261 entries on 235 dates · the books disagree on 53
dates 1–60 of 235 next
November 1969
Monday, 3 November 1969
The road to war · From the books
The Cairo Agreement is signed between the Lebanese army and the PLO.
Only Raymond Eddé and his bloc voted against the agreement, which deputies ratified without seeing its full, secret text. Concluded in Cairo through Egyptian mediation by Yasir Arafat and army commander General Emile Bustani, it affirmed Lebanese sovereignty but let guerrillas keep armed units in the camps and observation posts near the border and move to and from the Arqoub.
Sources differ: Three dates: 3 November (de Clerck & Malsagne, Traboulsi's chronology; Hanf's negotiation of 1-3 November ends that day), 8 November (Traboulsi's chapter 9) and 13 November (Picard). 3 November has the most, and mutually independent, support; Traboulsi contradicts himself.
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August 1971
Wednesday, 18 August 1971
The road to war · From the books
Yuhanna Bassul is elected Greek Catholic bishop of Zahle.
Elected Greek Catholic bishop of Zahle on 18 August 1971, Yuhanna Bassul was welcomed with ceremony in the town and in Christian villages of the northern Bekaa. His journals, covering 1971-1976 and long unknown, are a rare source on how the war came to Zahle.
Art and memory- book Bishop Yuhanna Bassul's journals for 1971-1976, kept at the Greek Catholic archbishopric of Sayyidat al-Najat in Zahle, surfaced during fieldwork in 2016. They trace tensions over the Palestinian question in Zahle and Ta'labaya.
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July 1972
Saturday, 8 July 1972
The road to war · From the books
Ghassan Kanafani is killed by a car bomb in Beirut.
Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and PFLP official, died when his car was blown up; de Clerck and Malsagne blame Mossad.
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November 1972
Friday, 3 November 1972
The road to war · From the books
Workers at the Ghandour factories begin an open-ended strike.
On 3 November 1972 an indefinite strike began at the Ghandour confectionery group, Lebanon's largest non-unionised industrial workforce. Workers wanted their factory committee recognised, the right to unionise, equal wages for women and higher pay.
Sources differ: Workforce: 1,200 in Shiyah (Traboulsi) or about 1,250 in Choueifat plus 350 in Chiyah (Tufaro).
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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, 3 May 1973
The road to war · From the books day (disputed)
The Lebanese air force bombs Palestinian camps in Beirut.
The Lebanese air force was used against the camps: Hanf writes that it bombed Burj al-Barajneh in response to rockets launched at the airport from inside the camp.
Sources differ: 3 May and Burj al-Barajneh (Traboulsi) against 2 May and the Sabra-Shatila area (de Clerck & Malsagne); Hanf gives Burj al-Barajneh without a day. They may be separate raids.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 2 May 1973
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January 1974
Friday, 18 January 1974
The road to war · From the books
Egypt and Israel sign the first Sinai disengagement agreement.
Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy produced the first Egyptian-Israeli disengagement agreement in Sinai. Hanf argues that the disengagements left Lebanon as the only front open to Palestinian armed struggle.
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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
Friday, 3 January 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
South Lebanon was bombarded
Israeli bombing made the inhabitants of South Lebanon go through dramatic moments. Six persons were killed, five were wounded, six villagers were kidnapped, and 13 houses were destroyed. The army and the Fedayin fought with the enemy. Twice, the Lebanese repelled incursion attempts.
What the books addJanuary 1975 saw heavy Israeli attacks on the South. Israeli forces razed Kfar Chouba, a border village, about a week after 7 January (Hanf), and Palestinian commandos shelled army positions in Tyre during border clashes with the Lebanese army (de Clerck and Malsagne). The figures for 3 January come from contemporary press reports.
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February 1975
Monday, 3 February 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After a debate that lasted 15 days, the conclave chose unanimously a neutralist candidate. Mgr Antonios Khoreiche was the new Patriarch of Antioch and the Middle East.
