199 entries on 176 dates · the books disagree on 37
dates 1–60 of 176 next
April 1969
Thursday, 24 April 1969
The road to war · From the books
A state of emergency is declared.
Under a state of emergency from 24 April, the day after the shootings, Jumblatt said curbs on the guerrillas helped only Israel, while Karami held that Lebanon must defend its sovereignty.
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February 1975
April 1975
Sunday, 13 April 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A serious incident opposed the Phalange (Kataeb) Party to the Resistance in Ain El Remmaneh causing 31 deaths.
These people were on board of a bus bringing back from Tell El Zaatar members of Palestinian Organizations who had just participated in a Resistance meeting. Because of the incident, tension rose in the Palestinian camp and in many surrounding towns. Authorities and mediators were trying to calm the waters and ask the Phalange Party leader, Pierre Gemayel, to hand over those responsible of the incident to the Lebanese Justice.
What the books addThe day began with shootings near the church in Ain al-Rummaneh, where Pierre Gemayel was attending a consecration; his bodyguard Joseph Bou Assi was killed. In the early afternoon Kataeb militiamen fired on a bus returning to Tal al-Za'tar from a rally of the Arab Liberation Front. Most historians count 27 dead (Hanf, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne: 27 of 35 passengers); Traboulsi gives 21 and Ménargues 31. According to de Clerck and Malsagne the bus carried Palestinians and Lebanese in equal numbers, all men. Fighting spread that evening across the suburbs of Beirut.
Art and memory- film In Ziad Doueiri's West Beyrouth (1998), the teenager Tarek witnesses the Ain al-Rummaneh bus attack, and the next day his family is stopped at a roadblock and asked for identity cards.
- artwork A copy of the Dodge bus attacked in 1975 stood on a street in central Beirut in April 2003, for the 28th anniversary, as the installation '13th of April'.
- book De Clerck and Malsagne take the morning incidents, the bus passengers and the finding that no Kataeb leader ordered the attack from Marwan Chahine's pioneering investigation, Beyrouth, 13 avril 1975. Autopsie d'une étincelle (Belfond, 2024).
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May 1975
Saturday, 24 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Musa al-Sadr disowns the 'Fityan Ali' gang.
Imam Musa al-Sadr declared that Harakat Fityan Ali, a Shiite gang led by Ahmad Safwan from Nabaa and Bourj Hammoud, was not part of his Movement of the Deprived. Six days later the gang was accused of the Black Thursday killings of Christians.
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June 1975
Thursday, 5 June 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Suez Canal reopens.
Egypt reopened the Suez Canal. Hanf notes that by then Lebanon was already at war, and links the Egyptian-Israeli rapprochement to the Lebanese crisis.
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Tuesday, 24 June 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A third round of fighting begins between Christian militias and Palestinians.
Christian militias and Palestinian fighters began a third round, which took fighting beyond Beirut to Damour, Sidon, Zahleh and Tripoli.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne's own narrative dates the third round to the end of July.
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July 1975
Saturday, 5 July 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
An explosion at a training camp reveals Amal's militia.
Musa al-Sadr's movement was found to have a hidden militia, trained with Fatah's help, when 27 young Shiites and their Palestinian instructor died in an anti-tank mine training blast at Ain al-Bunayya, near Baalbek. Christian fears grew.
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August 1975
Sunday, 24 August 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A bomb in Zahleh's Wadi al-Arayish draws the town into the war.
On 24 August 1975 Palestinian fighters planted a bomb in Wadi al-Arayish, Zahleh's tourist quarter: four months after Beirut, the war reached the Bekaa's chief town.
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September 1975
Saturday, 13 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Deir Achache in Akkar falls; three priests are killed.
Three priests were shot and the inhabitants expelled when Saiqa and fedayeen fighters seized Deir Achache, a Christian village in Akkar.
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December 1975
Friday, 5 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Palestinian units in Aley shell Kahhale.
Palestinian forces in Aley, a Druze town, started shelling the Maronite village of Kahhale on the eve of Pierre Gemayel's Damascus visit.
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Wednesday, 24 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh's bishop appeals publicly for his besieged town.
'The cause of Zahleh' (qadiyyat Zahleh) was Bishop Bassul's theme in a public appeal on Christmas Eve, as people sheltered: the town, he said, was alone.
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January 1976
Tuesday, 13 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Damour is completely encircled and heavily shelled.
With Damour now fully surrounded, its besiegers shelled the town heavily.
