Lebanese Civil War
Hobeika distinguished himself as a ruthless warrior, gaining the nickname "HK," after the Heckler and Koch sub-machinegun he carried. In July 1977, Hobeika, then only known under the pseudonym "Chef Edward", led a massacre against civilians and Palestinian militants in the south Lebanese village Yarin where about 80 people of which probably 20 to 30 were civilians were lined up in front of the school and shot.
He steadily became prominent in the Phalange, which had defeated rival Christian militias by July 1980 and incorporated them into the Lebanese Forces (LF). In 1978, Hobeika became head of the LF's security agency (jihaz al-amin). In the years that followed, he developed close ties with both the Israeli military and the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
During Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Hobeika acted as the principal military liaison to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). When Israeli forces took over west Beirut, he was eager to settle old scores with the Palestinian refugees living there, particularly after the assassination of the LF's commander, President-elect Bashir Gemayel. In September 1982, Hobeika ordered LF militiamen into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, which had recently been evacuated by the PLO. Over the next three days, LF forces killed between 762 and 3,500 residents of the camp.
Hobeika was involved in another massacre in March 1985. The CIA reportedly paid Hobeika (through Lebanese army intelligence officers) to assassinate Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of the militant Shi'ite group Hezbollah because Fadlallah was considered by US officials to have taken part in planning the October 1983 bombing of the US marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 servicemen. However, the assassination attempt was unsuccessful in that the car bombing near Fadlallah's residence killed dozens of bystanders, but left Fadlallah unscathed. The massacre led the CIA to terminate its relationship with Hobeika and gave Hezbollah a lasting grudge against him.
Read more about this topic: Elie Hobeika
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