The long, 15-year civil war in Lebanon began in 1975 with a number of small clashes between Sunnis – who populated the bulk of the coasts – and Shias – who mostly held down the south. Maronite Christians held power in the Lebanese government for a number of years but with an increasing amount of Muslim’s as well as pan-Arabist and left wing leaning members of the population, there was much demand for a changing of the guard in the mid-1970s.

On this day, October 13, 1990, the Lebanese Civil War officially came to an end as Syrian forces aid in the removal of General Michel Aoun from Lebanon’s presidential palace.

There were reportedly around 120,000 deaths in the long, laborious war, while nearly a million former residents of Lebanon departed the country during the tense 15-year period.