Video: 'The Sabra and Shatila massacres - 16 Sep 07'

(Thursday, September 16, 1982, 6:00 p.m. Eastern European Time; during the Sabra and Shatila massacre, part of the Lebanese Civil War) — The Sabra and Shatila massacre, the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the militia of the Lebanese Forces, a Maronite Christian Lebanese right-wing party, under the command of Elie Hobeika, began tonight in the Sabra neighborhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon.

President-elect Bachir Gemayel had been assassinated two days earlier and the Phalangists sought revenge.

From approximately 6 p.m. on Sept. 16 to 08:00 a.m. on Sept. 18, a widespread massacre was carried out by the militia, while the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had the camp surrounded.

Video: 'TRT World - World in Focus: Sabra and Shatila: A Forgotten War Crime'

The militia had been ordered by the IDF to clear Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters out of Sabra and Shatila, as part of the IDF’s maneuvering into West Beirut. As the massacre unfolded, the IDF received reports of atrocities but did not take any action to prevent or stop the massacre.

In February 1983, the Israeli Kahan Commission, appointed to investigate the incident, found that Israeli military personnel, aware that a massacre was in progress, had failed to take serious steps to stop it.

The commission deemed Israel indirectly responsible, and Ariel Sharon, then Defense Minister, bore personal responsibility “for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge,” forcing him to resign.