Sunday, 18 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Karantina massacre
Christian forces conquered Karantina, a slum district populated primarily by poor Kurds and Armenians but controlled by a PLO detachment. More than 1000 civilians were massacred.
What the books addDates differ between historians: 16 January (Ménargues), 18 January (de Clerck and Malsagne; consistent with Fisk), 19 January (Hanf), 20 or 22 January (Traboulsi). Maslakh, next door, fell at the same time. Most of the district's people were Shi'is, living alongside Palestinians, Kurds and Armenian Lebanese. Haugbolle estimates 150-500 dead, de Clerck and Malsagne 600-1,000; some 30,000 people were driven out to West Beirut and the southern suburbs.
Art and memory- film Les Enfants de la guerre, Jocelyne Saab's 1976 documentary, was shot in the aftermath of the Karantina massacre.
- place The B018 nightclub, put up at Karantina in 1998, was given a coffin-like look that Haugbolle reads as an allusion to the massacre there.
- book Jonathan Randal's reporting made the Karantina and Damour massacres known abroad.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 16 January 1976, Monday, 19 January 1976, Tuesday, 20 January 1976, Thursday, 22 January 1976
\_this day in full \_on this day
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
\_this day in full \_on this day
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
\_this day in full \_on this day
Monday, 18 June 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The army enters Ain al-Rummaneh and clashes with Bashir Gemayel's militiamen.
Unable to stop the fighting between their own militias, Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun turned to President Sarkis, who sent in the army. In Ain al-Rummaneh the troops clashed bloodily with Bashir Gemayel's Kataeb fighters, the first serious confrontation between the army and a Lebanese militia, and relations between the army and the Lebanese Forces worsened thereafter.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne put the Ain al-Rummaneh turning point on 18 June (p. 275) but have the army called in on 14 June in another passage (p. 321). Original entry 272, of 16 June, expected the army to move in early the following week, which fits Monday 18 June.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979
\_this day in full \_on this day
Saturday, 18 September 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Hundreds of women, elderly persons, men and children were massacred in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatila. This ignominious act shook the world. Some militias were accused of committing the crime. Nevertheless, as usual in Lebanon, the identity of the murderers remained unknown while the victims were all innocent persons. .
What the books addThe massacre lasted from the evening of Thursday 16 September to the morning of Saturday 18 September (Traboulsi gives 15-17, Hanf 17-18). The killers were militiamen of the Lebanese Forces' security service under Elie Hobeika, together with men of Saad Haddad's South Lebanon militia. The Israeli army, which controlled the area after entering West Beirut on 15 September, let them into the camps, lit the camps with flares at night and watched from command posts nearby. Israel's Kahan Commission, published on 7 February 1983, held the Phalangists directly responsible and found Defence Minister Ariel Sharon personally responsible, recommending his removal; it also attributed indirect responsibility to other Israeli political and military leaders. Estimates of the dead range from about 460-800 to 3,500; Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout's survey found victims of twelve nationalities, about half Palestinian and more than a quarter Lebanese.
Art and memory- film Ari Folman's autobiographical animated documentary Waltz with Bashir (2008) showed how central Israeli soldiers were to the massacre.
- film Massaker (2005), by Lokman Slim and Monika Borgmann, records former Lebanese Forces militiamen describing their part in the massacre.
- testimony Jean Genet entered Chatila on 19 September 1982; de Clerck and Malsagne count his 'Four Hours in Shatila' (1983) among the war's most harrowing accounts.
- artwork Drawing on Genet's text, Iraqi painter Dia al-Azzawi made nine prints in 1983; his polyptych Sabra and Shatila Massacre (1982-83) is now at Tate Modern.
- novel Sorj Chalandon, Libération's man in Lebanon, was among the first into the camps; his 2013 novel Le Quatrième Mur depicts the massacre.
- book Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout's Sabra and Shatila, September 1982 (2004) surveys the victims and records witnesses' descriptions of the killers.
- novel In activism and in fiction, notably Bab al-Shams (Gate of the Sun), Elias Khoury sought to make Palestinians' war experience part of Lebanese memory.
- novel In Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game (2006), George returns from the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which he took part, and describes the killings.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 15 September 1982, Thursday, 16 September 1982, Friday, 17 September 1982
\_this day in full \_on this day
Wednesday, 13 November 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Eastern regions went on strike to protest against the suicide truck killing attempt perpetrated against the leaders of the Lebanese Front gathered in the St Georges convent in Awkar. The assault caused 4 dead and 36 wounded, including Elie Karameh, Edouard Honein, and Fouad Ephrame Boustany who were slightly injured.
What the books addHobeika and President Gemayel escaped injury only because they were not in their cars when these were attacked; Chamoun, Elie Karami and other Lebanese Front leaders were hurt. Hanf places these attempts in a series that, in his view, hardened the confrontation over the Damascus agreement.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 28 December 1985
\_this day in full \_on this day
Saturday, 13 October 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A quick operation following a bombardment by the Syrian aviation permitted to the Lebanese army loyal to the Hoss government to take control of the Baabda palace and Yarze. General Aoun capitulated to avoid bloody fights and took refuge at the French embassy. Fights, according to some estimates, cause 700 deaths.
