Early the next morning they attacked across the well defended river with great difficulty.  It was only superb discipline and training that enabled the Battalion to complete the task under heavy opposition against the well entrenched French forces. Casualties were heavy.   There was little time to rest. On the following day the Brigade moved north again on the coastal thrust (there were brigade strength thrusts through central and eastern routes as well).  An attack on Sidon was launched on Friday the 13th.  The men began to move through the orchards and open ground at 1000 hours.  The French had prepared well and had tanks at their disposal.   It was 'pillar to post' fighting, through orange groves and ditches and gullies.  Black Friday lived up to its reputation. The next day the Royal Navy joined in with a bombardment off the coast and the battle of attrition went on throughout the day.  By dawn on 15 June the French had pulled out and the town was secured.  After four days the depleted ranks of the 2/16th Battalion moved north again, clearing out scattered pockets of resistance.  By this time, after four weeks of campaigning, casualties and sickness had reduced the effective 2/16th strength to 270 men. 

On 25 June they reached El Harem Ridge and preparation for the battle of possession of Damour began.  Here lay the last pocket of resistance against the Allied advance on Damascus (the capital) and on Beirut (the Vichy French headquarters).  The attack towards El Atiqa began on 6 July at 0615 hours.  Resistance was heavy.  A, B and C Companies of the 2/16th were to attempt the river crossings then re-align and consolidate before moving on.  After the crossings the battle broke into platoon and section engagements.  Subalterns and corporals took the initiative in many fierce skirmishes, as they had been trained to do.  They pressed on hard but by late afternoon the 2/16th were pinned down.  Then the news came that the 2/27th had broken through on the right flank.  In consequence the French chose to withdraw.  By 8 July the battalion, after continued heavy fighting, had managed to consolidate on the ridges at Mar Mikhail and El Atiqa beyond the Damour River, about a kilometre from the outer limits of the city of Damour.  On 11 July the French commander, General Dentz agreed to negotiate a truce with Lt General John Lavarack, I Australian Corps commander.  By the early hours of 12 July hostilities had ceased.   Estimates vary but   the overall Allied casualties during the campaign vary between 1505 and 1682.   In all the 2/16th Battalion had lost 269 men killed or wounded during the campaign.  

On 15 July, the 2/16th Battalion led the march into Beirut to great fanfare.  People lined the roads all the way from Damour, up the Rue Damas to the Place de Martyrs (or 'Place Tomatoes' as the Australians called it).   There followed a period of well-earned rest in Beirut after which the battalion was allotted a peace-keeping role at Syr, 6,500 feet above sea level where they spent Christmas and New Year in ice, snow, sleet and mud.  This time the men did not have long to wait to learn of their new role.   Fate had already decided.   To the north of Australia, Japanese forces were moving rapidly down the Malayan peninsula and spreading their tendrils across the south-west Pacific region towards Australia.