62 entries on 59 dates · the books disagree on 62
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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March 1975
Tuesday, 4 March 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Kataeb march in Beirut in support of the army.
On 4 March 1975 the Kataeb rallied in East Beirut for the army, which Muslim leaders and the Left blamed for the Sidon shooting. Hanf finds that rival pro- and anti-army marches helped brand the army a Christian instrument.
Sources differ: Picard places the march on the day after the Sidon demonstration.
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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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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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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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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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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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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 1978
Thursday, 23 March 1978
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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May 1978
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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October 1978
Wednesday, 4 October 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The bombardments reached Bikfaya and Beit-Mery while in East Beirut there was a shortage of food and medications. The Security Council called for the urgent ending of the combats.
What the books addAccording to de Clerck and Malsagne, the Security Council's call for a ceasefire came on 6 October.
Other date in the books: Friday, 6 October 1978
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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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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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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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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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March 1980
Tuesday, 4 March 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The mutilated body of Selim Laouzi was found in the forests of Aramoun ten days after his kidnapping.
What the books addFisk reads the mutilation of al-Lawzi's body as a warning to the Lebanese press: the flesh of his writing hand had been removed, by knife or acid, and two shots fired into his neck from behind. A shepherd found him, half under snow, in the Aramoun woods on 5 March.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 5 March 1980
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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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April 1981
Thursday, 2 April 1981
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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Saturday, 4 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An intensive bombardment in Zahleh killed 20 and injured 100.
What the books addMénargues dates a day of intensive shelling of Zahleh, with about twenty dead, to 6 April.
Other date in the books: Monday, 6 April 1981
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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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May 1981
Monday, 4 May 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Reagan sends Philip Habib to the Middle East.
Reagan sent Philip Habib, a retired US diplomat of Lebanese descent, as special envoy to ease the Syrian–Israeli missile crisis; he spent months travelling between Jerusalem, Damascus, Riyadh and Beirut.
Sources differ: Ménargues implies Habib was expected in Damascus on 2 May, before de Clerck & Malsagne's date of 4 May for his dispatch.
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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
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November 1981
Monday, 2 November 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab Strike Force launched a security operation in the West of the capital where Palestinian, Libyan and Iranian influence multiplied lately.
Other date in the books: Friday, 11 September 1981
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January 1982
Tuesday, 12 January 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon makes a secret visit to the Christian-held zone of Lebanon.
Sharon came in person to see the ground and the Christians' political situation before the planned operation. Six days later, on 19 January, the LF sent a delegation to Tel Aviv to coordinate with the Israeli army.
Sources differ: Ménargues is inconsistent: his narrative gives 12–13 January, the Plan M annex 12 January, and since he puts the 19 January trip six days after the visit, that implies 13 January.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 19 January 1982
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June 1982
Friday, 4 June 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Within an hour, the Israeli airplanes inflicted on Beirut the toughest bombing since the Fakahani attack in seven successive rounds. Sixty persons were killed and 270 injured in these air raids against the sectors of the Sports City, Sabra, Chatila, and Bourj Brajneh.
What the books addAbu Nidal's group, an enemy of the PLO leadership, had shot Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador in London, on the night of 3 June; Israel answered with the raids. Robert Fisk notes that the bombs hit a PLO arms dump in the old stadium near Fakhani and a Palestinian children's hospital by Sabra; Palestinian sources gave 50 dead, Lebanese officials 210 civilians. The original's 'Fakhani attack' is the Israeli raid of 17 July 1981.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 17 July 1981, Thursday, 3 June 1982
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July 1982
Sunday, 4 July 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Without renouncing to the diplomatic option, Israel toughened the pressure on Beirut, by depriving its inhabitants of water and electricity.
What the books addA US-backed Security Council resolution demanded that West Beirut's water and power be restored; Lebanon's minister of hydroelectric resources called the Israeli step 'inhuman'. Fisk dates the cut to early on 5 July, when Israel switched off electricity and water and barred food, having reduced power since the third week of June. Ménargues describes a further cut on 26 July.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 5 July 1982, Monday, 26 July 1982
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August 1982
Monday, 2 August 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel launches a major offensive against West Beirut.
By Israel's own figure, the opening 48 hours of non-stop bombardment came to 280,000 shells and bombs. Palestinian fighters and their allies then held its columns at the Museum, the port and Bir Hassan.
Sources differ: Original event 585 is dated 1 August; Fisk describes the peak of the bombardment on 4 August.
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Monday, 23 August 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Bechir Gemayel was elected President of the Lebanese Republic at the second round, by 57 votes against five abstentions.
What the books addHeld at the Fayadiyeh military academy after the 19 August session at Villa Mansour was put off. Some deputies arrived under escort; the quorum of 62 was met soon after midday, and Bashir won the second ballot with 57 votes and five blank. Hanf notes that only half the Greek Orthodox and a quarter of the Sunni deputies came. That night the homes of West Beirut deputies who had attended were burned.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 19 August 1982
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September 1983
Sunday, 4 September 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Taking the Lebanese authorities by surprise, the Israeli Army began its withdrawal from the Chouf and Aley leaving face to face the militia of the PSP and the LF in a merciless battle. The combats raged mainly around Bhamdoun, Souk El Gharb and Kabr Chmoun. A dramatic situation unfolded in the mountain where thousands of people were forced out of their homes. 30 000 people found temporary shelter in Deir El Kamar. The rehousing of the displaced persons caused a complicated problem for the officials.
What the books addThe Lebanese army had under 24 hours' warning, Fisk writes, before Israeli troops began leaving Aley and the Chouf on the evening of 3 September; by the morning of the 4th they had gone. De Clerck and Malsagne count more than 10,000 Christians from over 60 villages sheltering in Deir el-Qamar.
Art and memory- place Two died at Qabr Chmoun, one of the battlefields named here, on 30 June 2019, when Jumblatt supporters opposing Gebran Bassil's visit attacked a Druze minister. Bassil's speeches on the 1983 Mountain War were blamed; the crisis eased on 10 August.
- book Paul Andary's Harb al-jabal, al-haqiqa la tarham (The Mountain War: the truth does not forgive) was self-published in Beirut in 1983 and has been reissued several times.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 3 September 1983
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Massacre of Druze villagers at Kfarmatta.
On 4 September the Lebanese Forces took Kfarmatta, a mixed village above the sea, killing over a hundred of its Druze and holding 150 to 200 Druze civilians hostage. Clark Todd, a Canadian television reporter wounded there, died in the village.
Sources differ: 107 dead (de Clerck and Malsagne) or 110 (villagers interviewed by Fisk in 1984). De Clerck and Malsagne date the hostage-taking to 4-5 September.
Art and memory- memorial His widow dedicated a memorial in their Hatfield parish church to him and 'all victims of terrorism'. Five months after he died, French TV found in Kfarmatta the pillowcase bearing his last message home.
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January 1984
Monday, 2 January 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The year started like the previous one ended : everyone was talking about a new security plan for the mountain and the Southern suburbs of Beirut. Nevertheless, the fights continued intermittently in these regions between the Army and the Lebanese Forces on one side and the Progressive Socialist Party and Amal on the other.
What the books addOn 29 January the Druze resumed attacking the army at Souk al-Gharb, after Shi'i militia sniping at the army and French troops from mid-January, Hanf's next escalation.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 29 January 1984
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February 1984
Thursday, 2 February 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The schools closed their doors in the Eastern sector of the capital due to the blind shelling of Beirut and its suburbs.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 1 February 1984
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July 1984
Wednesday, 4 July 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Army was deployed in Greater Beirut. The crossing points were reopened, thus unifying the Eastern and Western sectors of the Capital.
What the books addHanf gives 3 July 1984 for the security plan's entry into force; this entry and entry 725 use 4 July. Hanf adds that the Green Line barricades were cleared at the end of July.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 3 July 1984
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January 1985
Saturday, 12 January 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The army deployed on the coastal road South of Beirut and in the Iqlim EL Kharroub after the withdrawal of the Lebanese Forces and the PSP militiamen. The government appointed Edmond Naim Governor of the Central Bank, Michel Samaha CEO of Télé Liban, Mohammed Beydoun president of the Council of the South, and Ayoub Hemayed General Director of the Information.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne say Edmond Naim succeeded Michel el-Khoury at the Central Bank because both the militia chiefs and the unity cabinet could accept him.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 9 January 1985
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March 1985
Tuesday, 12 March 1985
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The 'intifada' of Samir Geagea and Elie Hobeika takes over the Lebanese Forces.
