67 entries on 65 dates · the books disagree on 19
dates 1–60 of 65 next
October 1973
Saturday, 20 October 1973
The road to war · From the books
Armed robbery of the Bank of America in Beirut.
This raid on the Bank of America was the first major hold-up, coming before the war; once fighting began, bank robberies became common.
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February 1975
Thursday, 20 February 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel calls for a referendum on the armed Palestinian presence.
Kataeb leader Pierre Gemayel called for a referendum on whether Palestinian commandos should stay in Lebanon. He had already pressed the PLO to rein in its breakaway factions, and spoke of 'two governments and two armies'.
Sources differ: Traboulsi and Picard give no day.
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May 1975
Tuesday, 20 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Five people were killed and 24 were wounded in Dekwaneh
Violent confrontations opposed Palestinians from the Tell El Zaatar camp and Phalange Party members. Businesses were closed in protest against the lack of security.
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September 1975
Saturday, 20 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh is shelled.
Five days after the Kataeb and the Tajammu called a general mobilisation (15 September), 25 rockets and 17 mortar rounds hit Zahleh.
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October 1975
Monday, 20 October 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Battle of the Hotels begins.
The battle for Beirut's seafront hotels began. The Sunni Murabitun militia, allied with the National Movement and the PLO, fought from the Murr tower against the Kataeb in the Holiday Inn. Five months of close-quarters fighting wrecked central Beirut.
Sources differ: Traboulsi dates the launch of the battle to after Black Saturday (6 December).
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December 1975
Saturday, 20 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
PLA troops cross from Syria and besiege Zahleh.
Syrian guns in the Anti-Lebanon shelled Zahleh as 3,000 men of the PLA's Yarmouk Brigade, under Syrian officers, crossed the border and besieged it from 20 December: Syria was now intervening directly.
Sources differ: Tegho Bou Nassif dates the first Yarmouk infiltration near Zahleh to 30 October 1975.
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January 1976
Tuesday, 20 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Damour massacre
Avenging the massacre of Karantina by Christian forces 2 days before, Palestinians and leftist Muslims attacked the Christian city of Damour, located about 20 kilometers south of Beirut, and murdered 350 civilians.
What the books addThe siege of Damour had begun on 9 January, before the fall of Karantina; the main massacre began on 20 January (Hanf, Ménargues, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne; Traboulsi gives 22 or 24 January). Jiyeh fell the same day. The attackers were mainly PLA, Saiqa and Fatah units, with Lebanese leftist parties. Estimates of the dead range from about 150 bodies found plus 200 missing (Fisk) and 300-584 (de Clerck and Malsagne) to about 900 (Ménargues); some 5,000 people fled by land and sea.
Art and memory- film Ziad Doueiri's The Insult (2017) recalls the Damour massacre.
- photograph The German magazine Stern published a photograph taken during the Damour massacre of January 1976.
- novel Farid and Michel Gharib's novel Damour, Man Anti (1978) tells of Damour up to the massacre.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 9 January 1976, Friday, 16 January 1976, Monday, 19 January 1976, Thursday, 22 January 1976, Saturday, 24 January 1976
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July 1976
Tuesday, 20 July 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad publicly justifies the Syrian intervention.
In a long speech in Damascus President Assad defended the intervention as protecting Lebanon's unity, and recounted his meetings with Jumblatt and Arafat.
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November 1976
Saturday, 20 November 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The third phase of the peace plan started. 250 tanks and 11 battalions entered Zghorta, Ehden, Tripoli and the Koura. In South Lebanon, the 'Green Helmets' took position in Saïda, and Zahrani. The Arab Dissuasion Force was not able to enter Tyr, Nabatyeh, Marjeyoun, and Masnaa because of the Israeli opposition to any Arab military presence beyond its famous 'red line'.
What the books addIsrael, Hanf notes, would accept no Arab troops south of the 'red line', Syrian ones least of all. When a Syrian unit entered Nabatiyeh in January 1977, an Israeli protest got it withdrawn and the Palestinians kept the town.
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September 1977
Tuesday, 20 September 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While bombardments and fights were taking place along the border since September 16, Radio Israel announced that Israel had sent a warning to Syria, indicating that no Syrian troop movement will be tolerated in Southern Lebanon.
What the books addRobert Fisk, who reported from the area, saw Israeli tanks on Lebanese soil near Ibl al-Saqi and Israeli shelling of Christian villages such as Rachaya al-Fukhar, where Palestinian guerrillas had dug in.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 21 September 1977
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December 1977
Tuesday, 20 December 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
An-Nahar publishes a Lebanese Front memorandum on the Christians' future.
