268 entries on 244 dates · the books disagree on 69
dates 1–60 of 244 next
January 1973
Monday, 22 January 1973
The road to war · From the books
Thousands of tobacco growers occupy the Régie offices in Nabatieh.
On 22 January 1973 thousands of tobacco growers seeking 20 per cent more for their leaf marched in Nabatieh and occupied the offices of the Régie, the tobacco monopoly, after years without results.
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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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January 1975
Tuesday, 7 January 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Teachers went on strike
25,000 private school teachers went on an open strike. The movement hit approximately 200,000 students. Strikers were claiming the amendment of their salary scale and of the teachers' dismissal law. Their actual minimum salary amounted for 250 Lebanese pounds.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Presidents Assad and Frangieh meet at Chtaura.
At Chtaura, President Suleiman Frangieh received Syria's president, Hafez al-Assad, who pledged to defend Lebanon against Israeli attack. Hanf, quoting Goria, judges that Lebanon thereby lost what neutrality had gained it.
Sources differ: Ménargues gives 17 January 1975. Traboulsi's narrative chapter dates the summit to 7 January 1974, while his own chronology gives 7 January 1975. Two sources agree on 7 January 1975.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 7 January 1974, Friday, 17 January 1975
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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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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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Friday, 7 March 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Major events were reported in the town of Saida.
The army clashed with demonstrators protesting in favor of fishermen. Maarouf Saad, former legislator, was hit by a bullet and died from his wounds. Saida was in fire and blood. Many dead and wounded persons were reported, on the civilian as well as on the military sides. Businesses and schools shut down. Many leaders accused the Prime Minister, Rachid El Solh, of being responsible for the recent events in Saida. Nevertheless, demonstrations supporting the army were organized in Beirut.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Traboulsi date the Sidon fishermen's protest to 26 February 1975. The marchers opposed Protein, a fishing company whose board included Camille Chamoun; their leader, Maarouf Saad, was shot and died some days later. Clashes between the army and armed groups in Sidon and Tyre followed at the start of March: de Clerck and Malsagne give 6 soldiers and 11 civilians killed and an army pull-out from Tyre, Hanf 5 soldiers and 11 civilians. The Kataeb staged a pro-army demonstration in Beirut. Hanf puts the fishermen's protest in March, and Picard describes the Sidon marchers as Palestinian militants.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 26 February 1975
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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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July 1975
August 1975
Friday, 22 August 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel calls for a secular state.
While holding that the Constitution and National Pact needed unanimous consent to change, Pierre Gemayel answered the LNM programme on 22 August 1975 by calling for a secular state: one personal status law and civil service posts filled on merit.
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September 1975
Sunday, 7 September 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Tripoli was in fire and blood
Exceptionally violent fights opposed Tripolitans to Zghortiotes, causing fires, kidnappings and street fights.
What the books addHistorians describe the Tripoli-Zgharta round as following the Zahleh fighting of late August: kidnappings on both sides, the killing of twelve Muslim bus passengers on the Beirut-Tripoli road, attacks on Christian villages in Akkar and the flight of Christians from Tripoli and Akkar. It ended when the army created a buffer zone between the two towns.
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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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Monday, 22 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh forms a Higher Committee under its bishop.
Bishop Bassul chaired a new Higher Committee of Zahleh notables, deputies, merchants, Tajammu and Kataeb. It controlled donations and arms buying, organised relief and dealt with the fedayeen.
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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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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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Monday, 22 December 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Thousands of armed elements attempted to invade Zahleh
The army riposted and hundreds of shells, mortars and rockets, fell on the Town. Simultaneously, bloody fights were reported in Tripoli.
What the books addBishop Yuhanna Bassul's diary records 500 shells hitting Zahleh on the night of 22 December, with some 15,000 fedayeen gathered in the plain; at his appeal the army's Maghawir commando regiment came to help. Hanf writes that 3,000 men of the PLA's Yarmouk Brigade had entered from Syria on 20 December and besieged the town, which Syrian positions also shelled.
Art and memory- testimony Bishop Yuhanna Bassul of Zahleh kept a regular, detailed diary of the 1975-1976 war, issued by the Greek Catholic diocese in two volumes; most dated Zahleh events here come from it.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 20 December 1975
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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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Wednesday, 7 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Palestinian camps of Tell El Zaatar and Jisr El Bacha being under a blockade, 1200 armed elements attacked the region of Horsh Tabet. Pitched battles opposed Phalangist and Fedayin activists.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the siege of Tal al-Za'tar from 4 January 1976 to the camp's fall on 12 August. According to Hanf, Interior Minister Camille Chamoun had Internal Security Forces units join the assault.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 4 January 1976
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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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Thursday, 22 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the Palestine Liberation Army controlled the Akkar and the Bekaa with the exception of Zahleh, a cease-fire was concluded under the aegis of Syria.
