians in Damur"[https://books.google.com/books?id=e5R7Ci2btbIC&dq=karantina+massacre&pg=PA162] 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."

The Damour massacre two days later was a reprisal for the Karantina massacre.Noam Chomsky, Edward W. Said (1999) Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians South End Press, {{ISBN|0-89608-601-1}} pp 184–185

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, the Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp was besieged for five months, ending in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre.