278 entries on 244 dates · the books disagree on 74
dates 1–60 of 244 next
July 1972
Saturday, 8 July 1972
The road to war · From the books
Ghassan Kanafani is killed by a car bomb in Beirut.
Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and PFLP official, died when his car was blown up; de Clerck and Malsagne blame Mossad.
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September 1972
Saturday, 16 September 1972
The road to war · From the books
After Munich, Israel invades South Lebanon for three days.
Israeli forces entered the south in reprisal for the Munich Olympics attack on Israeli athletes, striking Nahr al-Bared camp and southern and Bekaa villages. The Lebanese army held them up for two days; they left after three, destroying bridges and houses on the way out. De Clerck & Malsagne count 118 dead.
Sources differ: Death toll 118 (de Clerck & Malsagne) or more than 100 (Picard). Only de Clerck & Malsagne give the day.
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November 1972
Saturday, 11 November 1972
The road to war · From the books
Police fire on Ghandour strikers, killing two.
Two workers died on 11 November 1972 when security forces opened fire outside Ghandour's Chiyah plant: Fatima al-Khawaja of the Communist Party and Yusuf al-Attar of the OCA's workers' committees. Others were wounded. De Clerck & Malsagne call it the first workers' protest since independence put down with deadly force.
Sources differ: Wounded: 14 (Traboulsi) or 19, including 13 policemen (de Clerck & Malsagne).
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January 1975
Saturday, 11 January 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Patriarch Meouchi died
The 70th Maronite patriarch of Antioch and the Middle East died of a hart attack. He was 81 years old.
Other date in the books: Monday, 3 February 1975
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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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Saturday, 8 March 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad calls for a joint Syrian-Palestinian command.
Assad publicly called for Syria and the Palestinians to unite their political and military leadership. Hanf relates Syria's acceptance of Arafat's proposal for a joint supreme command to Egypt's drift towards a separate arrangement with Israel.
Sources differ: Ménargues says the PLO met the call with silence; Hanf says Syria accepted an offer from Arafat.
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May 1975
Friday, 16 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Solh Cabinet resigned due to pressures against its members.
What the books addIn a heated sitting of parliament Rashid al-Solh resigned, blaming the Kataeb for the fighting. His refusal to deploy the army had led the Kataeb ministers to leave the cabinet, and other Christian ministers had followed them.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A cease-fire ends the first round of fighting.
De Clerck and Malsagne date the ceasefire that closed this first round to 16 May; an earlier Syrian mediation had not stopped the fighting. The Solh cabinet resigned the same day (existing entry 15).
Sources differ: The existing entry 13 records a cease-fire on 15 April.
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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
Sunday, 16 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Sleiman Frangieh and Prime Minister Rachid Karameh studied the political reform and the secularization of public service.
The Prime Minister presented a plan to redress the economy and curb unemployment. He claimed religious equity in the parliamentary representation and a complete secularization of public service. The government decided to create a shock squad in charge of reestablishing security in the country.
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December 1975
Monday, 8 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Murabitun overrun Kataeb positions in the hotels.
On 8 December the Kataeb lost the Phoenicia and St Georges and were pushed back to Martyrs' Square by a Murabitun offensive, backed by Palestinian groups, on their downtown and hotel-district positions. According to Traboulsi, an army move on 9 December to retake the two hotels brought the Palestinian organisations more directly into the fighting.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 9 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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Friday, 16 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
For the first time since the beginning of the war, the Lebanese aviation intervened against Palestinian and progressive activists settlements in the Khaldeh and Aramoun regions. Thirty women and children were killed at the entry of Damour.
The airport was closed after three shells hit the runways.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne record that the besiegers executed some twenty Damour residents on this day, a first massacre a week after the siege began on 9 January. Whether these are the deaths reported 'at the entry of Damour' is not established.
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March 1976
Thursday, 11 March 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After a day marked by the resignation of Rachid Karameh and the aggravation of the war of barracks in Tripoli, a military Coup was executed by Corporal Aziz Ahdab, commanding the place of Beirut. Corporal Ahdab was supported by the Commander of the army, 270 loyalist officers, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Army. He claimed the resignation of Sleiman Frangieh, but the President refused to give up and locked himself in Baabda.
