After the war, 1999

Families of the disappeared widen their campaign.
In 1999 the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared, set up by Wadad Halwani in 1982, created a Friends group and brought in activist Paul Ashqar; a war memorial and a 13 April national day joined its calls for an inquiry and family aid. 'Right to Know' dates from 1999; SOLIDA, for Lebanese held in Syria, from 1997.

Students march into the occupied village of Arnoun.
In February 1999 dozens of students led by Communists briefly 'liberated' the Israeli-held village; for Picard, proof that public opinion now carried real weight.

The state recovers the Beiteddine palace from Walid Jumblatt.
Under Syrian pressure Jumblatt let the palace resume its role as presidential summer residence. Lahoud had Kamal Jumblatt's statue and the PSP martyrs' monument removed; Kamal's museum was emptied in 2004.

Lahoud and Hoss stay away from King Hussein's funeral, following Syria.
Assad, whose announced boycott had kept Lahoud and Hoss away from the funeral, went after all, and the two Lebanese leaders were humiliated before their foreign counterparts.

Israel withdraws from the Jezzine region.
The pull-out was the first concrete step of the 'Lebanon first' option.

Israeli night raids strike Lebanon's infrastructure.
Roads and power stations were bombed and civilians killed, as in the raids of 1997, 1998 and February 2000.