Nearby countries such as Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Libya had a say in the Lebanese crisis at one time. For example, Syria, which has one of the largest armies among Arab countries, and Israel both invaded Lebanon for long periods of time. Local Lebanese forces allied with foreign regional powers in both occupations to strengthen their own roles within the government. Regional states like Saudi Arabia, as well as foreign forces like the United Kingdom, France, and the United States all played political and military roles in Lebanon at some point. As a result, the Lebanese civil war was an internationalized civil war. After 15 years of bombings and massacres that took over 150,000 lives, the Arab League mediated a peace treaty that enabled the various groups to come to terms.