Calling for an 'independent Christian decision' and an end to concessions to Syria, Samir Geagea, Elie Hobeika and Karim Pakradouni led a revolt within the Lebanese Forces against President Amin Gemayel and the Kataeb leadership. The rebels took the LF headquarters in Ashrafieh after its main barracks north of Beirut; the army had to keep them apart from Kataeb loyalists.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne say the intifada ousted LF commander Fouad Abou Nader, the president's nephew; Hanf presents it as a revolt against the Kataeb leadership and the president. De Clerck and Malsagne's figure of about 1,000 dead covers both intifadas (1985 and 1986) together.
Art and memory- testimony Jocelyne Khoueiry, in the Kataeb women's unit since 1975, quit and went back to civilian life after Geagea's intifada of March 1985; she felt 'our cause had been betrayed'.
- place Shellfire and snipers hit the Rizk Hospital in Ashrafieh in 1985, when East Beirut's militia factions fought each other.
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September 1985
Wednesday, 4 September 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
14 dead and 74 injured persons were reported in Zahleh as a result of a car bomb explosion. Three days later, the Syrians invaded the town.
What the books addSyrian troops entered Zahleh on 7 September after the Lebanese Forces' withdrawal (Hanf).
Other date in the books: Sunday, 11 August 1985
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September 1986
Thursday, 4 September 1986
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The war against Westerners had new targets now. It was the turn of UNIFL soldiers to be aggressed. Three French Blue Helmets were killed in Jouaya in South Lebanon. The UN Security Council called for urgent security measures in favor of the UNIFL.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 23 September 1986
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Friday, 12 September 1986
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Another US national, James Cicippio was kidnapped on the AUB campus, therefore raising the number of Americans kidnapped to 6.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 9 September 1986
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November 1988
Saturday, 12 November 1988
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Aoun's cabinet sends General Sami al-Khatib before the military court.
Aoun's cabinet referred Sami al-Khatib to the military court. Two days earlier Salim al-Hoss had made him, a Sunni, army commander, a post normally held by a Maronite, and Aoun's government had at once called it an attempt at partition. The army was split: about 15,000 men under Aoun, 12,000 under Hoss.
Sources differ: De Clerck dates al-Khatib's appointment to 10 November; existing entry 1105 gives 9 November; Hanf says early November.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 10 November 1988
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December 1988
Friday, 23 December 1988
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amal and Arafat's Fatah conclude an agreement.
Amal and Arafat's Fatah reached an accord to calm relations. The Palestinians left the Christian village of Maghdouche and Amal gradually eased its blockade of Rashidieh camp. De Clerck and Malsagne put the dead of the war of the camps at 2,000 to 3,000.
Sources differ: De Clerck (pp. 91-92) dates the Arafat-Berri reconciliation to early 1988, before this formal agreement.
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May 1989
Tuesday, 2 May 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Aoun recasts his 'war of liberation' as a diplomatic campaign; Syrian shelling starts again.
Within a week Syrian shelling of the enclave was back at full intensity; Hanf says Syria and its allies kept the Arab League ceasefire only a few days. Aoun, having accepted it, recast his war as a diplomatic struggle.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 2 May both for Aoun's statement and for the renewed shelling; the shelling date may be a misprint.
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June 1989
Monday, 12 June 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The EEC gives its full support to the committee composed by the three Chiefs of State (Algerian, Saudi Arabian, and Moroccan) constituted during the Casablanca Summit in order to find a solution to the Lebanese crisis.
What the books addThe committee was set up at the Arab summit in Casablanca, which opened on 23 May 1989 (Hanf).
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 23 May 1989
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April 1990
Monday, 23 April 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the blockade war rages between the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Forces, the President of the Republic declines Geagea's offer to surrender to him the barracks of Jbeil and the Kesrouan.
Other date in the books: Friday, 16 February 1990
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October 1990
Friday, 12 October 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
On the eve of the assault, Aoun vows to fight to the end.
