194 entries on 168 dates · the books disagree on 45
dates 1–60 of 168 next
May 1973
Tuesday, 1 May 1973
The road to war · From the books
Palestinian guerrillas abduct three Lebanese soldiers.
The May 1973 crisis began when members of the Popular and Democratic Fronts abducted three Lebanese soldiers as hostages for the release of detained Palestinians.
Sources differ: Kidnappers: PFLP and DFLP (Hanf) or DFLP (de Clerck & Malsagne).
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June 1974
Saturday, 1 June 1974
The road to war · From the books
Compulsory military service is decreed, but not applied.
Lebanon's first conscription decree, of 1 June 1974, was put into effect only in 1983.
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April 1975
Sunday, 13 April 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A serious incident opposed the Phalange (Kataeb) Party to the Resistance in Ain El Remmaneh causing 31 deaths.
These people were on board of a bus bringing back from Tell El Zaatar members of Palestinian Organizations who had just participated in a Resistance meeting. Because of the incident, tension rose in the Palestinian camp and in many surrounding towns. Authorities and mediators were trying to calm the waters and ask the Phalange Party leader, Pierre Gemayel, to hand over those responsible of the incident to the Lebanese Justice.
What the books addThe day began with shootings near the church in Ain al-Rummaneh, where Pierre Gemayel was attending a consecration; his bodyguard Joseph Bou Assi was killed. In the early afternoon Kataeb militiamen fired on a bus returning to Tal al-Za'tar from a rally of the Arab Liberation Front. Most historians count 27 dead (Hanf, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne: 27 of 35 passengers); Traboulsi gives 21 and Ménargues 31. According to de Clerck and Malsagne the bus carried Palestinians and Lebanese in equal numbers, all men. Fighting spread that evening across the suburbs of Beirut.
Art and memory- film In Ziad Doueiri's West Beyrouth (1998), the teenager Tarek witnesses the Ain al-Rummaneh bus attack, and the next day his family is stopped at a roadblock and asked for identity cards.
- artwork A copy of the Dodge bus attacked in 1975 stood on a street in central Beirut in April 2003, for the 28th anniversary, as the installation '13th of April'.
- book De Clerck and Malsagne take the morning incidents, the bus passengers and the finding that no Kataeb leader ordered the attack from Marwan Chahine's pioneering investigation, Beyrouth, 13 avril 1975. Autopsie d'une étincelle (Belfond, 2024).
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July 1975
Tuesday, 1 July 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lebanon had a new Government
The new Cabinet included the following 6 members Rachid Karameh - Prime Minister, Minster of Finance, National Defense, and Information. Camille Chamoun - Minister of Interior, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, and Hydraulic and Electric Resources. Adel Osseirane - Minster of Justice, Public Works, Economy and Trade Magid Arslane : Minster of Health, Agriculture, and Housing and Cooperatives. Philippe Takla - Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Education, and Plan. Ghassan Tueni - Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Tourism, and Industry and Oil. This government aimed, in a climate of daily fights and extreme tension, at dismantling barricades, taking away heavy armaments, suppressing defense positions, and reopening the roads.
What the books addHanf puts the cabinet's formation at the end of June and its announcement some two weeks before the 15 July confidence vote (83 for, none against, 16 Jumblatt supporters abstaining); Traboulsi's chronology gives 6 July. Neither the Kataeb nor Jumblatt was included. A cease-fire followed, which Traboulsi says was reached with Syrian mediators' help.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 6 July 1975
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August 1975
Friday, 29 August 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After mortar and rocket exchanges in the streets of Zahleh made several victims, a partial curfew was imposed on the town.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Tegho Bou Nassif date Zahleh's entry into the war to 24 August 1975, when Palestinian fighters planted a bomb in its tourist district, Wadi al-Arayish. In Hanf's account, Zahleh's Christians and Shi'is of its outskirts and nearby villages, helped by Palestinian guerrillas, came to blows late in August after a non-political arcade quarrel. Three Zahleh men were executed at the end of August.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 24 August 1975
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September 1975
Monday, 1 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The army creates the Ansar brigade.