What the books addOn 11 March Brigadier-General Aziz al-Ahdab, Beirut garrison commander (retired, says Traboulsi), seized the television station, named himself interim military governor and called for Frangieh's resignation and an early election. Few troops stood behind him and Syria opposed him: on 15 March PLA and Saiqa units under Syrian control blocked his men and Khatib's Lebanese Arab Army on their way to Baabda. Backed by Chamoun, Gemayel and President Assad, Frangieh refused to go.
Other date in the books: Monday, 15 March 1976
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May 1976
Saturday, 8 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Elias Sarkis, the 52 years old Central Bank Governor, was elected President of the Republic at the second ballot by a majority of 66 votes out of 69 attending deputies. The election took place in a tense atmosphere at the villa Esseily-Hussein Mansour, which was turned into a temporary Parliament around which mortar shells were falling. Lebanese leftist parties were opposed to the elections.
What the books addHanf and Ménargues count 66 votes for Sarkis out of 69 cast; de Clerck and Malsagne give 70. National Movement and PLO mortars fired as deputies, escorted by Saiqa, PLA or Syrian troops, met at the Villa Mansour on the demarcation line. Votes were reportedly bought, by Syria (de Clerck and Malsagne) or with Saudi and CIA money (Traboulsi). Sarkis was sworn in only on 23 September.
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Sunday, 16 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese press was in mourning. A sniper's bullet killed Edouard Saab, the chief editor of L'Orient-Le-Jour.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne note that Edouard Saab was Le Monde's correspondent too; a sniper shot him dead while he crossed the demarcation line.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The first secretary of the Turkish embassy is assassinated in Hamra.
The Armenian armed group ASALA, founded in Beirut in 1975, killed the Turkish embassy's first secretary in Hamra, West Beirut.
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June 1976
Wednesday, 16 June 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The US ambassador in Lebanon, Francis Meloy, the US economic advisor, Robert Waring, and the driver of the US embassy were assassinated after being kidnapped. They were about to cross the borderline between West and East Beirut.
What the books addFisk reports that the bodies of Ambassador Francis Meloy, his economic counsellor Robert Waring and their Lebanese driver, abducted near the Museum crossing, were found that evening at Ramlet al-Baida, and that Arafat, once sure of the three Palestinians responsible, sent them to Tyre. De Clerck and Malsagne judge that the murders ended American efforts at a settlement through the Lebanese parties.
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July 1976
Thursday, 8 July 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The leftists opened new fronts in the port and business districts, hoping to draw the rightists away from Tel El Zaatar, but the assaults were quickly repulsed by local defenders.
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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, 8 September 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pravda criticises Syria's intervention.
A severe Pravda editorial said the Lebanese alone should resolve their essentially internal quarrel and that the Palestinian movement should keep its autonomy.
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October 1976
Friday, 8 October 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab League's representative in Lebanon, Hassam Sabri Kholi, announced that the four-party commission (Syria, Lebanon, PLO, Arab League) will meet starting October 9 in Chtaura to study the measures to be taken to end the combats in Lebanon and execute the Lebanese-Palestinian Cairo agreement.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Haddad's forces take Marjayoun.
On 8 October Major Saad Haddad's troops, backed by Christian militiamen from the north, took the border area's chief town, Marjayoun, from the Lebanese Arab Army.
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November 1976
Thursday, 11 November 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
For the second time in 6 months, the leader of the National Bloc, Raymond Eddeh, escaped from a killing attempt in front of his home.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne report that Eddé went into exile in Paris after surviving three attempts on his life, one of them outside his home.
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Tuesday, 16 November 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
According to Ghassan Tueni, who was in Geneva asking for help from international organizations, 'In 18 months, the Lebanese war killed 60,000 persons, injured 200 000 others, and made 1.7 million homeless persons.'
What the books addLater estimates for the 'two-year war' are below the figures quoted here. Published death tolls, de Clerck and Malsagne note, run from 15,000 to 40,000, and the displaced numbered at least 200,000. In The Times of 16 November 1976 Fisk reported almost 40,000 dead.
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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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Tuesday, 8 February 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations, arrived to Beirut. He declared that the United Nations would substantially help Lebanon and that the future of this country was closely linked the comprehensive solution in the Middle East.