Elie Hobeika gave assurances on 12 October, as Syrian tanks and artillery took up positions in Beirut's southern suburbs. That evening at Baabda Aoun vowed to fight to the finish, but sent his supporters home after a young man tried to kill him before midnight.
Sources differ: Picard's chronology dates the Syrian air attack itself to 12 October.
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November 1990
Friday, 23 November 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Lebanese Forces begin leaving Beirut.
On 23 November the Lebanese Forces began leaving Beirut, with a parade to show their strength. They had wanted pro-Syrian militias out of the Metn; the government did give the Kataeb its offices back and posted to Ashrafieh troops from the mostly neutral Sarba garrison rather than units that had fought for Aoun.
Sources differ: Entry 1217 says the Lebanese Forces had to leave Ashrafieh by 19 November at the latest.
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January 1993
Monday, 4 January 1993
After the war · From the books
A Ministry for the Displaced and a central fund are created.
Laws 190 and 193 created the ministry and a fund to pay for the return of the displaced, most of them Christians forced out of the Mountain. Walid Jumblatt, whose forces had driven out many of them, ran the ministry from 1992 to 1998.
Sources differ: 1992 (Haugbolle; Picard: minister from October 1992) or 4 January 1993 (de Clerck, Abou Jaoudé, citing the laws). The portfolio may predate the founding laws.
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June 2005
Thursday, 2 June 2005
Since 2005 · From the books
Journalist and historian Samir Kassir is killed by a car bomb.
Samir Kassir, academic, columnist and a leading voice against Syrian control, died when a bomb went off in his car. Haugbolle treats the killing as the moment post-Syrian Lebanon's disarray grew plain.
Sources differ: 2 June in four sources (de Clerck & Malsagne, Abirached, Quéméner, Khayat) against 1 June in Haugbolle. 2 June has the most support.
Art and memory- book De Clerck and Malsagne call Samir Kassir's 1994 study, which ends in 1982, a reference work; Kassir himself noted that no academic research yet covered the conflict in its full complexity.
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February 2006
Thursday, 2 February 2006
Since 2005 · From the books
The Shiite ministers return to the cabinet.
Their boycott, begun after Tueni's assassination, ended after some seven weeks.
Sources differ: Abirached's dates imply a boycott of about seven weeks; Picard's chapter speaks of several months.
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July 2006
Wednesday, 12 July 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers at the border near Zar'it.
Shortly after 9 a.m. a Hezbollah unit ambushed two Israeli army Humvees patrolling the border fence near Zar'it, opposite Ayta al-Shaab, killing three soldiers and taking two wounded reservists, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, into Lebanon under cover of a rocket and mortar barrage. Five more Israeli soldiers died that day, four in a tank blown up during a pursuit across the border and one by mortar fire, bringing the army's dead to eight. Hezbollah announced that it would exchange the captives for prisoners held in Israel.
Sources differ: Time: 34 Days (Israeli reconstruction) puts the attack shortly after 9:00; Abirached quotes Hezbollah's statement giving 'around 9:05'; 34 Days dates Al-Manar's announcement to 10:15.
Reports at the time: The archive's first report of the capture comes at 10:40 (Al-Manar via AFP), 25 minutes after the time 34 Days gives for Al-Manar's announcement. The toll of eight soldiers appears only at 22:30, after reports of three (17:10) and four in a tank (18:05). Archive times are wire-feed publication times, not event times.
The reports of that day, as they came in
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
First Israeli raids on the South and the coastal bridges.
Israel's 'Just Reward' offensive opened with roughly forty air strikes in the South; its bombing there and in Beirut caused serious damage to infrastructure.
Sources differ: Dieckhoff (pdf:192) dates the bombing of bridges and roads across the country from the next day, 13 July.
Reports at the time: The archive records two civilians killed near Ayta al-Shaab at 12:25 on 12 July, strikes on the Zahrani bridge from 17:45 and on Saida's Awali bridge at 22:30.
The reports of that day, as they came in
Since 2005 · From the books
Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers; Israel launches a war on Lebanon.
Hezbollah fighters attacked an Israeli patrol across the border on the morning of 12 July and took two soldiers, whom the party offered to trade for Arab prisoners. Dozens of Israeli air raids on the South followed; strikes on the airport, bridges and roads and an air and sea blockade came next. The war's day-by-day record is in 111101's July 2006 archive (/facts/history/july2006/).
