“The War with No Name” is the first time in any format, written or visual, that anyone has tried to tell the entire story of the security zone from beginning to end.
By ARIEH O’SULLIVANTHE GOOD Fence crossing, Metulla, May 23, 2000(photo credit: Courtesy)
The 20-year anniversary of the pullout from Lebanon – coupled with the coronavirus lockdown – has all helped to create a renewal of interest in the Israeli experience in Lebanon. For a full generation of soldiers, the IDF was there with its best troops, fighting Palestinian and then Hezbollah terrorists to protect Israel from attack. Tens of thousands of Israelis served there, hundreds of soldiers were killed and more wounded. And yet, this was a conflict without a name.Journalist, author and combat veteran Matti Friedman and Israel Rosner have made a three-part documentary with KAN about the IDF in south Lebanon. The three-part series is called “The War with No Name.”“The War with No Name” is the first time in any format, written or visual, that anyone has tried to tell the entire story of the security zone from beginning to end – which is astounding when considering that two decades have gone by since the withdrawal, said Freidman.Another short KAN series on the topic is called “Reihan – Outpost of Death,” and there is also a program on the Lebanon experience coming up on Channel 13.In the past couple of months, interest has also mushroomed on social media platforms. Facebook, for example, has a number of new pages. One, a closed group called “Stories from Lebanon – What Happened in the Outposts,” almost instantly got some 35,000 members, including common grunts and top generals. “It’s an amazing phenomenon for someone who has been writing about this for many years, and to notice the lack of public recognition for this period and unwillingness to talk about it,” Freidman said. “To see this eruption of memory from Lebanon now is quite stunning.“People are home because of this pandemic. And the guys who were in Lebanon are now in their 40s and 50s, and are at a time when you think about your life and what you have accomplished. The combination of that and boredom and spending a lot of time online resulted in this incredible number of people showing up on this group.”The 18-year period in the security zone was never officially recognized as a war. No ribbon was ever awarded to troops there, unlike the short operations in the Gaza Strip. There is no official death toll for this period, since the army never counted it as separate from other daily operations. The only way to get an accurate count is to go through the annual lists of casualties and check off the ones in Lebanon.This has led to an incredible forgetfulness that surrounds this whole period. Hundreds of soldiers were lost and many people can’t really understand why. They’ll remember the 1997 helicopters crash or events here and there, but not the context for any of it. – A.O.