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March 1977
Wednesday, 16 March 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Kamal Joumblatt was assassinated
He was leaving Moukhtara when he and two other passengers were killed. An ambush was set up not far from an Arab Strike Force control post. This assassination aroused a huge wave of disapproval. A call for a strike was immediately issued. The country was in mourning. Chief of the Lebanese left wing, leader of the Druze community, author of several political books, coming from a famous family in the Chouf, Kamal Joumblatt was born in 1917 in Moukhtara, with essentially an eclectic spirit. After he graduated from the Law school in Saint Joseph University in Beirut, he went into politics very young. In 1946 he was elected for the first time Deputy of the Chouf in the Parliament and three years later he was appointed Minister of Economy and Agriculture. In 1949, he founded the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). Three months before his assassination, he had given up politics.
What the books addJumblatt was ambushed near a Syrian checkpoint of the Arab Deterrent Force; Fisk places it on the mountain road near Baaqlin. Most historians give 16 March 1977 (Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne, the Confluences authors, and Hanf on one page); Hanf elsewhere and Ménargues give 17 March, which Ménargues ties to the burial. His son Walid took over, and Christians were killed in reprisal in Chouf villages. Hanf writes that most politicians, Muslims above all, took the murder as a warning against defying Syria openly, and that Jumblatt had attacked the Syrian presence in speech and print, in Lebanon and abroad.
Art and memory- book Dima de Clerck reads Kamal and Walid Jumblatt as shapers of Druze memory around family grievances: the defeat after 1860 and Bashir Jumblatt's fall in 1825.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 17 March 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range
Christians are killed in Chouf villages in reprisal for Kamal Jumblatt's murder.
Many of the Christians killed in revenge for Kamal Jumblatt's assassination were Jumblatt loyalists, communists or SSNP sympathisers. Some died at home in Chouf villages; on mountain roads, clergy and civilians were stopped in their cars and shot; in West Beirut districts held by the leftist Joint Forces, Christians were abducted and executed. Walid Jumblatt said he had tried to halt the killings, and some Druze warned Christian neighbours or diverted school buses.
Sources differ: Death toll: 177 (de Clerck and Malsagne) against 130 to 180 (Hanf). Displaced: 25,000 after these killings (Hanf) against more than 25,000 for all the 1977 Chouf massacres including Brih (de Clerck and Malsagne, p. 159). Date: 16 March (de Clerck and Malsagne) against 17 March (Ménargues). Hanf (p. 275) calls it an 'isolated incident'.
Art and memory- testimony Mountain Christians use two words for the massacres of 1976, 1977 and 1983: majazir, plain 'massacre', and madhabih, a cruder term evoking throat-cutting and killing at close range.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 17 March 1977
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April 1977
Monday, 11 April 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Colonel Sami Khatib was appointed commander of the Arab Strike Force.
What the books addSami al-Khatib took over the ADF from Ahmad al-Hajj, who never won Syria's trust, and led it until 1983.
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June 1977
July 1977
Friday, 8 July 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An armed group took control of a Boeing connecting Beirut to Kuwait.
Twelve armed men highjacked a Boeing 707 belonging to the Kuwait Airways company. 45 passengers, including the Kuwaiti ambassador in Lebanon and ten crewmembers, were on board. The highjackers claimed the liberation of 300 persons detained in six Arab countries. The next day, they set the hostages free and surrendered to the authorities
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September 1977
Thursday, 8 September 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim called upon all conflicting parties in Southern Lebanon urging them to fully participate in the efforts aiming at reaching a cease-fire in the region.
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October 1977
February 1978
Wednesday, 8 February 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range (about 8-14 February)
Fighting spreads from Fayadiyeh to East Beirut.
About a hundred people died when Syrian guns hit Badaro, Ain el-Remmaneh and Karm el-Zeitoun, as the Fayadiyeh clash spread the next day to Beirut's Christian districts. National Liberal Party and Kataeb fighters attacked Syrian positions; Syrian troops in Achrafieh's Rizk Tower shelled the eastern suburbs, and artillery struck the army headquarters at Yarze.
Sources differ: Depends on the date of the Fayadiyeh clash: 7 February (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8 February (Hanf) or 17 February (Ménargues). Duration three days (de Clerck and Malsagne) or about a week (Hanf).
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March 1978
Saturday, 11 March 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Fatah commando lands near Haifa and hijacks a bus on the coastal road; 37 Israelis are killed.
Nine Fatah gunmen from Lebanon came ashore near Haifa, shot several people on a beach and seized a bus, which they drove towards Tel Aviv. All nine and many of the passengers died when Israeli troops halted it; the Israeli toll was 37. Three days later Israel invaded South Lebanon.