Sources differ: Abirached quotes Hezbollah's announcement of the capture 'around 9.05'; Harel & Issacharoff place the burnt-out vehicles and the start of the search at about 9.45 a.m. These are different moments, not necessarily a conflict.
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Sunday, 23 July 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Israel begins to look for an exit; Syria threatens to join a ground war.
On Sunday 23 July, with no quick victory in sight, Olmert's office first weighed a political end to the war, and the defence minister's office debated ceasefire terms. Israeli units in the South readied an attack on Bint Jbeil; a Syrian minister warned that a ground offensive in Lebanon would bring Syria into the war.
Sources differ: The archive names the Syrian minister Mohsen Bilal as information minister, not foreign minister.
Reports at the time: Archive: 'Moshen Bilal, the Syrian information minister'.
The reports of that day, as they came in
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August 2006
Friday, 4 August 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Farm workers are killed at al-Qaa on the Syrian border.
An Israeli air strike on al-Qaa, near Hermel by the Syrian border, killed over thirty farm labourers, mostly Syrians, harvesting and packing vegetables.
Sources differ: Place: Lebanese village of al-Qaa (Daher; archive) against 'the Syrian side of the border' (34 Days). Toll: 33 (Daher), 34 (34 Days).
Reports at the time: The archive locates the strike in al-Qaa, at a refrigerated container and the Lebanese customs compound, with tolls rising from five to 26 and 34, mostly Syrian workers; nothing places it inside Syria.
The reports of that day, as they came in
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Saturday, 12 August 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Battle of Wadi Saluki.
On Saturday 12 August, after the UN vote, 401st Brigade tanks crossed Wadi Saluki by day towards Randoria and Farun, exposed to Hezbollah missiles from the villages above. Eleven soldiers died at Saluki and Randoria and six more nearby in the last two days; on Sunday the troops halted to await the ceasefire. Reporters asked what the deaths had achieved; officers later found it hard to justify.
Reports at the time: The archive gives 24 Israeli soldiers killed across the South on Saturday 12 August, of whom 34 Days attributes eleven to Saluki-Randoria; a Haaretz item places the tanks' passage of the Saluki on the evening of 13 August.
The reports of that day, as they came in
Other date in the books: Monday, 14 August 2006
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November 2015
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Since 2005 · From the books
Double suicide bombing in Burj al-Barajneh, the deadliest since the civil war.
Two suicide bombers struck in quick succession beside a community centre and a bakery in Burj al-Barajneh, in the Shi'i southern suburb; the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Parliament had sat that day for the first time in months.
Sources differ: Dead: 43 in de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology, 44 in their epilogue and Quéméner's calendar, 50 in his narrative, which also places the attack in 'Dbaiyeh', evidently a slip, since the calendar says Burj al-Barajneh.
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November 2018
Monday, 12 November 2018
Since 2005 · From the books
Parliament adopts Law 105 on the missing and forcibly disappeared.
Wadad Halwani, head of the committee of families of the kidnapped and disappeared, whose husband was taken in 1982, broke down as deputies applauded. The law created a commission to trace detainees believed alive in Syria, identify remains in mass graves and investigate wartime forced disappearances.
Sources differ: Estimates differ. The most quoted figure, 17,415, comes from the Committee of the Kidnapped and Disappeared (founded 1982); NGOs count 5,000 to 8,000 forced disappearances (Hassoun Abou Jaoudé; de Clerck & Malsagne p. 419).
Art and memory- testimony Wadad Halwani founded the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared after her husband was abducted in 1982. He is still missing; the vote renewed her hope.
- film De Clerck and Malsagne cite Daniele Rugo's documentary The Soil and the Sea (2023), co-produced with Carmen Hassoun Abou Jaoudé, among war-memory works inspired by the missing.
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August 2020
Tuesday, 4 August 2020
Since 2005 · From the books
Explosion at the port of Beirut.
More than 240 people were killed and thousands injured when a massive explosion destroyed Beirut's port and devastated much of the city, already reeling from financial collapse and Covid-19.
Sources differ: Deaths: more than 240 in the chronology; 244, with over 6,500 injured, in the introduction, which cites a 2022 article naming the victims.
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