What the books addTraboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne, and Yara El Khoury date the Syrian-mediated cease-fire to 23 January. PLA and Saiqa units attacked Zgharta in the north but were repulsed, and Zahleh, besieged, held out.
Other date in the books: Friday, 23 January 1976
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February 1976
Saturday, 7 February 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
President Frangieh and Prime Minister Karami go to Damascus.
Sleiman Frangieh and Rashid Karami travelled to Damascus, where, with President Assad, they agreed on the text of a 'Constitutional Document' to reform the distribution of power.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology gives 7 February as the day Frangieh declared the Document.
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May 1976
Saturday, 22 May 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
First statement signed by the 'Lebanese Front'.
A 'Lebanese Front' had been forming gradually out of the Kfour meetings between President Frangieh and Camille Chamoun, Pierre Gemayel and Father Charbel Qassis. Its name first appeared in al-Nahar, under a reply to Kamal Jumblatt; next day a second statement named those three.
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June 1976
Monday, 7 June 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Violent combats opposed pro-Syrian formations to Palestinian Progressive militiamen in several districts of Beirut. Syrian troops entered the capital where most Palestinian Progressive forces were concentrated.
What the books addIn Beirut in early June, Hanf writes, Fatah and its allies turned on Saiqa, the PLA and the pro-Syrian parties and cleared them from the city within a few hours. Syria's regular army stayed outside the capital for now: on 7 June its troops got as far as Sofar on the Beirut-Damascus road and into Sidon, where an armoured column was wiped out. Syrian forces reached Beirut only in mid-November, within the Arab Deterrent Force.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 14 November 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian troops reach Sofar and Sidon; a Syrian armoured column is destroyed in Sidon.
Palestinian fighters and Lebanese Arab Army soldiers wrecked the Syrian armour sent into the centre of Sidon and forced it back, once Syrian columns had reached Sofar, on the Beirut-Damascus road, and the city's edge. Long Syrian shelling of the camps followed.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne place the 7 June fighting at Bhamdoun; Hanf at Sofar.
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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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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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Wednesday, 22 September 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Bechir Gemayel announced the creation of an army to defend Lebanon.
What the books addMénargues dates the formal unification of the Christian militias under Bashir Gemayel's command to 31 August 1976; Yara El Khoury has it announced to President Frangieh in early September 1976. According to de Clerck and Malsagne, 'Lebanese Forces' was not the official name until 1981, but the unified command was officially founded on 25 March 1976.
Other dates in the books: Thursday, 25 March 1976, Tuesday, 31 August 1976
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October 1976
Friday, 22 October 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The effective cease-fire was a partial success.
Observers considered however that this result was encouraging after 10 months of fierce combats. But the situation could deteriorate at any moment given the unrest in South Lebanon. Bloody fights were reported between the 'common forces' on the one hand, and rightist parties within the South Lebanon Army (SLA) on the other, supported by Israeli artillery.
What the books addIn 1976 Major Saad Haddad's force was known as the Army of Free Lebanon; it took the name South Lebanon Army only in 1985. Agreed through American mediation, the 'red line' kept Syrian and other Arab troops out of the south, where Palestinians and Christian militias kept fighting and Israel backed Haddad (Hanf).
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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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December 1976
January 1977
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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June 1977
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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Thursday, 22 September 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Maronite Patriarch appeals in Paris for a 'great dialogue of civilisations'.
Addressing Foreign Minister Louis de Guiringaud in Paris during an official visit to France, Patriarch Antonios Khraish asked whether Lebanon really had to be sacrificed to the Palestinian cause. He also urged a 'great dialogue of civilisations' to end the war and keep the country united and sovereign.
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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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Sunday, 22 January 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Front adopted a coexistence formula.
Leaders of the Lebanese Front, gathered at President Frangieh's home in Zghorta since the day before, inaugurated their seminar which main themes were the national understanding, the project of Palestinians settlement in Lebanon, and the internal organization of the Front itself. Their final press release made it clear that the Palestinian presence constituted an obstacle to the national understanding and that Lebanon rejected any kind of union.
