203 entries on 186 dates · the books disagree on 47
dates 1–60 of 186 next
April 1969
Wednesday, 23 April 1969
The road to war · From the books
Security forces fire on pro-Palestinian demonstrations; Karami resigns.
Prime Minister Rashid Karami resigned after violent protests, notably in Tripoli: in Beirut and Sidon the army and security forces had fired on mass demonstrations backing the Palestinian resistance, leaving dead and wounded, and in Sidon a march from Ain al-Hilweh camp became an army-commando battle. A cabinet crisis of over seven months followed.
Sources differ: Hanf places Karami's resignation after President Helou's television address of 6 May; Traboulsi and de Clerck & Malsagne put it on or right after 23 April. The length of the crisis is 215 days (Traboulsi) or 216 days (de Clerck & Malsagne). Hanf names Sidon and Ain al-Hilweh; Traboulsi Sidon and Beirut; de Clerck & Malsagne Beirut.
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March 1970
Monday, 23 March 1970
The road to war · From the books
A Palestinian funeral convoy is fired on at Kahhale.
Palestinians died when a convoy carrying a guerrilla's coffin to Damascus for burial and the residents of Kahhale, a Maronite village, traded fire. Who shot first, and how many were killed, is disputed. Hanf places the incident among the first serious clashes between Palestinians and armed Christians.
Sources differ: De Clerck & Malsagne: a Kataeb attack, 18 Palestinians dead. Hanf: ten dead; he reports both sides' versions and judges it likeliest that villagers took Palestinian shots into the air for an attack.
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January 1973
Tuesday, 23 January 1973
The road to war · From the books
The army fires on tobacco growers, killing two.
Two peasants died on 23 January 1973 when soldiers fired on protesting tobacco growers. About 20,000 rallied in Beirut in support, and clashes spread across Lebanon.
Sources differ: Place: Nabatieh (Traboulsi) or Kfar Remmaneh-Nabatieh (Tufaro). Aftermath: 20,000 in Beirut 'a few days later' (Traboulsi) or a march from the South to Beirut the next day (Tufaro); possibly the same event.
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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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Thursday, 17 May 1973
The road to war · From the books
The Melkart protocol ends the army-PLO fighting.
On 17 May, after Frangieh bowed to Arab pressure and halted the army, a West Beirut hotel hosted the Melkart signing: no more Palestinian raids into Israel, and a joint army-Palestinian commission. Hanf says it reaffirmed Cairo and proved as ineffective.
Sources differ: 17 May (de Clerck & Malsagne, Picard) or end of fighting on 18 May followed by the agreement (Hanf). De Clerck & Malsagne say it amended the Cairo Agreement; Hanf that it reaffirmed it.
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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
May 1975
Friday, 23 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Following the resignation of the Government of Rachid El Solh, Sleiman Frangieh, President of the Republic, put together a military government.
The new government was headed by Noureddine Rifai, a retired Corporal, and included only one civilian, Lucien Dahdah. This Government was in charge of reestablishing the peace in the country caused by bloody clashes between the Phalange Party and the Resistance. These clashes were still going on in Beirut and its surroundings.
What the books addNureddine al-Rifai was a retired Sunni officer: a general according to Hanf, a brigadier-general according to Traboulsi, an officer of the gendarmerie according to de Clerck and Malsagne.
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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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Wednesday, 17 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range
Fighting reaches downtown Beirut; the souks are destroyed.
On the night of 17-18 September the war reached central Beirut. The old souks, where Christian and Muslim traders alike worked, were largely destroyed by Kataeb shelling.
Sources differ: Existing entry 28 records the fighting on 19 September.
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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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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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February 1976
Monday, 23 February 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A forty-five years old fanatic locked up 35 persons at the Canadian embassy. This situation lasted 8 hours and immersed Lebanon in a torrid suspense. The hostages were then liberated in a happy ending.
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March 1976
Tuesday, 23 March 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The ' Beirut Battle ' continued amid shelling.
