Lebanon: The Terrible Tally of Death

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During 15 years of brutal civil war among religious and political clans, fought mainly by Christian and Muslim militiamen, Beirut became a synonym for savagery. Last week for the first time authorities put out an official estimate of the rivers of blood spilled through Lebanon and its 3.4 million population. The casualty toll, largely civilian: 144,240 people slain, 197,506 wounded and 17,415 missing. Most of the missing persons were abducted by rival militias, and are now presumed dead.

The report also counted 3,641 car bombs, which killed 4,386 people. The toll includes 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French paratroopers who died in nearly simultaneous truck bombings in 1983. The Lebanese conflict, which ended in 1990 when Syrian forces crushed Christian General Michel Aoun and an Arab League-mediated peace accord took hold, claimed more than twice the number of lives lost by both sides in the five major Arab-Israeli wars since 1948.