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Saturday, 24 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Saadiyat falls; Camille Chamoun is evacuated.
Palestinian and leftist forces took Saadiyat, next to Damour, the site of Camille Chamoun's home. Helicopters and boats got its residents out, Chamoun included.
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March 1976
Friday, 5 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian soldiers from Akkar leave the Sarba barracks.
After the Army of Arab Lebanon attacked Qubayat, their home village in Akkar, 200 Christian soldiers walked out of the Sarba barracks in Kesrouan in protest. Their 'Lebanese Liberation Army', announced with a demand that the government protect their families, went no further.
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Wednesday, 24 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel sets the 'red lines' for a Syrian intervention.
An Israeli memorandum of 24 March 1976 barred any Syrian force above brigade strength or movement over 10 km south of the Beirut-Damascus road. On 23 March Israel had told Washington it would take strategic positions in Lebanon if Syria intervened.
Sources differ: Traboulsi adds that Israel publicly set the Litani as the red line on 21 April.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 23 March 1976
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April 1976
Monday, 5 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Zahleh delegation led by its bishop meets Khaddam in Damascus.
Greek Catholic Bishop Yuhanna Bassul led a delegation from Zahleh, besieged since December, to Damascus; there the Syrian vice-president, Abdel Halim Khaddam, promised humanitarian aid.
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July 1976
Monday, 5 July 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The PLO and their allies launched a massive offensive against the Kura and the Christian town of Chekka north of Beirut.
What the books addHanf writes that once Jisr al-Pasha fell on 1 July the Palestinians struck in the north, taking coastal Chekka from Tripoli by way of the Koura, with massacres, looting and arson. A Lebanese Front counter-attack with army tanks reached Tripoli's outskirts.
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Tuesday, 13 July 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
William Hawi, commnander of the Kataeb military forces was shot and killed by a sniper whilst he was inspecting his forces on the edge of the Tel el Zaatar camp.
What the books addMénargues has William Hawi shot by a Palestinian sniper in June 1976, at the end of the Tal al-Za'tar siege; Traboulsi places it during the siege. Bashir Gemayel succeeded him as Kataeb militia chief.
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October 1976
Wednesday, 13 October 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian forces take Bhamdoun.
Renewing their drive on Sidon, Syrian forces also took Bhamdoun on 13 October against stiff Palestinian resistance. The losses, with Saudi pressure, led Damascus to accept the Riyadh summit two days later.
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January 1977
Monday, 24 January 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Government created an economic and social orientation body, called the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR).
What the books addIts unprecedented powers spanned planning, funding and running reconstruction. It replaced the Planning Ministry in 1977; Picard calls it the economy's 'superministry'.
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April 1977
Tuesday, 5 April 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The officials were satisfied with the ongoing excavations in the heart of the city where the most damaged sectors were located, for they exhumed valuable Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine vestiges.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Palestinian guerrillas capture Taibe in the south.
Palestinian fighters took the border village of Taibe from Christian militiamen, with tons of munitions still in Israeli crates. Afterwards it stood almost empty.
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May 1977
Friday, 13 May 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An Antonov-12 air freighter belonging to the Polish company LOT crashed in the forest of Aramoun. The airplane that was returning from Warsaw carried a shipment of meat and seven crewmembers who perished in the accident.
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July 1977
Sunday, 24 July 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
340 tourists made a brief stopover in Beirut. The Sol Phryne, a boat achieving a Mediterranean cruise, made a stopover in Beirut and its 340 passengers visited the capital for a few hours.
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November 1977
Saturday, 5 November 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An odious murder was committed against Abdel-Hamid Ahdab. He was a strong defender of an inter-Lebanese dialogue in favor of an absolute allegiance to the country. The powerful explosion placed in Ahdab's residence killed his daughter and seriously injured him and his spouse. This criminal act was perpetrated against democracy, freedom of speech and reconciliation between the Lebanese.
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January 1978
May 1978
Wednesday, 24 May 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The PLO committed, in an official press release, to stop all military activities in South Lebanon and facilitate the UNIFL's task, in order to reestablish the Lebanese sovereignty in this region.
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June 1978
Monday, 5 June 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Ghassan Tueini proposed, at the UN General Assembly, an 'international neutrality to protect Lebanon, because this country has no longer any other future besides explosion or invasion'. A UN force would take in charge the protection of the territory, while the army would devote its efforts to internal security and reconstruction.