The past 48 hours resulted in 150 deaths and 300 injuries. The control of downtown was at stake. Moslem-Progressive forces backed by Palestinian organizations were determined to eliminate any Phalangist presence West of the Martyrs Square. The new front was established on the axis Starco Hilton, while Phalangist militiamen faced assaults launched from the Riad El Solh and the Nejmeh Squares towards the Port area. In the Mountain where artillery duels continued, a common Palestinian Progressive breakthrough attempt was turned down in Mansourieh.
What the books addHanf traces the line that went on dividing the city along the Damascus road and across Martyrs Square to the harbour. It was set once the Kataeb, losing the Holiday Inn, had no positions left in West Beirut.
Art and memory- film Jocelyne Saab's 1976 documentary Beyrouth, jamais plus captures a Beirut that was disappearing.
Other date in the books: Monday, 22 March 1976
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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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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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Thursday, 17 June 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books 17-19 June
President Assad makes an official visit to Paris.
In de Clerck and Malsagne's view, Hafez al-Assad's official visit to Paris signalled implicit French backing for Syria's intervention on the Christians' side.
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August 1976
Tuesday, 17 August 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Upper-Metn battle started. Over 600 shells fell on Faraya-Oyoune El Simane while Palestinians and Progressive forces continued their insane bombing of the capital.
What the books addHanf has the Syrian army moving again only once Tal al-Za'tar had fallen, increasing pressure on the encircled Palestinian and leftist forces in the Upper Metn; these were expelled at the end of September.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 August 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amine Gemayel lists atrocities attributed to the defenders of Tal al-Za'tar.
Days after Tal al-Za'tar fell, Amine Gemayel told a press conference the camp's Palestinian fighters and allies had committed some twenty atrocities. De Clerck and Malsagne cite this as leaders inventing or inflating enemy crimes to justify operations.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 August 1976
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September 1976
Thursday, 23 September 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Elias Sarkis, sixth President of the Republic, took the constitutional oath at the Park Hotel in Chtaura, in presence of 67 deputies.
What the books addSyrian helicopters and armoured limousines carried the 67 deputies to the Park Hotel in Chtaura, in the Syrian-held Bekaa, where 2,000 Syrian soldiers and 40 tanks guarded the ceremony (Fisk). Sarkis used his address to declare that Lebanon itself had invited the Syrian army in (Hanf).
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October 1976
Sunday, 17 October 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A restricted summit was held in Ryad.
While shells kept falling by hundreds on residential neighborhoods in Beirut, killing and injuring tens of persons, an Arab summit was held in Ryad attended by Presidents Elias Sarkis, Anwar Sadate, Hafez El Assad, the Emir of Kuwait, King Khaled of Saudi Arabia, and Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO.
This meeting aimed at reaching an agreement ending the Lebanese crisis. It contained the following clauses:
•Starting October 21, putting a final end to fights on all the Lebanese territory.
•Reinforcing the Arab Peace Force in Lebanon
•Entrusting the Arab Strike Force counting 30,000 men, with the duty of ending the combats and repressing any party that violates the cease-fire. It was also in charge of executing the Cairo agreement, as well as maintaining security in the country, collecting heavy armaments and helping the Lebanese authorities to regain control of all public services and institutions.
What the books addRatified by an Arab summit in Cairo on 25 October, the Riyadh decisions required all parties to surrender heavy weapons and the Palestinians to return to the zones granted by the 1969 Cairo Agreement, and created a 30,000-man Arab Deterrent Force under President Sarkis, its largest contingent by far, 25,000-27,000 men, being the Syrian troops already in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia had sent the invitations on 15 October; the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon met the PLO chairman in Riyadh on 16, 17 or 18 October, depending on the historian. The cease-fire's start is dated 16 October (Hanf), 21 October (Traboulsi) or 15 November (de Clerck and Malsagne).
Other dates in the books: Friday, 15 October 1976, Saturday, 16 October 1976, Monday, 18 October 1976
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January 1977
Sunday, 23 January 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In Broumana and in presence of 25 delegates, the week of the Lebanese Forces was held under the sign of coexistence.