What the books addAntoine Khuraych headed the Maronite Church from his election on 3 February 1975 (enthronement 9 February) until 1986, styling himself the 'patriarch of dialogue'.
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Tuesday, 18 February 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Imam Musa al-Sadr preaches in a Beirut church.
Imam Musa al-Sadr, invited by Archbishop Boulos Bassim, gave a Lenten sermon at Saint-Louis, the Capuchins' church in Beirut. Amal, his movement, was already secretly training with weapons in the Bekaa.
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March 1975
Saturday, 8 March 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad calls for a joint Syrian-Palestinian command.
Assad publicly called for Syria and the Palestinians to unite their political and military leadership. Hanf relates Syria's acceptance of Arafat's proposal for a joint supreme command to Egypt's drift towards a separate arrangement with Israel.
Sources differ: Ménargues says the PLO met the call with silence; Hanf says Syria accepted an offer from Arafat.
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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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August 1975
Monday, 18 August 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The National Movement publishes its reform programme.
The Lebanese National Movement published a transitional programme of democratic reform. Its demands included a constituent assembly, administrative decentralisation and an optional civil code of personal status, together with proportional representation in a single national constituency and an end to sectarian quotas.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology gives 12 August. Tufaro's 18 August comes from the date printed on the LNM document itself and is preferred here.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 12 August 1975
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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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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
Monday, 8 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Murabitun overrun Kataeb positions in the hotels.
On 8 December the Kataeb lost the Phoenicia and St Georges and were pushed back to Martyrs' Square by a Murabitun offensive, backed by Palestinian groups, on their downtown and hotel-district positions. According to Traboulsi, an army move on 9 December to retake the two hotels brought the Palestinian organisations more directly into the fighting.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 9 December 1975
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January 1976
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
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March 1976
Thursday, 18 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad tells the US ambassador that Frangieh has asked for Syrian military help.
When Murphy raised the security of Israel's borders, Assad said he could promise nothing but hoped Washington would persuade Israel this internal Arab matter did not concern it. Frangieh, he said, had asked Syria for military help.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Kamal Jumblatt's forces launch the 'Mountain War'.
Kamal Jumblatt, head of the National Movement, attacked on two fronts, Beirut and the Mountain, to crush the Christian camp militarily. That day's Druze attacks brought several massacres of Christians, some of them Jumblatt supporters.
Sources differ: Hanf places the main Joint Forces offensive in the Upper Metn in the last week of March.
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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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May 1976
Saturday, 8 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Elias Sarkis, the 52 years old Central Bank Governor, was elected President of the Republic at the second ballot by a majority of 66 votes out of 69 attending deputies. The election took place in a tense atmosphere at the villa Esseily-Hussein Mansour, which was turned into a temporary Parliament around which mortar shells were falling. Lebanese leftist parties were opposed to the elections.
What the books addHanf and Ménargues count 66 votes for Sarkis out of 69 cast; de Clerck and Malsagne give 70. National Movement and PLO mortars fired as deputies, escorted by Saiqa, PLA or Syrian troops, met at the Villa Mansour on the demarcation line. Votes were reportedly bought, by Syria (de Clerck and Malsagne) or with Saudi and CIA money (Traboulsi). Sarkis was sworn in only on 23 September.
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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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Friday, 18 June 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Palestinian Progressive forces launched attacks against the Syrian forces positioned in Ain Zhalta and Ain Dara in order to stop their advance in the Chouf.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Gerald Ford ordered the US embassy in Beirut to evacuate urgently all US nationals in Lebanon who would like to return home.
What the books addBarely a tenth of American and British residents accepted the evacuation, Fisk writes. The British went by road, the PLO escorting them through West Beirut and a Libyan officer on to the Syrian lines; a day later a US landing craft took evacuees off from a PLO-guarded bathing club on the Corniche.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 16 June 1976
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July 1976
Thursday, 8 July 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The leftists opened new fronts in the port and business districts, hoping to draw the rightists away from Tel El Zaatar, but the assaults were quickly repulsed by local defenders.