Under a Shiite commander and with mostly Shiite recruits, the Ansar brigade was a legal militia set up by the army to keep young Lebanese out of the Palestinian struggle.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Egypt and Israel initial the Sinai II agreement.
Egypt and Israel initialled the Kissinger-brokered Sinai II accord. De Clerck and Malsagne judge it disastrous for Lebanon. For Hanf, it weakened Syria, which pressed the PLO for coordination, and deepened Palestinian fears of liquidation.
Sources differ: Initialled on 1 September (Hanf; de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology); de Clerck and Malsagne's narrative gives 4 September, the signature in Geneva.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 4 September 1975
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Saturday, 13 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Deir Achache in Akkar falls; three priests are killed.
Three priests were shot and the inhabitants expelled when Saiqa and fedayeen fighters seized Deir Achache, a Christian village in Akkar.
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December 1975
Monday, 1 December 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Israelis attacked villages in the South
Israeli raids against Beddawi, Nahr El Bared, and Nabatyeh were more violent then ever. The attacks killed 111 persons and injured 140 others. Lebanon requested an urgent meeting of the Security Council, which met on December 5 and strongly condemned the raids against Lebanon.
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January 1976
Thursday, 1 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The explosion of the MEA Boeing in Saudi Arabia killed 82 persons, 40 of which were Lebanese.
This airplane flying from Beirut to Masqat via Dubai did not explode in the air, but while in the airport. An investigation was opened to determine the causes of the accident. The hypothesis of sabotage was not excluded.
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Tuesday, 13 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Damour is completely encircled and heavily shelled.
With Damour now fully surrounded, its besiegers shelled the town heavily.
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May 1976
Saturday, 1 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Despite the Damascus agreement, fights continued violently. The elections were postponed to May 8, the two candidates being Elias Sarkis and Raymond Eddeh.
What the books addAccounts differ. Hanf has Raymond Eddé stand 'on principle', protesting at outside manipulation, and so become the Left's candidate; Traboulsi and de Clerck and Malsagne have him boycott the vote, Traboulsi because it could not be free.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 8 May 1976
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Saturday, 29 May 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Akkar's deputy asks Assad to intervene.
Assad received two same-day appeals to intervene and stop the bloodshed at Qubayat and Andaqit: a telephone call from Mikhael Daher, the area's Christian deputy, and a message from a 'gathering of the inhabitants of Kobeyat'.
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June 1976
Tuesday, 1 June 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Syrian troops intervened in the Akkar region to raise the siege imposed on Kobeyate by officer Maamari from the 'Army of Arab Lebanon.' The Syrian contingent counted approximately 2000 men. 600 other soldiers entered the Bekaa region with over 200 tanks.
What the books addHistorians date the entry of Syrian regular troops to 1 June 1976 (Ménargues gives 9 June). President Assad announced it in the presence of the visiting Soviet Prime Minister Kosygin, citing appeals from the Akkar villages of Qubayat and Andaqit, besieged since January and attacked by the Lebanese Arab Army on 27 May. Columns moved towards Akkar and Tripoli, Zahleh and the Bekaa, and Sidon by way of Jezzine. Estimates of the force range from 6,000 men at the start (with 260 armoured vehicles, according to Ménargues) to 12,000-15,000 within weeks, with 250-300 tanks (de Clerck and Malsagne).
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 9 June 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian tanks enter Zahleh.
Bishop Bassul stepped in when Tajammu' fighters backed by Captain Tarek Nujaym ambushed Syrian tanks entering Zahleh, and the Syrians went on into the town. Fisk later found the Syrians and local Phalangists cooperating openly and Zahleh open to traffic.
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Tuesday, 29 June 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Jisr al-Basha camp falls.
