2008 Lebanon conflict

The 2008 Lebanon conflict (or the 7 May clashes; Arabic: أحداث 7 أيار) was a brief civil war in May 2008 in Lebanon between Hezbollah and pro-government Sunnis. After the 18-month-long political crisis spiralled out of control, with the government's decision to dismantle Hezbollah's telecommunication system, Hezbollah seized control some of Sunni neighborhoods in west Beirutwhile SSNP and hezbollah was suffering defeats in sidon halba and the northen part of lebanon. The conflict ended with the adoption of the Doha Accord in 2008.

The fighting between pro-government and Hezbollah affiliated to respectively the Future Movement and PSP political parties on one side and Hezbollah, Amal, SSNP, LDP and the Arab Democratic Party on the other side, was sparked by a government move to shut down Hezbollah's telecommunication network and remove Beirut Airport's head of security after the discovery of a hidden remote-controlled camera monitoring one of the airport's runway and his alleged ties to Hezbollah.

Clashes first occurred on May 7 after a general strike called for by the country's union federation to demand higher wages and decry high consumer prices became overshadowed by the government's decisions and escalated into low-level violence between pro-government and Hezbollah.

Violence severely escalated the next morning on May 8 after a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

In his speech, Nasrallah called the Lebanese government decision to ban the organization's telecommunication network a declaration of war. Shortly after his speech, heavy fighting broke out in Beirut.

Within two days, Hezbollah-led opposition fighters had seized control of several West Beirut majority Sunni neighbourhoods from pro-government Future Movement militiamen.

In the following days, fighting between pro-government and Hezbollah spread to other parts of the country with major clashes in the Aley District and Tripoli.