In order to move beyond the limitations of previous investigations on the relationship between domestic conflict and foreign military intervention, this study will undertake a longitudinal examination of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1976). The impact of the Syrian (1976) military intervention in Lebanon will be analyzed in terms of the extent to which internal conflict immediately increased or decreased as a result of the military action, and the long term ramifications intervention had for Lebanese politics. In addition, the pattern of conflictual process in the Lebanese civil war will be analyzed in an attempt to understand the strategic timing of the intervention. Social polarization and the role of internal appeals for outside aid will be investigated as potential explanatory variables that may have precipitated the Syrian intervention.