The small Palestinian camp of Jisr al-Basha, overlooking Tal al-Za'tar in East Beirut, fell to the Christian militias and army units, and was razed.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 1 July; Picard August; Yara El Khoury places its fall with Tal al-Za'tar on 12 August.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 1 July 1976
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July 1976
Thursday, 1 July 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While Palestinian camps were under attack and all fronts were on fire, Beirut was short of water, electricity, and medications. The situation was intolerable.
What the books addHanf dates Lebanese Front forces' capture of the Jisr al-Basha camp to this day; de Clerck and Malsagne give 29 June, Picard August.
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Tuesday, 13 July 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
William Hawi, commnander of the Kataeb military forces was shot and killed by a sniper whilst he was inspecting his forces on the edge of the Tel el Zaatar camp.
What the books addMénargues has William Hawi shot by a Palestinian sniper in June 1976, at the end of the Tal al-Za'tar siege; Traboulsi places it during the siege. Bashir Gemayel succeeded him as Kataeb militia chief.
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Thursday, 29 July 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Arafat and Assad announce a new cease-fire.
Wary of the PLO-Syria cease-fire reached through Libyan mediation, the Lebanese Front pressed harder on the Palestinian positions left in East Beirut. Its terms also covered recognition of Syria's role, the Cairo Agreement and 'non-interference' in Lebanese affairs.
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October 1976
Friday, 1 October 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After they occupied the positions of the Palestinian Progressive forces in the Upper-Metn, the Lebanese Forces launched a new far-reaching attack against Aley, the main bastion of these forces. This new assault was be repelled on both axes, that of Bdedoun north-east of Aley, and that of Kahaleh north of the town.
What the books addHanf writes that Damascus thought the Christian side had won ground enough over the summer, so Syrian guns blocked the Lebanese Front's bid to cross the Beirut-Damascus road and take Aley. Kataeb fighters who had lost comrades at Aley the day before then killed Druze civilians at Salima (de Clerck and Malsagne).
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Wednesday, 13 October 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian forces take Bhamdoun.
Renewing their drive on Sidon, Syrian forces also took Bhamdoun on 13 October against stiff Palestinian resistance. The losses, with Saudi pressure, led Damascus to accept the Riyadh summit two days later.
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April 1977
Friday, 29 April 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A meeting between the Syrians, the Lebanese, and the Palestinians was held in Baabda.
President Elias Sarkis met with the chairman of the PLO, Yasser Arafat. The meeting dealt mainly with the evacuation of Damour by the Palestinians and the execution of the Cairo agreement.
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May 1977
Friday, 13 May 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An Antonov-12 air freighter belonging to the Polish company LOT crashed in the forest of Aramoun. The airplane that was returning from Warsaw carried a shipment of meat and seven crewmembers who perished in the accident.
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July 1977
August 1977
October 1977
Saturday, 1 October 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A US-Soviet declaration raises hopes of a Geneva peace conference (context).
A US-Soviet joint declaration called for the Palestinians' rights to be recognised and for normal relations among all the states concerned. American diplomacy earlier that year had already given the PLO grounds to moderate its stance; a new Geneva conference now seemed near.
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January 1978
February 1978
March 1978
June 1978
Tuesday, 13 June 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A dramatic event was reported in Zghorta. A chock commando killed Tony Frangieh, deputy and son of the President Sleiman Frangieh, his wife Vera and their daughter Jihane, at their home in Ehden. The murder of Tony Frangieh took place while the conflict between the Phalange Party and the Zghortiotes was at its peak.
What the books addHistorians date the Ehden killings to 13 June (de Clerck and Malsagne) or 14 June (Hanf). A unit of some 200 men (Traboulsi) led by Samir Geagea attacked the Frangieh residence; besides Tony Frangieh, his wife and their three-year-old daughter, about thirty relatives and supporters were killed. The Phalange presented the raid as retaliation for the killing of their local leader Jud al-Bayeh in early June; Bashir Gemayel denied ordering the killing of the family. The raid also turned on control of the Chekka cement works. Syrian troops then occupied Ehden and much of the north.