Lebanon's Christians faced a threat to their survival, the Lebanese Front argued in a memorandum carried by An-Nahar, as a Muslim majority would oppress whatever its intentions.
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January 1978
Friday, 20 January 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A new armament and US equipment shipment sent to the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces arrived at the Port of Beirut. It included a hundred armored vehicles and cistern trucks.
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December 1978
March 1979
Tuesday, 20 March 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A car bomb containing explosives operated by remote control, parked next to the military council of the Phalange Party was found. This attack aimed at the chief of the Lebanese Forces, Bechir Gemayel.
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August 1979
September 1979
March 1980
Thursday, 20 March 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Phalange newspaper rejects the National Movement's 'peace of the brave'.
The Phalange daily al-Amal answered on 20 March 1980: there could be no united Lebanon with half a million Palestinians on its territory, and sending the army south must come first. It was replying to the LNM's 'peace of the brave', a call launched at a military parade for the third anniversary of Kamal Jumblatt's assassination to rebuild national unity on an equilibrium between the two camps at war.
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May 1980
July 1980
Sunday, 20 July 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Takieddine Solh was asked, by the President of the Republic, to form a new Government of National Union.
What the books addIn Ménargues's account Damascus rejected Takieddine Solh, finding him too lukewarm about Lebanese–Syrian friendship, and offered three names instead, Selim Hoss's among them.
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November 1980
Thursday, 20 November 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books about 20 November (range 20-28 November)
The Lebanese Forces storm the last Tiger stronghold in Ain el-Remmaneh (Ménargues's dating).
In Ménargues's account Ain el-Remmaneh, long a National Liberal district, sheltered those who refused Bashir Gemayel's authority, under Elias Hannouche ('Hannache'). About ten days after the two car bombs of 10 November, Bashir sent in his elite units. Hannouche and many of his men slipped across the demarcation line into Syrian-protected West Beirut, and the LF secured the district only after 48 hours of fighting. Afterwards a single LF insignia replaced the militia badges on every unit's uniform, on Bashir's orders.
Sources differ: Entries 403-405 end the Ain el-Remmaneh fighting in late October; de Clerck and Malsagne have LF control of East Beirut on 31 October; Hanf, about three months after 7 July.
Other date in the books: Friday, 28 November 1980
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December 1980
Saturday, 20 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Elias Hannouche's men seize the National Liberal office in Zahle; fighting with Syrian troops.
Rocket, mortar and heavy machine-gun fire swept central Zahle until about 11 p.m., when Syrian troops and Elias Hannouche's men withdrew. Under Syrian protection, Hannouche had seized the former National Liberal Party office early that morning with some forty men; local Lebanese Forces failed to dislodge them, Syrian soldiers intervened, and an LF fighter was killed.
Sources differ: Hanf gives November and December without a day.
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March 1981
April 1981
Monday, 20 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The situation was worsening in Lebanon. Violence unleashed in the South where artillery duels and air raids on Nabatyeh and Saida killed 16 and injured 33. Sporadic bombardments shred the silence in Zahleh. East Beirut was violently shelled and bombings spread to Nahr El Kalb causing five deaths and 32 wounded.
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July 1981
Monday, 20 July 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Iraq opens a channel to the Lebanese Forces.
Iraq, fighting Syria's ally Iran, provided aid after a pro-Iraqi Baathist lawyer, Gebran Majdalani, offered Bashir Gemayel direct ties with Baghdad. LF envoys met Tariq Aziz in Paris in mid-August and went to Baghdad in December.
Sources differ: Ménargues says the Lebanese Forces refused Iraqi money; Traboulsi says Iraq gave money as well as arms.
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September 1981
November 1981
December 1981
Sunday, 20 December 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Sharon presents an invasion plan to the Israeli cabinet.
At the 20 December cabinet meeting Sharon outlined an invasion of Lebanon, operation 'Oranim'. Some ministers objected strongly and Begin shelved it for the time being; preparations continued.
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April 1982
June 1982
Sunday, 20 June 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Public Salvation Committee was constituted. It included: Bechjr Gemayel, Walid Joumblatt, Nabih Berry, Nasri Maalouf, Chafic Wazzan, and Fouad Boutros. Walid Joumblatt resigned from office a few days later.
What the books addMénargues and Fisk date the decision to form the committee to 14 June; Traboulsi has it convening on 20 June. Philip Habib attended its sessions of 22 and 23 June. Its agenda, Traboulsi notes, dealt with the PLO's withdrawal, not the Israeli occupation; Jumblatt quit the committee and the cabinet rather than 'deal the final blow to the Palestinians', and Berri stopped taking part.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 14 June 1982, Tuesday, 22 June 1982
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August 1982
Friday, 20 August 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The PLO hands over two captured Israelis and nine coffins.
