ABSTRACT
In March 1978, the Israelis had advanced into south Lebanon by pushing a solid front up northwards to the Litani. This time, their attack plan was considerably more complex. It called for a leapfrogging advance which would break the Palestinian Liberation Organization and leftist forces' communications at numerous points in south Lebanon. At the strategic level, Israel's control over the air-space to the west of the Mount Lebanon range had been demonstrated repeatedly since at least July 1978. There remained, of course, a huge gap between that overall strategic position and detailed control of developments on the ground in western Lebanon. Almost any action the Israelis took to punish the Lebanese of the south seemed only to increase their resistance to the occupation. On 4 September, some Lebanese army units made a feeble attempt to fill the vacuum the Israelis had left in the Shouf. As the French withdrew, Lebanese army units moved in to try and replace them.