Art and memory- book De Clerck and Malsagne refer to a 2016 article by Dan Naor on how the Frangieh family made Ehden a resistance myth.
- testimony Women mourners keened at Tony Frangieh's funeral in 1978 until his father, the former president, stepped in to quiet them.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 14 June 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel completes its withdrawal but hands the border strip to Major Haddad.
UNIFIL was kept out of a border belt 5 to 10 km deep that stayed in the hands of Major Saad Haddad's militia when Israeli troops officially left South Lebanon.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 12 June; Picard says July.
Other date in the books: Monday, 12 June 1978
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July 1978
Saturday, 1 July 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
It is a blaze of fire ! Ain El Remmaneh was savagely bombed. 22 persons died and tens were injured. Syrian forces arrested Commander Bechir Gemayel then set him free.
What the books addHanf has Syrian guns shelling Ain el-Remmaneh on the day of mourning called after the Qaa killings, and the Syrian troops ignoring Sarkis's order to cease fire. Ménargues puts Bashir Gemayel's brief detention at a Syrian checkpoint at the end of July.
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August 1978
October 1978
November 1978
Wednesday, 1 November 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
At Kornet Chehwane, a detachment of the army's intervention squad encircled the residence of Captain Sami Achkar accused of creating a dissident organization within the army. The officer was killed in the assault. The next day, Fouad Boutros, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense, was attacked in Achrafieh and his bodyguards were kidnapped.
What the books addIn February 1978 Achkar had led the Lebanese soldiers in the clash with Syrian troops at Fayadiyeh; in October he left the army with about twenty men and founded a 'Revolutionary Lebanese Army Movement'. Boutros was due to fly with the president to the Arab summit in Baghdad when the Lebanese Forces, avenging Achkar, ambushed him on the way to the airport. Lieutenant Qozhaya Chamoun, who led the convoy, was abducted and later murdered; Boutros himself got away.
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Wednesday, 29 November 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The President concluded his visit to Paris with disappointment. France took a moderate position while thousands of Lebanese who fled to Paris exhorted the French government to react. However, politics has its own reasons.
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March 1979
Tuesday, 13 March 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Parliament adopts a law to rebuild the army and send it south.
The new defence law set up a Higher Defence Council and a Military Council, allocated military posts by sect among the six main communities, allowed the army to be used only with national consensus, and planned its deployment to the UNIFIL area in the south.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne give 13 March 1979 in their text and 13 May in their chronology, where the entry sits between February and March, so 13 May is probably a slip. Picard gives March 1979.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 18 April 1979, Sunday, 13 May 1979
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April 1979
May 1979
Tuesday, 1 May 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A big scientific study was concluded with 888 Lebanese who are 16 to 22 years old. The results were as follows: 73% of the Lebanese youth were interested in politics 91% read everyday one or two political newspapers 56% sympathized with parties 34% adhered to parties 32% had fought One girl out of eight carried arms
74% of the youth conceived their future in Lebanon only 40% were optimistic 37% saw their death directly tied to war
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Sunday, 13 May 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Amine Gemayel, deputy of the Northern Metn and member of the Phalange Party's political bureau, escaped from an assassination attempt that nearly cost him his two children's life. A plastic explosive (20 kg of TNT) tied to a 122 mm bomb placed in a trunk of a tree, exploded at the time Amine Gemayel's car went by. He was injured in the face. This incident caused a general strike in the Eastern regions.
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August 1979
November 1979
December 1979
February 1980
March 1980
Thursday, 13 March 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Fights opposed Amal to the Fateh, killing seven persons in the Ouzaï-Aramoun region. Leaders of the National Movement started to mediate between the two parties to end the dispute.
What the books addHanf: early in 1980 Amal fought the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front in Beirut's suburbs while Fatah tried to mediate, as relations between Shi'is and Palestinians grew worse; the fighting later reached the south.
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June 1980
July 1980
August 1980
Wednesday, 13 August 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Sarkis rejected, in front of Gaston Thor, the President of the Council of Ministers of the EEC, the settlement of the Palestinians in Lebanon as part of the global settlement of the Middle East problem.