What the books addAt about 7 a.m. on 13 October 1990 Syrian aircraft started bombing Baabda, and Syrian and Lebanese armour moved in from West Beirut and the mountains. Some two and a half hours later Aoun went to the French embassy; with Ambassador René Ala mediating, and at Hrawi's demand, he told his troops over the radio to obey General Lahoud. Within about eight hours the fighting had ended. Tolls vary: over 200 dead in a single morning (de Clerck and Malsagne); some 400 Syrian soldiers dead (Hanf); 160 Syrian soldiers dead at Dahr el-Wahash alone, by Syrian figures (Fisk); and an initial government figure of 36 dead (Fisk). Picard's chronology places the Syrian attack on 12 October.
Other date in the books: Friday, 12 October 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian troops execute captured soldiers of Aoun's army.
Some of Aoun's units did not hear, or ignored, his order to stop fighting. At Dahr el-Wahash, above Baabda, they fired on Syrian infantry after the surrender; Syrian sources told Fisk they lost 160 men there. Syrian troops then executed captured Aoun soldiers, about a hundred (Hanf), and killed fifteen villagers in Bsous. Fisk found dozens of bodies in the Baabda hospital mortuary, many shot through the back of the head. About twenty senior officers were taken to Anjar or to Syria.
Sources differ: Figures differ by source and are partly second-hand (Syrian sources quoted by Fisk).
Art and memory- testimony Robert Fisk's eyewitness account of the Baabda mortuary and the Dahr el-Wahash ridge after 13 October 1990 is the most detailed record in the supplied books of the executions that followed Aoun's surrender.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Thursday, 13 July 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Beirut airport, twenty-one bridges and the Damascus road are bombed.
Israel bombed Beirut airport's runways, some twenty-one bridges and the Beirut–Damascus highway, cutting air traffic and the main roads to Syria. Visitors, many from the Gulf, were stuck; Western states evacuated their citizens, dual nationals included, by sea.
Sources differ: 34 Days puts the runway strike on the night of 12 July; Abirached and Dieckhoff date the strikes to 13 July.
Reports at the time: The archive's first report of the runways being hit is 06:30 on 13 July, after the Damour bridge (00:50); helicopters struck the airport's fuel tanks again in the evening.
The reports of that day, as they came in
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 12 July 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Israel imposes an air and sea blockade on Lebanon.
Israel closed Lebanon's air space and coast. The blockade stayed in force until 7 September, over three weeks past the ceasefire, and hindered the export of books and newspapers printed in Lebanon.
Sources differ: Start date: 13 July (Abirached; Dieckhoff 'from the next day'), 12 July (Mermier).
Reports at the time: The archive reports a 'general blockade' at 10:05 on 13 July, supporting Abirached's date.
The reports of that day, as they came in
Other date in the books: Friday, 14 July 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books range
The Jiyeh power station's fuel tanks are bombed; an oil slick spreads along the coast.
Some 150 km of coast, up to the Syrian border, was fouled after Israeli strikes on 13 and 15 July hit the fuel tanks of the Jiyeh power station, 25 km south of Beirut. Thousands of tonnes of fuel oil burned or ran into the sea; fishing was devastated, and the ongoing war delayed the clean-up.
Sources differ: Verdeil puts the spill at 10,000-15,000 tonnes; Bustos gives the full contents of the depot, 35,000 tonnes, some of which burned and some spilled. The two figures measure different things.
Reports at the time: No archive report for 13-15 July mentions Jiyeh; the fires and the slick first appear on 26 July, and the strike notes put Jiyeh under 16 July.
The reports of that day, as they came in
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Saudi Arabia condemns Hezbollah's 'adventurism'.
Riyadh on 13 July blamed the capture on Hezbollah's 'irresponsible adventurism' yet still endorsed 'legitimate resistance'. Hezbollah had not expected it: no Arab government had openly condemned such an action before.
Sources differ: Night of 12 July (34 Days) against 13 July (Ayad and Donati).
Reports at the time: The archive reports the Saudi statement only at 05:20 on 14 July, a day later than either book.
The reports of that day, as they came in
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 12 July 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
First Israeli raids on Beirut's southern suburb.
Israeli aircraft struck the southern suburb of Beirut, Hezbollah's stronghold, for the first time.
Sources differ: 34 Days puts the start of the bombing of Dahiyeh on the evening of 14 July (see 2006-07-14-haret-hreik).
Reports at the time: The archive backs Abirached: it cites Hezbollah reporting a strike on its southern-suburb stronghold at 08:30 on 13 July.
The reports of that day, as they came in
\_this day in full \_on this day