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September 1976
Wednesday, 8 September 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pravda criticises Syria's intervention.
A severe Pravda editorial said the Lebanese alone should resolve their essentially internal quarrel and that the Palestinian movement should keep its autonomy.
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October 1976
Sunday, 3 October 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese leaders went to Paris for consultations. Kamal Joumblatt and Pierre Gemayel believed that France should help find a solution to the Lebanese crisis.
What the books addTalks in France with the government and Mitterrand's opposition left Jumblatt sure that France could do nothing in Lebanon against Syrian and US opposition (Traboulsi). His tour, by boat from encircled West Beirut to Cyprus, then Cairo, Algiers and Paris, sought Arab contingents to offset the Syrians.
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Friday, 8 October 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab League's representative in Lebanon, Hassam Sabri Kholi, announced that the four-party commission (Syria, Lebanon, PLO, Arab League) will meet starting October 9 in Chtaura to study the measures to be taken to end the combats in Lebanon and execute the Lebanese-Palestinian Cairo agreement.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Haddad's forces take Marjayoun.
On 8 October Major Saad Haddad's troops, backed by Christian militiamen from the north, took the border area's chief town, Marjayoun, from the Lebanese Arab Army.
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January 1977
Monday, 3 January 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A violent explosion shook the district of Accoui in Achrafieh causing 26 dead and 70 injured.
Shattered glass fell all over the streets hitting several vehicles. The death toll rose to 50 by the next morning.
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February 1977
Tuesday, 8 February 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations, arrived to Beirut. He declared that the United Nations would substantially help Lebanon and that the future of this country was closely linked the comprehensive solution in the Middle East.
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May 1977
July 1977
Friday, 8 July 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An armed group took control of a Boeing connecting Beirut to Kuwait.
Twelve armed men highjacked a Boeing 707 belonging to the Kuwait Airways company. 45 passengers, including the Kuwaiti ambassador in Lebanon and ten crewmembers, were on board. The highjackers claimed the liberation of 300 persons detained in six Arab countries. The next day, they set the hostages free and surrendered to the authorities
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August 1977
Wednesday, 3 August 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The American Secretary of State, Cyrus Vans arrived to Beirut as part of a Middle East tour. He was welcomed in Baabda by President Sarkis. The meetings covered essentially the situation in the south and the American guarantees regarding an eventual Israeli military action in that region. Lebanese officials discussed with Vance the possibility of dispatching United Nations contingents to Southern Lebanon.
What the books addVance's airport motorcade skirted Sabra and Chatila after a Beirut visit, dated by Fisk to autumn 1977, to hear the government's views on the Palestinians' future.
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September 1977
Thursday, 8 September 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim called upon all conflicting parties in Southern Lebanon urging them to fully participate in the efforts aiming at reaching a cease-fire in the region.
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October 1977
Monday, 3 October 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After having pointed out the unusual increase of the number of refugees on the Lebanese territory, Fouad Boutros, Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared to the United Nations: 'Lebanon pays for the mistakes committed by the others.'
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February 1978
Wednesday, 8 February 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range (about 8-14 February)
Fighting spreads from Fayadiyeh to East Beirut.
About a hundred people died when Syrian guns hit Badaro, Ain el-Remmaneh and Karm el-Zeitoun, as the Fayadiyeh clash spread the next day to Beirut's Christian districts. National Liberal Party and Kataeb fighters attacked Syrian positions; Syrian troops in Achrafieh's Rizk Tower shelled the eastern suburbs, and artillery struck the army headquarters at Yarze.
Sources differ: Depends on the date of the Fayadiyeh clash: 7 February (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8 February (Hanf) or 17 February (Ménargues). Duration three days (de Clerck and Malsagne) or about a week (Hanf).
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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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July 1978
Tuesday, 18 July 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Sarkis withdraws his resignation after the Syrian shelling stops.
President Sarkis took back his resignation once Syria had halted its shelling of East Beirut.