Other date in the books: Friday, 21 January 1977
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February 1978
Tuesday, 7 February 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A serious incident occurred in Fayadieh.
Lebanese Soldiers fought with elements of the Arab Strike Force. Shots were exchanged followed by heavy armaments shootings.
What the books addHistorians date the Fayadiyeh incident to 7 February (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8 February (Hanf) or 17 February (Ménargues). It began when Syrian soldiers set up a roadblock in front of the Military Academy; officer cadets, led according to de Clerck and Malsagne by Captain Samir (Sami) al-Achkar, fought back and Syrian artillery shelled the barracks. Syrian losses are given as 13 dead and 36 wounded (de Clerck and Malsagne), over 30 dead (Ménargues) or 220 dead and 30 wounded (Hanf). As fighting spread into East Beirut, about a hundred people died when Syrian guns shelled Badaro, Ain el-Remmaneh and Karm el-Zeitoun. Sarkis and Damascus settled the affair with a joint Lebanese-Syrian military court. De Clerck and Malsagne date the Syria-Christian split to it.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 8 February 1978, Friday, 17 February 1978
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March 1978
Wednesday, 22 March 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The first ' Blue Helmets ' arrived to the South.
What the books addFisk dates the arrival in Tyre of UNIFIL's first unit, Colonel Jean Germain Salvan's French paratroopers, to 23 March. That morning, at the nearby Hassan Borro barracks, Palestinians and Lebanese officers nearly opened fire over the handover.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 23 March 1978
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May 1978
Sunday, 7 May 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The 'Mikhael Naimy' week was inaugurated under the patronage of the President of the Republic. This event was a Lebanese tribute to the great thinker and writer who stirs up Lebanon's tradition and vocation in the field of thinking.
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June 1978
July 1978
Friday, 7 July 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
President Sarkis announces his resignation.
On 7 July President Elias Sarkis, unable to stop the Syrian shelling of East Beirut, tendered his resignation. Washington and President Assad both pressed him to stay; without him the Syrian presence would have lost its Lebanese and Arab legitimacy.
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August 1978
Tuesday, 22 August 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Raymond Eddeh called the UN Security Council to hold a meeting. The leader of the National Bloc declared 'My country is like a man that is sinking in a marsh and is being shot.
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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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Saturday, 7 October 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Syrian shelling of East Beirut stops; Sarkis asks for the ADF mandate to be extended.
Syria stopped shelling East Beirut on 7 October, one day after the UN Security Council demanded a ceasefire. Also on 7 October, President Sarkis publicly asked for the Arab Deterrent Force's mandate to be extended beyond its expiry on 28 October. Syria kept its blockade in place until the Arab League had renewed the mandate.
Sources differ: Original entry 219 puts the Security Council's ceasefire call on 4 October; entry 220 has residents leaving the shelters on 8 October.
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November 1978
December 1978
January 1979
Monday, 22 January 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
One of the closest collaborators of Yasser Arafat, Ali Hassan Salameh, nicknamed of Abou Hassan, died in an explosion. The attack that took place in the Snoubra sector caused 11 dead and 17 injured.
What the books addAccording to de Clerck and Malsagne, a Mossad agent detonated a bomb in a Volkswagen as Salameh's Chevrolet passed. His wife, Georgina Rizk, had been Lebanon's first Miss Universe.
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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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April 1979
Sunday, 22 April 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In a new episode of the vendetta opposing the Zghoriotes to the Phalangists, a massacre was perpetrated in Shmout, in the caza of Jbeil, where the Marada shot 11 Phalangist militiamen.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Attack on Nahariya; Israeli officers set up a secret bombing front in Lebanon.
Senior Israeli officers answered a Palestinian raid on Nahariya, in northern Israel, by creating the 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners', manned by Lebanese of several communities. Up to 1983 its bombs killed hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians, civilians and fighters alike. Prime Minister Begin was told of it only in June 1980.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne attribute the Nahariya attack to the PFLP.
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June 1979
July 1979
August 1979
September 1979
Friday, 7 September 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Three commandos hijacked an Alitalia airplane. Their objective was to denounce Kadhafi in front of the international opinion. 141 passengers out of 175 were released at the airport of Rome. The air pirates surrendered to the Iranians the next day.
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Saturday, 22 September 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Elias Sarkis delivered an important speech, in which he emphasized the overriding role the army should play. Without it 'the State will be a body with no soul', he said. He insisted that the Arabs should stop to shilly-shally about Southern Lebanon.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 13 March 1979
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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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dates 1–60 of 244 next
