200 entries on 181 dates · the books disagree on 46
dates 1–60 of 181 next
November 1969
Wednesday, 26 November 1969
The road to war · From the books
Karami's national unity cabinet gives Kamal Jumblatt the Interior Ministry.
Kamal Jumblatt became interior minister, in charge of carrying out the Cairo Agreement, in the government of national union Rashid Karami formed once the Syrian border reopened, ending a cabinet vacancy of over seven months.
Sources differ: 26 November (Traboulsi, twice) or 25 November (de Clerck & Malsagne).
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 25 November 1969
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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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December 1972
Tuesday, 26 December 1972
The road to war · From the books
The left demonstrates against the Ghandour dismissals.
On 26 December the Left protested again at the Ghandour sackings. Tufaro: workers left the dispute resentful of state and CGTL alike.
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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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February 1975
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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Wednesday, 26 February 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Troops fire on Sidon's protesting fishermen; Maarouf Saad is mortally wounded.
Maarouf Saad, the Nasserist deputy leading a Sidon fishermen's march, was shot when the army fired on it and died days later; several others were killed or wounded. The marchers opposed Protein, holder of a deep-sea fishing concession, with Camille Chamoun on its board. That evening armed men killed a soldier.
Sources differ: Hanf places the demonstration in March; the existing entry 10 gives 7 March. Traboulsi and de Clerck and Malsagne give 26 February.
Art and memory- film Censored in Lebanon, Le Liban dans la tourmente (1975) was Jocelyne Saab's first war documentary. Filming both a wealthy, carefree bourgeoisie and cheerful children in the Palestinian camps, she asked where the hatred came from.
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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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May 1975
Monday, 26 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The military Cabinet resigned
Islamic and leftist leaders rejected this Cabinet. The Lebanese considered it as a challenge. Karameh presented his candidature to form a new Government, in a climate of terror imposed by militias. Lootings, killings, and kidnappings continued.
What the books addThe National Movement's call for a general strike, supported by the leading Sunni politicians, Mufti Hassan Khaled, Musa al-Sadr and Raymond Edde, brought down the military cabinet on 26 May; on 28 May Frangieh appointed Rashid Karami Prime Minister.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 28 May 1975
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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
Friday, 26 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The cease-fire breaks down.
The September cease-fire collapsed and fighting resumed in Beirut.
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October 1975
Saturday, 4 October 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Interior Security Forces held in check a land attack against the Beirut International Airport where 4 armed men tried to kidnap an airplane in order to go to Cairo.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Religious leaders meet at Bkerke and condemn the violence.
Lebanon's religious leaders, every community represented, jointly condemned the violence after a summit hosted by Patriarch Khuraych at Bkerke and continued at Dar al-Fatwa, seat of Mufti Hassan Khaled.
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November 1975
Wednesday, 26 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Kurt Waldheim, the Secretary General of the United Nations, visited Lebanon for a few hours. He declared that the Lebanese themselves held the solution to the Lebanese crisis.
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January 1976
Sunday, 4 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The siege of Tal al-Za'tar camp begins.
Christian militias besieged Tal al-Za'tar, the Palestinian camp in East Beirut, until it fell on 12 August 1976.
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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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May 1976
June 1976
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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August 1976
Thursday, 26 August 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Moscow condemns the massacres at Tal al-Za'tar and Nabaa.
The Soviet agency Tass condemned the massacres committed by Christian forces at Nabaa and Tall al-Za'tar. Syria's intervention also led to a temporary halt in Soviet-Syrian cooperation.
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September 1976
Saturday, 4 September 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Bleeding continued in the ports. Massive emigration went on in the same intensity. Hundreds of families flew every day by sea escaping from hell.
What the books addHistorians disagree on 1976: Haugbolle ranks it among the war's largest emigration waves, while de Clerck and Malsagne see many returning that year after nearly 400,000 Lebanese had left by 1975. Haugbolle notes that no official figures exist.
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December 1976
February 1977
Friday, 4 February 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Government promulgated a decree concerning wartime conflicts between owners and renters.