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October 1980
Monday, 13 October 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books day (visit 13-15 October)
A Lebanese Forces delegation in Israel sets out its plan to take power.
Following a visit by a Lebanese Forces military delegation, five LF political figures, Joseph Abou Khalil, Zahi Boustani, Selim Jahel, Antoine Najm and Assaad Chaftari, left Kaslik by boat on 13 October and landed in Haifa that evening. Over two days they briefed the head of the Mossad's Lebanon desk, Mossad director Yitzhak Hofi and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir on their plans. Shamir told them not to provoke Syria, to build up their strength and to repair their image in Washington.
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November 1980
Saturday, 1 November 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Safir press was dynamited in Hamra.
Ain el Remmaneh recovered its calm. The cease-fire concluded between the army and the Lebanese Forces was fully respected. Nevertheless, a profound discomfort persisted in the country at higher levels because the tension persisted, and the Army lost some of its credibility due to its withdrawal.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Over 2000 persons watched the Marlboro Rally Mountain 1980.
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January 1981
Thursday, 29 January 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israeli aviation bombarded Saida and Nabatyeh for two days. An artillery duel opposed the 'Common Forces' to the militiamen of Saad Haddad. These Israeli bombardments killed 14 and injured 30 others.
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February 1981
Friday, 13 February 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The kidnapping on February 6 in Beirut of the chargé d'affaires of Jordan in Lebanon, remained at the center of preoccupation of the country's leaders. They adopted a series of security measures for the protection of embassies.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Syrian-Israeli air duel took place in the sky of the Bekaa region.
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March 1981
Sunday, 1 March 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The city of Saida went through a day of fear and anguish after four bombs fell in its busiest streets, and especially after Saad Haddad threatened to bomb the city. The next day, the fighting spread to Southern Lebanon.
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Friday, 13 March 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Lebanese Army unit positioned in the Kantara locality following an agreement with the UNIFL commandant. On March 15, 50 soldiers deployed in the village of Chaqra. However, Saad Haddad was opposed to the reinforcement of the Army in the South.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The US ambassador hands Bashir Gemayel a secret policy paper.
US Ambassador John Gunther Dean gave Bashir Gemayel a secret cable prepared for him, 'Directives on Lebanon', dated 9 March, and offered to coordinate with him. Washington backed a gradual, total Syrian withdrawal and asked the 'Phalanges' (the Lebanese Forces) to show restraint and cooperate with the government and army.
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April 1981
Wednesday, 29 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syria deploys SAM missiles in the Bekaa: the 'missile crisis'.
A day after Israel downed two Syrian helicopters, Syria set up SAM-6 and SAM-2 batteries openly in the Bekaa, near Rayak and Chtaura. Israel demanded their removal; de Clerck and Malsagne see the deployment as the first direct Syrian-Israeli confrontation.
Sources differ: Traboulsi names the missiles as Sam 3, the other sources as SAM-6 and SAM-2. Traboulsi's own chronology (p. 252) places the battle of Zahleh and the missile crisis in March 1980, contradicting his main text.
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May 1981
Friday, 1 May 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel calls off a strike on the Syrian missiles.
Israel's planned air raid on the Syrian SAM batteries in the Bekaa was called off. Thick cloud had postponed the strike Begin ordered when, that evening, Washington urged him not to jeopardise Philip Habib's mission, and he reluctantly cancelled it.
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June 1981
Monday, 1 June 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Blind bombardments hit the seaside resorts of Maameltein, Ouzaï and Manara. 18 people were killed and 270 were wounded.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
According to a study by Maroun Baghdadi , more than 80 parties and political organizations were disputing the power or bits of the power in Lebanon. Among them organizations, committees, unions more or less homogeneous, more or less ephemerals, more or less clandestine; some were born with the war, others had disappeared because of it.
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July 1981
dates 1–60 of 168 next
