CROWDS gathered in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday for an event marking the anniversary of the 1982 Wimpy Operation, with speeches reaffirming opposition to the normalisation of ties with Israel.

The event marked 39 years since 19-year-old Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) member Khaled Alwan shot and killed an Israeli army official and injured two soldiers during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon in Hamra Street’s Wimpy restaurant.

Mr Alwan was allegedly annoyed after the soldiers apparently insisted on paying for their meal with the Israeli shekel.

The event has a strong symbolic significance as the start of the resistance operations against Israeli forces in Beirut.

The SSNP, an Arab nationalist party which denies links to fascism, was one of the founders of the Lebanese National Resistance Front, along with the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) in 1982.

The LCP marked the founding of the people’s militia, which launched resistance operations alongside the Palestine Liberation Organisation, paying tribute to those who lost their lives.

It said: “The path of resistance is the only option for the liberation of the rest of the occupied Lebanese and Palestinian territories,” calling for the launch of a “popular and public political movement” to end the sectarian system of government.