This three-day seminar adopted the principle of diversity in respect of heritage and cultures. The seminar emphasized the need to solve Lebanon's economic problem using modern solutions.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne put the Lebanese Front's seminar at the Sayyidat al-Bir convent, not Broumana, on 21 January 1977. Its leaders, they report, judged the independence-era institutions obsolete, raised partition and defined a 'plurality of civilisational groups'. The body was the Lebanese Front, the Christian leaders' coalition, not the Lebanese Forces militia.
Other date in the books: Friday, 21 January 1977
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March 1977
Thursday, 17 March 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Kamal Jumblatt is buried at Mukhtara; his son Walid succeeds him.
Before the burial, Sheikh Aql Abu Shakra laid Kamal Jumblatt's black cloak on the shoulders of his son Walid, not yet thirty; by this rite Walid succeeded him at the head of the family, the Druze, the PSP and the National Movement. He soon sided with Syria.
Sources differ: Ménargues calls 17 March the day of the assassination; de Clerck and Malsagne date it 16 March, which would make 17 March the burial.
Art and memory- testimony Kamal Jumblatt's funeral, where white-veiled women mourners appeared to talk to the dead leader.
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April 1977
Saturday, 23 April 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The integrity of Southern Lebanon will be jointly guaranteed by Syria and the Soviet Union . This was the message that President Assad transmitted to President Sarkis, following recent meetings between Assad and Brejnev. He also said that a Lebanese force should insure security in Southern Lebanon.
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August 1977
October 1977
Monday, 17 October 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Strong effervescence reigned in Nabaa, as a result of rumors over an apparition of Saint Charbel followed by miraculous recoveries. Thousands of sick people hurried to the scene.
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February 1978
March 1978
Thursday, 23 March 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
General Gour, from the Israeli army, affirmed that Israeli withdrawal from the South of Lebanon would start within a few days.
What the books addFisk adds that during the invasion Gur declared that Israel would fall back to the Christian enclaves as a border 'security belt': the strip that became Major Haddad's.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The first UNIFIL troops, French paratroopers, enter Tyre.
Armed Palestinian fighters still held Tyre's streets when Colonel Jean Germain Salvan's French paratroop battalion, the vanguard of the new UN force, drove in. At the handover of the Hassan Borro barracks, a quarrel between Palestinians and Lebanese officers came close to gunfire.
Sources differ: Entry 179 dates the first arrival of UN troops to 22 March.
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April 1978
Sunday, 23 April 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
At the Villa Mansour, the committee of the ' Thirteen ', that included leaders from all parliamentary blocks, adopted a blueprint claiming the end of the Palestinian armed action on the entire Lebanese territory. The Parliament unanimously approved the resolution on the 27th of April.
What the books addNeither parliament nor president could enforce the resolution, Hanf notes. The 74 deputies in attendance passed it without dissent: it reserved arms to the legitimate Lebanese forces, told the Palestinians and 'other parties' to end armed action, and applied Lebanese law to all on Lebanese soil.
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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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June 1978
Saturday, 17 June 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Sleiman Frangieh declared that no Phalangist member will stay alive in the North of Lebanon. The vendetta caused the death of tens of persons. Phalangist militiamen were forced to flee towards Batroun then Jbeil.
What the books addHanf writes that the Lebanese Front was left with an enclave of roughly a tenth of Lebanon once Syrian troops had moved into the northern Christian mountains, Koura, Batroun and the coast as far as the Madfoun bridge. Frangieh gave Kataeb members in the north until the month's end to give up their weapons and quit the party, or else leave.
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July 1978
September 1978
Sunday, 17 September 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David accords.
Syria could not prevent the Camp David accords, which Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin signed with President Carter as sponsor. Damascus drew closer to the PLO, and within days its guns were again heavily shelling East Beirut.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 18 September and calls it the 'peace treaty'; the treaty itself was signed in March 1979 (Traboulsi).
Other date in the books: Monday, 18 September 1978
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Saturday, 23 September 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After President Sarkis delivered a speech underlining the necessity to maintain the Arab Strike Force and guarantee the forthcoming withdrawal of Syrian forces, about 200 shells hit Achrafieh. The population panicked.
