July 2006, as the books tell it, 2006

On the morning of 12 July 2006 Hezbollah fighters attacked an Israeli border patrol near Zar'it, captured two reservists and killed three soldiers; five more died in the pursuit. Israel answered within hours with an air and naval campaign that cut Lebanon off from the world: the airport, bridges and the Beirut-Damascus road were bombed and a blockade imposed that lasted until 7 September. For thirty-three days the bombing fell hardest on Beirut's southern suburb, the South and the Bekaa, while Hezbollah fired rockets on northern Israel and fought Israeli ground forces at Maroun al-Ras, Bint Jbeil and, in the last hours, Wadi Saluki. Close to a million people in Lebanon were displaced, and much of the relief was carried by citizens' initiatives such as Samidoun. Security Council resolution 1701 was voted in the night of 11 to 12 August, the guns stopped at 08:00 on 14 August, and the displaced went home at once, many of them to ruins and to fields seeded with cluster bombs.

By datesThe whole period in one grid of years and months: point at a date to read the day.TimelineDay after day down one line, each event beside the books' accounts of it, and where they disagree.