185 entries on 168 dates · the books disagree on 44
dates 1–60 of 168 next
April 1973
Monday, 30 April 1973
The road to war · From the books
Fatah members with explosives are arrested at Beirut airport.
Four Fatah members with explosives in their luggage were stopped at the airport before a flight to Europe; a day later, near the US embassy, five Democratic Front guerrillas were held.
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May 1973
Wednesday, 2 May 1973
The road to war · From the books
Heavy fighting as the army rings Beirut's Palestinian camps.
More than 100 Lebanese and Palestinians were killed in two weeks of fighting that began on 2 May, when the army deployed around Beirut's largest Palestinian camps; the CIA called these the worst clashes since 1969. Uprisings broke out in Sidon and Tripoli, and Beirut's Muslim neighbourhoods filled with demonstrators.
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April 1974
Tuesday, 2 April 1974
The road to war · From the books
Left-wing union federations call their own general strike.
The leftist federations called a general strike on their own, after a big demonstration against inflation. Tufaro says it opened the way to the first real gains: peasants entered the social security fund, and Article 50 of the Labour Law, which let employers sack workers at will, was partly reformed.
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January 1975
Thursday, 30 January 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
15,000 persons demonstrated in Beirut to express their solidarity with South Lebanon, which had been regularly bombed by Israel.
What the books addTraboulsi counts this among the early-1975 protests, a southern general strike and Beirut demonstrations, over the Palestinian presence and the south's defence.
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March 1975
Wednesday, 12 March 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The cabinet transfers two officers over the Sidon shooting.
On 12 March the Solh cabinet partly yielded to Sidon and the National Movement, giving Sidon's governor a month's administrative leave and moving two army officers, which Gemayel opposed.
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April 1975
Saturday, 12 April 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The government cancels the Protein fishing project.
The cabinet's decision to scrap the Protein scheme and compensate Sidon's fishermen came a month after its first concessions, and a day before Ain al-Rummaneh.
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May 1975
Friday, 30 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
'Black Thursday': sectarian kidnappings and killings in Beirut.
Sectarian abductions rose sharply on either side of the demarcation line after a Palestinian was killed and frightening rumours spread through Beirut. The worst came at Bashura, where Christians walking between Basta and the cemetery were abducted and some of them killed or mutilated. The Shiite gang Fityan Ali was blamed. De Clerck and Malsagne stress that this happened months before Black Saturday, often wrongly called the war's first massacre.
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July 1975
Wednesday, 2 July 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Al-Qaa, a Christian village of the northern Bekaa, comes under attack.
Several villagers were killed and houses and fields burned when gunmen besieged al-Qaa, a Christian village by the Syrian border. De Clerck and Malsagne date the Christian exodus from the northern Bekaa from this attack. Amal fighters from neighbouring villages later shielded al-Qaa and other Christian villages.
Sources differ: Attackers: fedayeen (Tegho Bou Nassif), local Shiites (de Clerck and Malsagne), or Fatah, Saiqa, SSNP, Communists and a Shiite clan (Hanf). Dead: 5 or 7. Hanf places the attack before the Karami cabinet was formed (late June).
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September 1975
Tuesday, 2 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Fedayeen stab to death the Christian owner of a Ta'labaya wheat mill and his two sons.
At Ta'labaya near Zahleh, a Christian wheat-mill owner and his two sons were knifed to death by intruding fedayeen.
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October 1975
Thursday, 2 October 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Rachid Karameh presided the meeting of the Ç National Committee for dialog È at the Serail. The committee decided that all armed elements will have to back up from their positions before the next day and will be replaced by Interior Security Forces.
What the books addFormed in September 1975 through Syria's foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, the National Dialogue Committee of some twenty leaders debated secularism and ending sectarian quotas; Hanf says it broke up empty-handed.
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Thursday, 30 October 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Yarmouk units enter the Bekaa near Zahleh.
Yarmouk units, a Palestinian force trained by the Syrian army, entered the Bekaa plain near Zahleh by way of Bar Elias. The bishop's diary shows that the Palestinian fighters in the district had until then been Fatah and its Lebanese allies.
Sources differ: Hanf dates the Yarmouk Brigade's crossing to 20 December.
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November 1975
Sunday, 2 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Chuchu, the famous actor died from a hart attack. His real name was Hassan Alaeddine, the friend of younger and older kids was the most popular comedian on stage and on TV.
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December 1975
Friday, 12 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Sixty people are killed in Zahleh.
Six days after Black Saturday, assaults and shelling by Palestine Liberation Army and Yarmouk units killed sixty Christians of Zahleh; Bishop Bassul called it a massacre.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne blame attacks by the PLA and Yarmouk units; Tegho Bou Nassif blames fedayeen shelling.
