39 entries on 38 dates · the books disagree on 39
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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August 1975
Friday, 29 August 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After mortar and rocket exchanges in the streets of Zahleh made several victims, a partial curfew was imposed on the town.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Tegho Bou Nassif date Zahleh's entry into the war to 24 August 1975, when Palestinian fighters planted a bomb in its tourist district, Wadi al-Arayish. In Hanf's account, Zahleh's Christians and Shi'is of its outskirts and nearby villages, helped by Palestinian guerrillas, came to blows late in August after a non-political arcade quarrel. Three Zahleh men were executed at the end of August.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 24 August 1975
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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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June 1976
Tuesday, 29 June 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Jisr al-Basha camp falls.
The small Palestinian camp of Jisr al-Basha, overlooking Tal al-Za'tar in East Beirut, fell to the Christian militias and army units, and was razed.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 1 July; Picard August; Yara El Khoury places its fall with Tal al-Za'tar on 12 August.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 1 July 1976
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January 1977
Sunday, 23 January 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In Broumana and in presence of 25 delegates, the week of the Lebanese Forces was held under the sign of coexistence.
This three-day seminar adopted the principle of diversity in respect of heritage and cultures. The seminar emphasized the need to solve Lebanon's economic problem using modern solutions.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne put the Lebanese Front's seminar at the Sayyidat al-Bir convent, not Broumana, on 21 January 1977. Its leaders, they report, judged the independence-era institutions obsolete, raised partition and defined a 'plurality of civilisational groups'. The body was the Lebanese Front, the Christian leaders' coalition, not the Lebanese Forces militia.
Other date in the books: Friday, 21 January 1977
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March 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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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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October 1979
November 1979
Friday, 23 November 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Tunis summit was disappointing. Lebanon received only a solemn proclamation of support doubled by a financial assistance up to 2 billion dollars, but the Southern Lebanon problem remained unsolved, the summit having just called the State and the resistance to get along.
What the books addThe Arab summit met in Tunis from 20 to 22 November 1979.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 20 November 1979
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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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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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Wednesday, 29 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syria deploys SAM missiles in the Bekaa: the 'missile crisis'.
A day after Israel downed two Syrian helicopters, Syria set up SAM-6 and SAM-2 batteries openly in the Bekaa, near Rayak and Chtaura. Israel demanded their removal; de Clerck and Malsagne see the deployment as the first direct Syrian-Israeli confrontation.
Sources differ: Traboulsi names the missiles as Sam 3, the other sources as SAM-6 and SAM-2. Traboulsi's own chronology (p. 252) places the battle of Zahleh and the missile crisis in March 1980, contradicting his main text.
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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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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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Thursday, 29 July 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli phosphorus shells hit the Bourj al-Barajneh camp.
At the Barbir hospital Dr Amal Shamaa logged 19 phosphorus burn cases from 6 June to 29 July, all civilians but one guerrilla. They included a woman and eleven relatives, still alight on arrival after a shell hit the family's two-storey shack in the camp.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 6 June 1982
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August 1982
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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Sunday, 29 August 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Army deployed in the central district in Beirut while the soldiers of the Arab Strike Force still positioned in Beirut, were being evacuated.
Other dates in the books: Saturday, 21 August 1982, Monday, 30 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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February 1984
Wednesday, 29 February 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Amine Gemayel visited Damascus. The observers expected a normalization soon after. Indeed, the Syrian President approved the opening of new round Israeli-Lebanese negotiations.
What the books addMénargues gives two different days for this visit: 24 February in his prologue and 26 February in another passage. Hanf and Fisk both give 29 February. Fisk notes a 21-gun salute; Hanf says Gemayel told Assad he was ready to abrogate the 17 May agreement.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 24 February 1984, Sunday, 26 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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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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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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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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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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August 1991
Thursday, 29 August 1991
After the war · From the books
General Aoun is spirited out of the French embassy into exile in France.
Aoun, sheltering in the French embassy since 13 October 1990, was removed ten months later in the secret 'Hortensia' operation, run by General Philippe Rondot with French gendarmes and RAID police. He remained in exile until 2005.
Sources differ: Quéméner's calendar places the exfiltration under 1990.
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February 1992
Saturday, 29 February 1992
After the war · From the books
The Central Bank gives up defending the pound.
By early May a dollar cost 2,000 pounds; the bank had given up on the pound after losing a third of its foreign reserves.
Sources differ: Peak rate: 2,000 (Hanf, early May) or 2,200 (Picard, 1992).
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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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May 2005
Sunday, 29 May 2005
Since 2005 · From the books range
Parliamentary elections over several weeks give the anti-Syrian coalition a majority.
Saad Hariri's anti-Syrian coalition won 72 of 128 seats and Michel Aoun's movement much of Mount Lebanon; with each region returning its own local leaders, the vote showed a country more divided by sect than ever.
Sources differ: The two chapters of the same book disagree on when voting ended: 12 June in Abirached's chronology, 19 June in Khayat's chapter. Picard dates the elections simply to May 2005.
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July 2006
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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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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