The evacuation opened at the port, where Red Cross vehicles brought nine coffins of Israeli dead and the two prisoners, pilot Ahiaz Aharon, captured on 6 June, and soldier Ronnie Aoush, across the line. The Habib plan went to the UN the same day.
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September 1982
Monday, 20 September 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Ariel Sharon meet Amine Gemayel secretly on the eve of his election.
After dark an Israeli CH-53 helicopter brought Shamir, Sharon and Mossad officers to a spot behind the Zouk power plant; Lebanese Forces cars took them to Dbayeh to meet the Kataeb candidate.
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October 1982
November 1982
Saturday, 20 November 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party militiamen started a merciless war in the cazas of Aley and the Chouf.
What the books addOn 8 November 1982 PSP men attacked a Christian funeral in Kfar Nabrakh, a mixed Chouf village, killing eleven, in reaction to a Lebanese Forces checkpoint set up nearby. Some twenty houses were burned and nine villagers abducted; their bodies were found in a well on 23 November. De Clerck and Malsagne call it the Mountain War's first massacre.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 8 November 1982, Tuesday, 23 November 1982
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December 1982
February 1983
Sunday, 20 February 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Even the weather seemed to conspire against Lebanon in the beginning of this year. The storm and the cold raging from the coast up to the peaks of Lebanon claimed several victims. 23 cadavers were discovered and tens of persons were reported missing in the region of Dahr El Baydar. Rescue teams had already succeeded in saving 200 persons; but tens of others, trapped in their cars or buried under the snow where they were attempting to find shelter, were fighting death. The final toll reached 60 deaths and tens of isolated villages.
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June 1983
Monday, 20 June 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lebanon lost one of its major poets. Nadia Tueni left behind her pages of pure beauty, eternal words, an immortal poetry, a Lebanon on fire, a tearful family, and inconsolable friends.
Art and memory- book Nadia Tueni's last collection, Archives sentimentales d'une guerre au Liban (1982), written a few months before her death, is in 111101 References, with several of her other books.
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July 1983
Wednesday, 20 July 1983
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel announces it will pull back from the Chouf and Aley.
With Gemayel in Washington, Israel announced an early pull-back from the mountains above Beirut, dismaying Western ambassadors; Fisk explains that the army, and the multinational force with it, would be drawn into the Druze-Christian war.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne say Arens announced a withdrawal for 15 September, without dating the announcement.
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November 1983
December 1983
Tuesday, 20 December 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Yasser Arafat and 4300 Palestinians left Tripoli aboard Greek ships.
What the books addEscorted by five French warships, Greek ships including the Odysseus carried Arafat and some 4,000 men from Tripoli to Tunis, the PLO's second evacuation from Lebanon after Beirut in 1982.
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February 1984
Monday, 20 February 1984
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Italian MNF contingent withdraws.
The Italian contingent left Beirut after seventeen months spent guarding Palestinian civilians.
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July 1984
September 1984
Thursday, 20 September 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A car bomb exploded next to the US embassy in Aoukar. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack that caused 11 dead and 96 injured. In Sohmor in the West of the Bekaa, the Army of South Lebanon opened fire on a crowd gathered on the place of the village, killing 24 persons and injuring 96.
What the books addFisk reports that a suicide bomber, claimed by 'Islamic Jihad', blew up the new US embassy, wounding the American and British ambassadors; a British security man had shot the driver first. Sohmor he dates to late September 1984: Druze SLA men, avenging three Druze comrades shot in an ambush, opened fire on the men of the village assembled in its square, killing 13 and wounding 30. This entry's 24 dead and 96 injured may be a copying error, since 96 injured is also the embassy figure.
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December 1984
May 1985
Monday, 20 May 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After 20 hours of ferocious combats, Amal and the sixth brigade took control of the Palestinian camps.
What the books addAmal, with the army's mainly Shia Sixth Brigade, attacked Sabra, Chatila and Bourj al-Barajneh on 19 or 20 May. Bourj al-Barajneh held out under siege, Chatila's defenders kept a small area, and Sabra was overrun and razed. Hanf reports massacres when Sabra and Chatila fell, with estimates of 800 to 2,000 Palestinians killed by Shia militiamen in 1985.
Art and memory- novel Hanan al-Shaykh placed her 1992 novel Beirut Blues (Barid Bayrut) in the War of the Camps, during the summer of 1985.
Other dates in the books: Sunday, 19 May 1985, Wednesday, 22 May 1985
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June 1985
August 1985
Tuesday, 20 August 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Shells fell on Beirut in each and every neighborhood. Thirty persons were killed and 117 wounded, while tens of houses were destroyed. A car bomb exploded in Tripoli killing 48 persons and injuring 100 others.