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Tuesday, 13 June 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A dramatic event was reported in Zghorta. A chock commando killed Tony Frangieh, deputy and son of the President Sleiman Frangieh, his wife Vera and their daughter Jihane, at their home in Ehden. The murder of Tony Frangieh took place while the conflict between the Phalange Party and the Zghortiotes was at its peak.
What the books addHistorians date the Ehden killings to 13 June (de Clerck and Malsagne) or 14 June (Hanf). A unit of some 200 men (Traboulsi) led by Samir Geagea attacked the Frangieh residence; besides Tony Frangieh, his wife and their three-year-old daughter, about thirty relatives and supporters were killed. The Phalange presented the raid as retaliation for the killing of their local leader Jud al-Bayeh in early June; Bashir Gemayel denied ordering the killing of the family. The raid also turned on control of the Chekka cement works. Syrian troops then occupied Ehden and much of the north.
Art and memory- book De Clerck and Malsagne refer to a 2016 article by Dan Naor on how the Frangieh family made Ehden a resistance myth.
- testimony Women mourners keened at Tony Frangieh's funeral in 1978 until his father, the former president, stepped in to quiet them.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 14 June 1978
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel completes its withdrawal but hands the border strip to Major Haddad.
UNIFIL was kept out of a border belt 5 to 10 km deep that stayed in the hands of Major Saad Haddad's militia when Israeli troops officially left South Lebanon.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 12 June; Picard says July.
Other date in the books: Monday, 12 June 1978
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August 1978
Thursday, 24 August 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The situation deteriorated suddenly in the North.
Eight persons were killed and 10 others wounded in an ambush between the Cazas of Koura and Batroun. The situation worsened on August 25. The Arab Strike Force launched a raking operation. Fights resulted in 20 deaths and did not end until August 26. The Arab Strike Force now controls all the region of Batroun while the Phalangists are settled in Jbeil.
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December 1978
Tuesday, 5 December 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab tripartite committee including Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and a Syrian general, met in Baabda in presence of the chief of State. The committee excluded any immediate resort to the army.
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January 1979
Friday, 5 January 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lebanon entered a complacency phase.
All sides seemed decided to wait for important regional developments to unfold in order to re-evaluate the situation and define the course of action. The situation was very tense in the South where the Israelis were shelling the Hasbaya region.
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February 1979
March 1979
Tuesday, 13 March 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Parliament adopts a law to rebuild the army and send it south.
The new defence law set up a Higher Defence Council and a Military Council, allocated military posts by sect among the six main communities, allowed the army to be used only with national consensus, and planned its deployment to the UNIFIL area in the south.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne give 13 March 1979 in their text and 13 May in their chronology, where the entry sits between February and March, so 13 May is probably a slip. Picard gives March 1979.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 18 April 1979, Sunday, 13 May 1979
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Saturday, 24 March 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While Hoss was claiming the revision of the taking over operation, arguing that there are not enough soldiers nor material, combats were raging in the Batroun region between the Phalange Party and the Marada, followers of President Frangieh.
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May 1979
Sunday, 13 May 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Amine Gemayel, deputy of the Northern Metn and member of the Phalange Party's political bureau, escaped from an assassination attempt that nearly cost him his two children's life. A plastic explosive (20 kg of TNT) tied to a 122 mm bomb placed in a trunk of a tree, exploded at the time Amine Gemayel's car went by. He was injured in the face. This incident caused a general strike in the Eastern regions.
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August 1979
February 1980
Sunday, 24 February 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Selim Laouzi, owner of the Hawadess, a local newspaper, was kidnapped on the Beirut International Airport road. The kidnapping of this eminent figure of the Lebanese press provoked strong emotions in the political environment and the Editors Syndicate decided to call for a strike.
What the books addOfficially no killer was named, but al-Lawzi's murder was widely blamed on his criticism of Syrian rule (Fisk; Picard). Fisk: he was seized near a Syrian army checkpoint heading for the airport.
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March 1980
Wednesday, 5 March 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In a message addressed to the Nation, the President of the Republic proclaimed the State's Arab and internal options. He rejected the Camp David agreements, and underlined the coordination between Lebanon and Syria wile respecting the sovereignty of both countries. Furthermore, he refused the idea of creating mini-states and reassured his attachment to freedom.
What the books addProbably the text Picard lists as President Sarkis's 'Fourteen Points' (March 1980), one of the drafts that fed into the Taif Accord. Traboulsi notes that in that same month an American spokesman called on Lebanon to sign up to the Camp David accords.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Seven Zghortiotes were released in exchange of eleven Phalangists. The exchange of hostages took place after 5 months of detention.