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October 1978
Tuesday, 3 October 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
France took the initiative of a cease-fire in Beirut and suggested the repositioning of the Arab Strike Force, as well as the interposition of a Lebanese Force between the belligerents.
Other date in the books: Monday, 16 October 1978
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Sunday, 8 October 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Residents of Achrafieh stepped out of their shelters only to realize the magnitude of the damages. Despite the respect of the cease-fire agreed upon by Presidents Elias Sarkis and Hafez Assad, the region was still under blockade.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the end of the shelling to 7 October. On that day President Sarkis asked in public for the Arab Deterrent Force's mandate, due to lapse on 28 October, to be extended, and Syria maintained its blockade until the renewal.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 7 October 1978
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December 1978
Friday, 8 December 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A serious incident was reported in Jounieh.
A Phalangist leader, Elie Hobeika, was arrested at an army checkpoint in Nahr el Kalb. The incident degenerated into fights and the entire region flared up. A helicopter transporting Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and flying over the region was hit by submachine-gun shots. The Saudi ambassador was injured.
What the books addMénargues writes that when the Moukafaha, Johnny Abdo's own intervention unit, arrested Elie Hobeika for allegedly having the Saudi ambassador's helicopter fired on, Bashir Gemayel had about a hundred army officers abducted; they were traded for Hobeika three weeks later.
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January 1979
Monday, 8 January 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The bad weather provoked considerable damages.
Following strong showers during the weekend in the North, landslides made several routes impracticable whereas, for the first time in twenty years, a flood was reported in Nahr El Kebir, which constitutes the Northern frontier between Lebanon and Syria. The El Arida metallic bridge collapsed.
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April 1979
Wednesday, 18 April 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An army battalion deployed in the UNIFL zone in the South, despite bombardments by Saad Haddad’s militias against the Lebanese soldiers. The latter have come all the way from Yarze. The same day, the rebel officer Saad Haddad proclaimed the State of Free Lebanon. He was dismissed from the Lebanese army the following day.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Picard agree that Haddad declared his 'State of Free Lebanon' at Marjayoun on 18 April 1979, in reaction to the army being sent towards the UNIFIL area under the March 1979 defence law; de Clerck and Malsagne put its size at 250 square kilometres and call it entirely reliant on Israel. Hanf has Haddad's troops stopping the battalion; de Clerck and Malsagne and Picard, Israeli aircraft bombing it; Fisk, Israel letting its militia shell it. Traboulsi dates Haddad's break to his Army of Free Lebanon of June 1976, Ménargues to a secession at the end of 1977. Hanf adds that once Haddad had lost his rank and been dismissed in disgrace, Israel paid his men.
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May 1979
June 1979
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
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July 1979
September 1979
Saturday, 8 September 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Dalida fascinated her fans at the Piccadilly. September 11
A confrontation between the Phalangists and the Tachnag (Armenian militia) caused 24 dead, 30 wounded and 40 hostages in Nabaa and Bourj Hammoud.
What the books addDalida also sang at the new Summerland hotel in Jnah in September 1979 (de Clerck and Malsagne). The Kataeb-Tashnag clashes of 11 September belong to a series: Hanf records hostilities in May and September 1979, settled amicably; de Clerck and Malsagne date fighting to November; Traboulsi says that in 1978-1979 the Phalange and Chamoun's Tigers gradually subdued the Armenian militias, which would not pay them taxes.
Art and memory- place During the war West Beirut residents went out to the Summerland, a Jnah hotel built in 1979; Dalida sang there in September 1979, among other foreign stars.
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October 1979
Monday, 8 October 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Phalangist armed elements set up a surprise checkpoint in Ainata, the road leading to the Cedars, and took 70 hostages from Zghorta. The Marada retaliated by taking 230 hostages that were released on October 12, following a call launched by Pope John Paul II.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne put October 1979 abductions in the North at 500 to 1,000 people.
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dates 1–60 of 235 next