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November 1985
Wednesday, 20 November 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Violent combats opposed Amal and the PSP in West Beirut. Five days of hell followed for the residents of this region. 65 persons were killed and 250 were wounded.
What the books addHanf's 'Flag War': on 21 November alone, Shi'i and Druze fighters fought with tanks and artillery, leaving 65 dead and over 400 abducted. PSP militiamen had replaced the national flags Sixth Brigade soldiers put on public buildings for Independence Day with their party banner.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 21 November 1985
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April 1986
Sunday, 20 April 1986
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
38 Westerners including 35 British left Beirut. By the end of April, all Western nationals had left West Beirut fearing to be kidnapped or killed.
What the books addSome Westerners stayed: Fisk counts four Western journalists still working in West Beirut.
Art and memory- testimony Robert Fisk's Pity the Nation describes 1986 in West Beirut from inside the fear of kidnapping, when only four Western journalists remained.
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June 1986
Friday, 20 June 1986
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Two French hostages, Philippe Rochot and Georges Hansen were released.
Art and memory- testimony The 1986 Albert Londres broadcast prize went to Philippe Rochot of Antenne 2, who had been held hostage in Lebanon.
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August 1987
Thursday, 20 August 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Holding hands, all dressed in white, hundreds of Lebanese, Christian and Muslim, said no to the war and to the demarcation line that had been parting the country in two for 12 years.
What the books addCitizens mobilised in a way Picard calls spectacular, if brief, in the peace marches of summer 1987; Hanf records union-called strikes, in effect mass demonstrations, in July, August and September.
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September 1987
Sunday, 20 September 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
700 PSP combattants PSP and about 100 activists from the Communist Party get ready to go to Lybia in order to fight with the Lybians against the Army of Tchad.
What the books addThe numbers differ: about 800 PSP fighters (de Clerck and Malsagne, after the Washington Post of 21 September 1987) or about 1,000 Druze militiamen and 300 fighters of leftist organisations (Hanf). Hanf adds that the parties received a share of their pay and sees the episode as a sign of resignation after the Syrian return.
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January 1988
Wednesday, 20 January 1988
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The camps war, that lasted three years, seems to come close to an end with the deployment of the Syrian army and the Lebanese Army sixth brigade, replacing Amal around Chatila and Bourj-Brajneh.
What the books addHanf (p. 315) dates the lifting of Amal's blockade of the camps to 18 January 1988. The sources disagree on when the war of the camps ended: September 1987 (Picard's chronology), January 1988 (Picard, Hanf, de Clerck) or late 1988 (Hanf, p. 304).
Other dates in the books: Friday, 11 September 1987, Monday, 18 January 1988
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September 1988
December 1988
Tuesday, 20 December 1988
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Four days after the liberation of the R.C.I.C. Swiss delegate, Peter Winkler, kidnapped in Southern Lebanon on November 17 and released on December 16, the Red Cross International Committee decides to suspend its operations in Lebanon immediately and to repatriate its delegates.
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January 1989
Friday, 20 January 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The chief of the National Liberal Party, Dany Chamoun, met with Walid Joumblatt, chief of the Progressive Socialist Party, in Deir el Kamar. Moreover, Beiteddine was busy organizing the return of the refugees.
What the books addIn January 1989 Walid Jumblatt made his strongest appeal yet for displaced Christians to return to the Chouf and Aley. Dany Chamoun attended the conference Jumblatt held; Samir Geagea did not. According to Hanf, few displaced people returned.
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February 1989
Monday, 20 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A meeting between General Aoun, Chief Commander of the Army, and Samir Geagea Chief of the L.F., takes place in Baabda. The goal of this meeting is to eliminate the differences between them.
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March 1989
March 1990
March 1991
Wednesday, 20 March 1991
After the war · From the books
The cabinet sets the end of April as the deadline for dissolving all militias.
Except for Hezbollah and the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army, militias had a month under a 20 March cabinet decision to surrender their arms to the army and wind up their intelligence services; 'the brotherly Syrian army' could enforce it.
Sources differ: Three dates: 20 March cabinet decision (Hanf, Picard 2002), 23 March vote in parliament (Picard 2016), 28 March ministerial declaration (Picard 2002). They may be successive steps of the same process.
Other dates in the books: Saturday, 23 March 1991, Thursday, 28 March 1991
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April 1991
Saturday, 20 April 1991
After the war · From the books
Lebanese soldiers detain Palestinian guerrillas on a raid in the south.
Soldiers stopped a Popular Front commando, one of a series of clashes as the government refused the PLO any new agreement on armed status.
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dates 1–60 of 65 next