What the books addSchools, hospitals and factories were destroyed in the new bombardment, and Lebanese gendarmes logged 2,000 impacts a day in Achrafieh. Hanf links it to the Camp David agreement reached a few days before.
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January 1979
March 1979
Saturday, 17 March 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Saudi soldiers packed and got ready to leave Lebanon without warning. The next day, after it had been decided that 1200 Lebanese soldiers would replace them, the Saudis changed their minds.
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Friday, 23 March 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Finally, 600 Lebanese soldiers replaced the Saudis in East Beirut in an atmosphere of popular emotion.
What the books addMénargues: once the Saudis said in March 1979 they would hand their positions to the army, an army–militia clash looked inevitable; intelligence chief Johnny Abdo reopened contact with Bashir.
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April 1979
June 1979
July 1979
Monday, 23 July 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Lebanese cargo airplane from the freight company 'Trans Mediterranean Airway' crashed on one of the Beirut Airport runways. The six occupants of the four engine aircraft died.
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August 1979
Friday, 17 August 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the truce was being confirmed at the port and downtown, the situation escalated in the South where the Israeli artillery and Saad Haddad's artillery bombarded several localities. In the North, the Marada attacked a Phalange checkpoint in Barbara located between Jbeil and Batroun. The operation resulted in 3 dead and 5 injured among the Phalangist militiamen.
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September 1979
October 1979
Wednesday, 17 October 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A wooden Christ that has been in the Ain Trez Greek Catholic convent since the last century could be the work of Michel-Angelo. The authenticity of this work had been guaranteed with 90% confidence by a first appraisal in Rome last September.
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November 1979
Friday, 23 November 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Tunis summit was disappointing. Lebanon received only a solemn proclamation of support doubled by a financial assistance up to 2 billion dollars, but the Southern Lebanon problem remained unsolved, the summit having just called the State and the resistance to get along.
What the books addThe Arab summit met in Tunis from 20 to 22 November 1979.
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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February 1980
Saturday, 23 February 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Criminal madness was unleashed in Lebanon. An odious assault was reported in the Sursock district. A car bomb killed 8 persons including Maya, Bechir Gemayel's 20 months old daughter, and injured 20 others. This explosion was aimed at the chief commander of the Lebanese Forces.
What the books addMénargues writes that Bashir Gemayel usually took Maya to her grandmother's on Saturdays but, sick after the sea crossing from Jerusalem the day before, had her governess and his bodyguards take her in his car, which was blown up less than a kilometre from his home. He blames the Palestinians there; later he says an inquiry into Aman el-Mandoubine, a network run by a Fatah intelligence officer, led to the arrest of two Christians who planted the bomb. One annex dates the attack 21 February.
Art and memory- memorial Ménargues reports that the Lebanese Forces' secret military plan, shown to the Israelis on 5 March 1982, was called 'M' in memory of Bashir's daughter Maya.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 21 February 1980
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April 1980
May 1980
Friday, 23 May 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Shells fell on the center of Saida killing 4 persons and wounding 14 others.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Northern Lebanese front flared up again. Militiamen from the Marada launched an attack against the Phalangist positions. In the jurd of the Batroun region, five persons were killed and 20 others wounded.
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June 1980
July 1980
Wednesday, 23 July 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Riad Taha, a 53 years old well known journalist, and President of the Press Syndicate for 13 years, was cowardly shot at Chourane by professional killers who opened fire on his car; 7 bullets hit him. The Press Syndicate claimed damages for a criminal act.
What the books addSyrian troops guarded Riad Taha's and al-Lawzi's funerals, Fisk notes; the government condemned both killings but claimed not to know the culprits. Fisk counts both among journalists who crossed Syria.
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August 1980
October 1980
Friday, 17 October 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Israel perpetrated a new aggression against a Fedayeen base in the central area of South Lebanon. At the same time, confrontations between the Phalange Party and the NLP were reported in Zahle. A car bomb exploded in the airport of the BIA, injuring 6 persons.
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dates 1–60 of 186 next