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January 1976
Friday, 30 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the normalization process continued, the Superior Military Committee decided to dispatch the Lebanese Army to Damour, Mkalles, and Dbayeh, as well as to the road leading to the Beirut International Airport.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lieutenant Ahmed Khatib left the Hasbaya barracks and announced the creation, in the Bekaa, of the Army of Arab Lebanon.
What the books addHistorians date Lieutenant Ahmad al-Khatib's breakaway to 21 January (de Clerck and Malsagne, in the Bekaa) or 22 January (Julie Tegho Bou Nassif, from the diary of the Greek Catholic bishop of Zahleh); Hanf places the mutiny in the south. About 300-400 Muslim soldiers followed him at first. The entry of 30 January may record a later step.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 21 January 1976, Thursday, 22 January 1976
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February 1976
March 1976
Friday, 12 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Phalange delegation travels secretly to Israel.
Ammunition running out, Pierre Gemayel relented, and on 12 March 1976 the Phalangists Joseph Abu Khalil, Sami Khoueiry and Fouad Roukoz went by speedboat to Israel for arms. Israel shipped them within days but again ruled out intervening directly.
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April 1976
Friday, 2 April 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A ten-day truce had bee decided, in order to elect a new President of the Republic after the expected departure of Sleiman Frangieh.
What the books addParliament used the truce to amend Article 73 of the constitution so that Frangieh's successor could be elected early: on 9 April according to Hanf, 10 April according to Yara El Khoury. The truce had coincided with the arrival on 31 March of the US envoy Dean Brown.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 31 March 1976, Friday, 9 April 1976, Saturday, 10 April 1976
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Monday, 12 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad attacks the National Movement and offers to intervene.
Pierre Gemayel called it a historic speech: in Damascus, President Assad said Syria was ready to send forces into Lebanon to protect any oppressed group, Christian or Muslim, and attacked the PLO and National Movement leaders.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology lists 'al-Asad's speech attacking LNM' under '13 March', apparently a misprint for 12 April.
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May 1976
Sunday, 30 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An avalanche of missiles and shells hit Beirut while combats continued on all fronts. The bombings reached the airport, imposing the closure of runways to air traffic at night.
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June 1976
Wednesday, 2 June 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The residents of Beirut and its surroundings were living in the dark. The last cable supplying the capital with power had been broken. Daily life was very difficult.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel and Kamal Jumblatt meet secretly.
For an end to military pressure on Bikfaya, Bashir Gemayel offered Kamal Jumblatt full secularisation when they met secretly in West Beirut; Jumblatt offered to keep a Maronite president and a senate. Both opposed the Syrian intervention. That day the Lebanese Front, in its last statement of the year, asked Frangieh to coordinate with Sarkis.
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July 1976
Friday, 30 July 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Khalil Salem, director-general of the Finance Ministry, is kidnapped.
Lebanese Arab Army officers wanted Khalil Salem, director general of the Finance Ministry, to sign false pay-slips, and he refused. Seized in West Beirut on his way to work, he was found shot dead in his car boot on 2 August. Nobody has identified his killers.
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August 1976
Thursday, 12 August 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Tell El Zaatar assault and massacre
After a siege that lasted 52 days, the Tell El Zaatar Palestinian camp fell in the hands of the Lebanese Forces as a result of an ultimate assault launched at dawn. It was in total confusion that the 12000 camp residents were evacuated. In retaliation, kidnappings were reported in West Beirut. 2000 people died in fighting during the entire siege, and 4000 were wounded. The surviving cilvilians were settled by The PLO in other camps and in Damour.
What the books addTal al-Za'tar fell on 12 August 1976 (13 August in Ménargues) after more than 70 assaults. Ménargues and Hanf count a siege of 52-53 days from the final offensive; de Clerck and Malsagne and Traboulsi count six months from the January blockade. An ICRC report cited by de Clerck and Malsagne puts the dead at about 2,500 residents and defenders and up to 800 attackers; many died trying to escape. The Tigers and the Guardians of the Cedar led the last assault, reportedly with Syrian and Israeli officers present. The camp was bulldozed and never rebuilt.
Art and memory- novel Liana Badr's novel The Eye of the Mirror tells of a girl growing up in Tal al-Za'tar during the siege of 1976.
- artwork Ziad Rahbani made the siege of Tal al-Za'tar widely known through one of his musical works.
- film Georges Hachem's film Balle perdue (2010) is set in late summer 1976 north of Beirut, in the lull that followed the fall of Tal al-Za'tar.
- place Tal al-Za'tar was bulldozed after its fall in 1976; neither it nor Jisr al-Basha, both levelled that year, has been rebuilt.