The decree stipulated mainly that rent contracts remained operative, while backlogs will be staggered on 18 months with no interest for all rents under 5,000 Lebanese Pounds. As to destroyed properties, there were three possibilities: reconstruct, compensate the renters, or give them shares.
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May 1977
Thursday, 26 May 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The mandate of the Arab four-party committee in charge of the execution of the Palestinian-Lebanese Cairo agreement had expired, while the agreement had not been executed yet.
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June 1977
September 1977
Monday, 26 September 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli tanks pull back from southern Lebanon.
After a week of clashes in the south, Israel's Christian militia allies held a slightly larger strip, along nearly all the frontier from coast to Hermon, and Israel withdrew the tanks it had sent in.
Sources differ: Original entry 149 dates the ceasefire to 25 September.
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January 1978
Thursday, 26 January 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Feyrouz played Queen of ' Petra ', the play that the Rahbani brothers wrote and presented at the Picadilly Theatre. Assi Rahbani was the Director, Abdel-Hamid Caracalla was in charge of the scenography, Papou Lahoud did the costumes, and Ghazi Kahwaji the decoration.
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June 1978
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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Wednesday, 26 July 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin declared : 'Christians in Lebanon are threatened of being annihilated'.
What the books addFisk adds that the Syrian shelling slackened around this time after sonic booms from a pair of Israeli jets flying low over West Beirut.
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September 1978
Tuesday, 26 September 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Alfred Naccache was dead from pneumonia. He was 91 years old. He was President of the Republic between 1941 and 1943, under the French mandate. After the independence, he was given several ministerial functions, before he retired from politics. He was born in Beirut in 1887 and studied law at Saint Joseph University. He became advisor for the supreme court of appeal, and then headed the appeal court. In 1941, he became President of the Republic until March 18, 1943. He was titular of several honorific distinctions such as the great cordon of the cedar order.
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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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November 1978
March 1979
Monday, 26 March 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Egypt and Israel sign a peace treaty; the Lebanese balance shifts.
In Lebanon the Israeli-Egyptian treaty, signed in Washington, had deep effects. The Lebanese Forces strengthened their cooperation with Israel, and Syria moved closer to the PLO, letting it return in 1979 to its earlier positions south of Beirut. For Traboulsi, the peace process undermined the Sarkis regime.
Sources differ: Traboulsi and Picard give the month only; de Clerck and Malsagne give 26 March.
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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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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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September 1979
October 1979
Thursday, 4 October 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A light earthquake shook the region of Saida without any victim.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Minister of Foreign affairs, Fouad Boutros, called upon the United Nations to end Israeli aggressions in the South, to freeze the activities of the Fedayin, to reinforce the UNIFL, and to dissociate the Lebanese problem from the regional crisis.
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December 1979
January 1980
Friday, 18 January 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Shiite hijacked an MEA Boeing 707.
This airplane flying from Beirut to Larnaca had 72 passengers and 10 crewmembers onboard. The hijacker surrendered to the Lebanese authorities and claimed, in a press conference, the intensification of the efforts in order to find Imam Moussa Sadr. He also requested the positioning of the Lebanese army in South of Lebanon.
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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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April 1980
Friday, 18 April 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The South was still bleeding. 18 persons were killed in an Israeli raid against Sarafand and Adloun.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A car bomb exploded at Kabb Elias killing 9 persons and wounding 30 others.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Two Irish UNIFIL soldiers are abducted and killed in Haddad's enclave.
Irish privates Derek Smallhorn and Thomas Barrett each died of one shot to the nape, about an hour after being driven from Bint Jbeil. Christian gunmen in Haddad's zone had ambushed them and Private John O'Mahony, who escaped wounded, as they escorted two UN observers. Israel denied any knowledge; a UN and Irish police inquiry blamed two brothers of a militiaman UN troops had killed at At-Tiri.
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June 1980
Wednesday, 4 June 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel and President Sarkis meet in secret.