Sources differ: Hanf dates the attack to 14 March and gives 34 dead; Fisk and Quéméner give 37 dead. Fisk's 11 March agrees with de Clerck and Malsagne's 'three days' before 14 March, but Fisk calls it a Sunday, whereas 11 March 1978 was a Saturday.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 14 March 1978
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April 1978
Tuesday, 11 April 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Violent fights were reported on the axis Chyah-Ain el Remmaneh. The Arab Strike Force intervened, bombing violently Ain el Remmaneh and establishing a 500-meter wide buffer zone.
What the books addBy now Syria was fighting on the Palestinians' side. Hanf says the clashes ended once the Arab Deterrent Force's Saudi and Sudanese contingents deployed between Chiyah and Ain el-Remmaneh.
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May 1978
Thursday, 11 May 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Sleiman Frangieh leaves the Lebanese Front.
The Lebanese Front's links with Israel led former president Sleiman Frangieh to quit it, costing the Front its hold on the Christian north.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne (p. 288) also date his withdrawal to after the Ehden killings, which would be later in June.
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June 1978
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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Sunday, 8 October 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Residents of Achrafieh stepped out of their shelters only to realize the magnitude of the damages. Despite the respect of the cease-fire agreed upon by Presidents Elias Sarkis and Hafez Assad, the region was still under blockade.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the end of the shelling to 7 October. On that day President Sarkis asked in public for the Arab Deterrent Force's mandate, due to lapse on 28 October, to be extended, and Syria maintained its blockade until the renewal.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 7 October 1978
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Monday, 16 October 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The French Foreign Minister blames the Christian militias for the fighting in Beirut.
Lebanese Christians began to question France's intentions after its Foreign Minister, Louis de Guiringaud, held the Christian militias responsible for the bloodshed in Beirut.
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November 1978
December 1978
Friday, 8 December 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A serious incident was reported in Jounieh.
A Phalangist leader, Elie Hobeika, was arrested at an army checkpoint in Nahr el Kalb. The incident degenerated into fights and the entire region flared up. A helicopter transporting Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and flying over the region was hit by submachine-gun shots. The Saudi ambassador was injured.
What the books addMénargues writes that when the Moukafaha, Johnny Abdo's own intervention unit, arrested Elie Hobeika for allegedly having the Saudi ambassador's helicopter fired on, Bashir Gemayel had about a hundred army officers abducted; they were traded for Hobeika three weeks later.
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January 1979
Monday, 8 January 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The bad weather provoked considerable damages.
Following strong showers during the weekend in the North, landslides made several routes impracticable whereas, for the first time in twenty years, a flood was reported in Nahr El Kebir, which constitutes the Northern frontier between Lebanon and Syria. The El Arida metallic bridge collapsed.
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Tuesday, 16 January 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The disappearance of the Imam Sadr was back on the news. Seven young Lebanese Shiite militiamen hijacked the MEA Boeing 720, in order to attract the world's attention on the sequestration of the Imam. The militants affirmed that General Kadhafi, who was vigorously opposed to the Palestinian settlement in Lebanon, detained Imam Moussa Sadr. The hijackers surrendered to the Lebanese justice at night.
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April 1979
May 1979
June 1979
Saturday, 16 June 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After murderous combats, the Lebanese authorities decided to send the army to Ain el Remmane at the beginning of the week.
What the books addBashir Gemayel's men fought a bloody battle with army units sent, at Pierre Gemayel's and Camille Chamoun's request, to separate the Kataeb and National Liberal militias, at war since 12 May. De Clerck and Malsagne call it the first serious armed clash between the army and a Lebanese militia, dating it once to 14 June and once to 18 June.
Other dates in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979, Monday, 18 June 1979
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July 1979
Monday, 16 July 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Two months after the resignation of the Hoss Cabinet formed at the end of the 75-76 war, Selim El Hoss announced the formation of his second Cabinet. The ministerial team included:
Selim El Hoss: Prime Minister - Fouad Boutros: Vice-president of the Council and Minister of Foreign affairs - Charles Helou: Minister of State - Bahige Takieddine: Minister of Interior and Tourism - Joseph Skaff: Minister of Defense and Agriculture - Anouar Sabbah: Minister of Resources and Industry - Ali El Khalil: Minister of Finance - Nazem Kadri: Minister of Social Affairs - Boutros Harb: Minister of Education and Public Works - Talal Merhabi: Minister of Health and Economy - Youssef Germanos: Minister of Justice and Information
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August 1979
dates 1–60 of 244 next