- testimony Nayla Hachem's testimony describes her relief work in 1976 at the siege of Tal al-Za'tar, the fall of Nabaa and the massacres; she was a nurse, later an ICRC delegate.
- book In Camille Chamoun's war diary, Tal al-Za'tar's fall in August 1976 was a triumph of fighters of every class.
- artwork The play Silence, ça tourne (2025) is built on the testimony of a Swedish nurse who survived the siege of Tal al-Za'tar.
Other dates in the books: Sunday, 4 January 1976, Friday, 13 August 1976
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January 1977
Wednesday, 12 January 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The collection of heavy and light arms continued while the government was helping the victims of the war and trying to boost the economy.
What the books addUnder the Riyadh decisions of October 1976 all parties were to give up heavy weapons to the Arab Deterrent Force; the Hoss government set a 5 December 1976 deadline (Traboulsi). Fisk reports the militias did not hand them in; Hanf, that the Palestinians moved most of theirs south of the 'red line'.
Other date in the books: Monday, 18 October 1976
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February 1977
Saturday, 12 February 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A decree-law opens the rebuilding of the army.
Deserters could return to the ranks, and officers who had fought in the conflict were asked to resign, under a decree-law that opened President Sarkis's programme for rebuilding the army. De Clerck and Malsagne say nearly 9,000 soldiers were removed and 12,000 new volunteers enlisted.
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June 1977
Thursday, 30 June 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
On the last day of its full-powers, the Council of Ministers published a series of decree-laws. The most important ones stipulated the revision of certain laws relative to the Lebanese University, the amendment of some press censorship laws, and the adoption of the mandatory car insurance.
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July 1977
August 1977
October 1977
February 1978
March 1978
May 1978
Tuesday, 2 May 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A fight opposed the UNIFL and the Palestinians. The French barrack in Tyr was bombed and the commander of the French contingent was seriously injured.
What the books addColonel Jean Germain Salvan was badly hurt in both legs in early May, Fisk writes, when dissident PLO gunmen fired on the Fatah jeep carrying him, killing a French soldier and his Palestinian driver; Arafat called it a crime. Hanf adds that such losses made the French unit much more careful.
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Friday, 12 May 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Seiman Frangieh and Rachid Karameh reconciled under the auspices of the Syrian commander of the Arab Strike Force in Northern Lebanon.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne record that Frangieh had quit the Lebanese Front the day before over its ties with Israel. The reconciliation, Hanf notes, made the north a pro-Syrian bloc.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 11 May 1978
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July 1978
January 1979
Friday, 12 January 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Members of the Commission of Justice requested the adoption of a law prohibiting the sale of lands to non-Lebanese. In the south, it seemed that many lands have been sold to non-Lebanese.
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February 1979
Monday, 12 February 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Brian Urqhart, the assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, examined with Lebanese officials the modalities of the Army's deployment in the South next to the UNIFL Israel nevertheless rejected the program.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 18 April 1979
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April 1979
Thursday, 12 April 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Damascus says Syria will leave Lebanon only once its aims are achieved.
In a Le Monde interview, a Syrian leader, probably Foreign Minister Abd al-Halim Khaddam, said Syria would withdraw from Lebanon when its aims were met; Picard cites it among examples of Damascus's high-handed treatment of Lebanese leaders.
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May 1979
Saturday, 12 May 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Fighting between the Kataeb and the NLP militia breaks out in Furn el-Chebbak.
Bashir Gemayel's Kataeb and Camille Chamoun's National Liberal Party (Ahrar) first fought in Furn el-Chebbak, in Beirut's eastern suburbs; the fighting then reached every spot where their militias faced each other and, by its end in July 1980, had claimed dozens of victims.
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June 1979
Saturday, 30 June 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The 'race for peace' organized by the Lebanese Federation of Athletics under the patronage of L'orient-Le Jour was a manifestation of the Lebanese sportsmen in favor of national unity. Departed from Achrafieh, the 66 participants representing 18 clubs from all the Lebanese regions met in Manara after having crossed the Fouad Chehab Ring.
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July 1979
Thursday, 12 July 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Unrest spread in West Beirut where Shiite militiamen manifested their anger against the eventual visit to Beirut of Colonel Kadhafi. The Lebanese government cancelled, under pressure from both officials and Shiite masses, the visit of the Libyan president.
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September 1979
Wednesday, 12 September 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The notables of Zghorta and Becharreh reconciled under the aegis of Patriarch Khoreiche. In a common declaration, the notables requested the deployment of the army in their region.