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Thursday, 13 March 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Fights opposed Amal to the Fateh, killing seven persons in the Ouzaï-Aramoun region. Leaders of the National Movement started to mediate between the two parties to end the dispute.
What the books addHanf: early in 1980 Amal fought the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front in Beirut's suburbs while Fatah tried to mediate, as relations between Shi'is and Palestinians grew worse; the fighting later reached the south.
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April 1980
Thursday, 24 April 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the Israeli military intervention in Lebanon and the de facto alliance between Israel and Saad Haddad's militia. Washington suggested the creation of a special commission in charge of finding a final settlement in South Lebanon.
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June 1980
July 1980
Saturday, 5 July 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Christian–Druze channel is opened at Moukhtara.
With Bashir Gemayel's go-ahead, his adviser Zahi Boustani lunched with Walid Jumblatt at Moukhtara and spent more than four hours with him on a possible 'Christian–Druze axis', a rapprochement President Sarkis had been promoting. The Lebanese Forces' assault on the National Liberals two days later ended the contact.
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August 1980
Wednesday, 13 August 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Sarkis rejected, in front of Gaston Thor, the President of the Council of Ministers of the EEC, the settlement of the Palestinians in Lebanon as part of the global settlement of the Middle East problem.
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October 1980
Sunday, 5 October 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the war was raging between Iraq and Iran, assaults continued against several embassies in Beirut. After the US, the Iraqi, and the Iranian chancelleries, a load of dynamite was thrown on the Saudi embassy in Bliss Street at Ras-Beirut.
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Monday, 13 October 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books day (visit 13-15 October)
A Lebanese Forces delegation in Israel sets out its plan to take power.
Following a visit by a Lebanese Forces military delegation, five LF political figures, Joseph Abou Khalil, Zahi Boustani, Selim Jahel, Antoine Najm and Assaad Chaftari, left Kaslik by boat on 13 October and landed in Haifa that evening. Over two days they briefed the head of the Mossad's Lebanon desk, Mossad director Yitzhak Hofi and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir on their plans. Shamir told them not to provoke Syria, to build up their strength and to repair their image in Washington.
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November 1980
Wednesday, 5 November 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After Bechir Obeid and Kamal Kheir Beik, two leaders from the Social National Syrian Party, were killed in West Beirut, as well as a civilian called Mounir Fatha, bloody confrontations opposed the Mourabitoun to the SNSP.
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January 1981
Monday, 5 January 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Militiamen led by the dissident officer Saad Haddad bombarded the locality of Hasbaya, causing important damages.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Michel Rocard, member of the French Socialist Party's national secretariat met with President Elias Sarkis, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Chafic Wazzan, as well as with the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat.
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February 1981
Friday, 13 February 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The kidnapping on February 6 in Beirut of the chargé d'affaires of Jordan in Lebanon, remained at the center of preoccupation of the country's leaders. They adopted a series of security measures for the protection of embassies.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Syrian-Israeli air duel took place in the sky of the Bekaa region.
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Tuesday, 24 February 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Shells from different calibers fell on the Eastern residential neighborhoods, spreading destruction, fires, and terror. The population wondered why these blind bombardments were perpetrated and until when would they continue.
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March 1981
Friday, 13 March 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Lebanese Army unit positioned in the Kantara locality following an agreement with the UNIFL commandant. On March 15, 50 soldiers deployed in the village of Chaqra. However, Saad Haddad was opposed to the reinforcement of the Army in the South.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The US ambassador hands Bashir Gemayel a secret policy paper.
US Ambassador John Gunther Dean gave Bashir Gemayel a secret cable prepared for him, 'Directives on Lebanon', dated 9 March, and offered to coordinate with him. Washington backed a gradual, total Syrian withdrawal and asked the 'Phalanges' (the Lebanese Forces) to show restraint and cooperate with the government and army.
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April 1981
Sunday, 5 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel says it will not stand by over Zahleh; the US Secretary of State is in Jerusalem.
Haig reached Jerusalem on his first official visit as Secretary of State and discussed Lebanon at length with Begin. Hours earlier, leaving a cabinet meeting almost wholly on Lebanon, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir had said Israel could not stay passive.
Sources differ: Hanf attributes the 'will not stand by' statement to Begin; Ménargues to Shamir.
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dates 1–60 of 176 next
