Damour massacre

Damour massacre
Part of the Lebanese Civil War
A destroyed house in Damour (ICRC archives)
Location33°44′N 35°27′E / 33.733°N 35.450°E / 33.733; 35.450
Damour, Lebanon
Date20 January 1976 (1976-01-20)
TargetMaronite Christians
Attack type
Massacre
Deaths150–582
Perpetrators Palestine Liberation Organization Al-Mourabitoun
MotiveAnti-Christian sentiment, revenge for the Karantina massacre

The Damour massacre took place on 20 January 1976, during the 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War. Damour, a Maronite Christian town on the main highway south of Beirut, was attacked by militants of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and as-Sa'iqa. Many residents were killed or forced to flee. According to Robert Fisk, the town was the first to be subject to ethnic cleansing in the Lebanese Civil War. The attack was retaliation for the Karantina massacre by the Phalangists.