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October 1979
November 1979
Monday, 12 November 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The work document that Lebanon was going to present in Tunis, contained 6 main points: exercising pressure on the United States to end Israeli aggressions, freezing the actions of the Fedayin, laying the Lebanese authority in the South, banning any illegal armed presence, re-activating the Beiteddine Committee, and grouping guerillas in some specified zones.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 20 November 1979
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January 1980
Wednesday, 2 January 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The chief of the 'Iranian volunteers', Hodjatolislam Mohammed Montazeri, held a press conference in Beirut during which he reasserted his men's determination to go to South Lebanon to 'fight imperialism and Zionism.' And he added: 'We will come by thousands.'
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne have Iranian clerics and activists settling in the Bekaa, and then in Tyre, from 1980, before 500 to 2,000 Revolutionary Guards entered Lebanon in June 1982.
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March 1980
April 1980
Saturday, 12 April 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Saad Haddad militiamen attacked UNIFL soldiers. Bombings destroyed two United Nations helicopters in Nakoura.
What the books addFisk: in the April 1980 fighting at At-Tiri, Haddad's gunmen killed Private Stephen Griffin of the Irish UNIFIL battalion and UN troops killed a militiaman, whose death two other Irish soldiers later paid for. The militia also held the coastal strip between the French unit and Naqoura and shot at helicopters.
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May 1980
June 1980
July 1980
December 1980
Friday, 12 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel presents President Sarkis with a federal plan.
An army-backed coup before the 1982 presidential election was what a confidential paper drafted for Bashir Gemayel by Karim Pakradouni proposed; he and Sarkis went over it at Baabda. Its aims: ending Syria's occupation, the curbing, then destruction, of the Palestinian organisations, and a federal system replacing the 1926 constitution. Sarkis asked for time, never answering directly.
Sources differ: Traboulsi names Pakradouni and Abou Khalil as authors and says Elie Hobeika and Zahi Boustani took the plan to Iraq; Ménargues names Pakradouni, with edits by Antoine Najm.
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Tuesday, 30 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Christian–Druze draft agreement is written, then blocked by Damascus.
On 30 December Samir Frangieh set down Antoine Najm's proposals in a handwritten text countersigned by the Druze officer Riad Takieddine: a six-member cabinet including Bashir Gemayel and Walid Jumblatt, no use of Lebanese territory for aggression against Arab states, and sound relations with Syria. Damascus learned of the talks; Assad summoned Jumblatt and rejected any Druze–LF rapprochement, and Jumblatt dropped the idea.
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April 1981
Thursday, 2 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese will remember this date for long time. Violence brought back to Beirut the darkest experiences of 1975-1976. Blind bombardments targeted the Eastern and Western sectors of the capital. Thousands of students were trapped in their schools and the population panicked. There were heavy casualties: 50 persons died and more than 200 were wounded.
What the books addHistorians date the battle of Zahleh from this day, when Lebanese Forces fighters beat off a Syrian attack on the town and a siege of some 90 days began. Ménargues says Syrian heavy guns killed 50 and wounded over 200 that day in Zahleh and the Christian zone north of Beirut.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The battle of Zahleh begins.
From December 1980 the Syrian army held positions on the edge of Zahleh. Lebanese Forces fighters in the town repulsed its attack, and a siege of roughly 90 days followed, which Bashir Gemayel portrayed as a fight for 'the last Christian town' of the East.
Sources differ: Ménargues ends the siege on 30 June 1981 and Fisk by 1 July; de Clerck & Malsagne (p. 80) place the end of hostilities in May–June.
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Sunday, 12 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Following several days of violent confrontations with the Phalange militia, the Arab Strike Force completed its occupation of the most strategic hills of Zahleh. The supply channels between the capital of the Bekaa and Mount Lebanon were closed.
What the books addMénargues writes that Syrian special forces, landed by helicopter at dawn on 10 April, soon took the heights of Qalaat Aramta and Deir Charfé around Zahleh, leaving its defenders almost encircled.
Other date in the books: Friday, 10 April 1981
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Thursday, 30 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel and Camille Chamoun meet Begin secretly in Jerusalem.
Late on 30 April an Israeli helicopter flew Bashir Gemayel and Camille Chamoun to Jerusalem. Around midnight Begin, with Shamir and his military and intelligence chiefs, told them Israel would act if Syria did not remove its SAMs from the Bekaa.
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May 1981
Tuesday, 12 May 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
SAM missiles were launched against Israeli spy airplanes.
What the books addMénargues's run of drone losses begins on 14 May, when a Syrian SAM-6 downed an Israeli reconnaissance drone over the Bekaa; more were lost on 19, 22 (two) and 25 May.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 14 May 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese stock exchange market panicked as the dollar's exchange rate increased up to 4.45 LP.
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dates 1–60 of 168 next