Bashir Gemayel and President Elias Sarkis, long at odds over Bashir's Kataeb militia, met quietly around noon. Sarkis said that he was resisting too, by his own means; Bashir wanted him to speak up for him with the American leadership. The ground had been laid by Johnny Abdo, head of army intelligence, and Bashir's adviser Zahi Boustani, who had struck up a rapport.
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July 1980
Friday, 4 July 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Artillery duels and armed confrontations continued between the Phalange Party and the NLP in the regions of Wadi-Chahrour, Betchay, Bsous,Kfarchima, and their surroundings. 16 persons were killed and 20 others wounded. The next day, the Lebanese army took in charge the areas of Wadi-Chahrour, Betchay, Bsous, Kfarchima, Bsaba, and Bleibel in the Southern-Metn, ending the conflict between the Phalange Party and the NLP in the region.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne list Wadi Chahrour and Kfarchima among the National Liberals' bases in Beirut's south-eastern suburbs and end the wave of clashes between Christian militias on 2 July 1980. Ménargues describes near-daily fighting in the second half of June. Bashir Gemayel settled the rivalry by force on 7 July.
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August 1980
September 1980
Thursday, 18 September 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Mossad questions Bashir Gemayel about the rocket fired at the US ambassador.
Writing to Bashir Gemayel on 18 September, the Mossad's Lebanon desk chief Menachem Navot ('Mendy') said a US inquiry had matched the LAW rocket fired at Ambassador John Gunther Dean's car on 27 August to one the US had supplied to Israel; Israel had handed some to Bashir's forces in 1976. He asked whether Bashir's men were involved. Bashir's inquiry blamed the Ahrar leader Elias Hannouche.
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Friday, 26 September 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An assault was launched against the US embassy in West Beirut. Two missiles were fired on the chancellery hitting the second and fourth floors. The aggressors remained unidentified.
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November 1980
Tuesday, 4 November 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Walid Jumblatt meets a Lebanese Forces envoy at Johnny Abdo's home.
On the evening of the US presidential election, army intelligence chief Johnny Abdo hosted Walid Jumblatt and Bashir Gemayel's envoy Joseph Abou Khalil at his home in Yarze, with President Sarkis's blessing. Jumblatt accepted in principle a meeting with Gemayel, and the two sides agreed to start with talks between emissaries.
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January 1981
Sunday, 18 January 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Jean Francois Revel, the director of the French weekly magazine L'Express, left Beirut after a 48-hour visit. He declared before his departure: 'The actual drama in Lebanon is the result of the convergence of external factors rather than an internal crisis'.
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February 1981
April 1981
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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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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Monday, 18 May 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the civilian population continued to pay the high price of Man's madness, a Saudi solution plan was put into place. It stipulated the maintenance of SAM missiles in the Bekaa region, the progressive withdrawal of the Arab Strike Force from Lebanon, the limitation of Palestinian activities in the South and the reinforcement of the Lebanese central authority.
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June 1981
Thursday, 4 June 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Begin discloses Israel's promises to Lebanon's Christians.
Damascus denounced an 'alliance with the enemy' and West Beirut politicians protested after Begin, in a Knesset debate before the elections, revealed verbal pledges to Lebanon's Christians: he had met a 'delegation' on 28 August 1978 and on 2 April 1981 sent an emissary to renew his offer of help. The Vigilance Committee was summoned to Beiteddine.
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July 1981
Saturday, 4 July 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab Foreign Affairs Ministers met in Beiteddine. However, no concrete measure was taken, it was a total impasse.
What the books addMénargues lists the participants as Syrian foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, the Arab League's representative and the Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors, Ali Chaër and Abdel Hamid Bouayajane. That day a general strike against the Syrian presence shut down the Christian regions.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Ammunition depot explodes in Tariq al-Jdideh; general strike in the Christian areas.
In Tariq al-Jdideh, West Beirut, 7 people died and 51 were wounded when ammunition stored by the Organisation of Communist Action in a building's basement exploded. That day a general strike against the Syrian presence brought the Christian regions to a halt.
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August 1981
dates 1–60 of 181 next
