How Lebanon Fell Into Civil War: From State Failure to the Ehden Massacre Between 1973 and 1978, Lebanon moved steadily toward collapse, laying the foundations of a long and brutal civil war. The failure of the Lebanese Army in 1973 to dismantle Palestinian armed presence exposed the weakness of the state and accelerated the arming of political militias. Tensions deepened after the assassination of MP Maarouf Saad in early 1975, before erupting into full-scale war following the Ain al-Rummaneh b