45 entries on 41 dates · the books disagree on 45
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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May 1975
Friday, 16 May 1975
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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August 1975
Monday, 18 August 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The National Movement publishes its reform programme.
The Lebanese National Movement published a transitional programme of democratic reform. Its demands included a constituent assembly, administrative decentralisation and an optional civil code of personal status, together with proportional representation in a single national constituency and an end to sectarian quotas.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology gives 12 August. Tufaro's 18 August comes from the date printed on the LNM document itself and is preferred here.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 12 August 1975
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January 1976
Sunday, 18 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Karantina massacre
Christian forces conquered Karantina, a slum district populated primarily by poor Kurds and Armenians but controlled by a PLO detachment. More than 1000 civilians were massacred.
What the books addDates differ between historians: 16 January (Ménargues), 18 January (de Clerck and Malsagne; consistent with Fisk), 19 January (Hanf), 20 or 22 January (Traboulsi). Maslakh, next door, fell at the same time. Most of the district's people were Shi'is, living alongside Palestinians, Kurds and Armenian Lebanese. Haugbolle estimates 150-500 dead, de Clerck and Malsagne 600-1,000; some 30,000 people were driven out to West Beirut and the southern suburbs.
Art and memory- film Les Enfants de la guerre, Jocelyne Saab's 1976 documentary, was shot in the aftermath of the Karantina massacre.
- place The B018 nightclub, put up at Karantina in 1998, was given a coffin-like look that Haugbolle reads as an allusion to the massacre there.
- book Jonathan Randal's reporting made the Karantina and Damour massacres known abroad.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 16 January 1976, Monday, 19 January 1976, Tuesday, 20 January 1976, Thursday, 22 January 1976
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March 1976
Thursday, 18 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Kamal Jumblatt's forces launch the 'Mountain War'.
Kamal Jumblatt, head of the National Movement, attacked on two fronts, Beirut and the Mountain, to crush the Christian camp militarily. That day's Druze attacks brought several massacres of Christians, some of them Jumblatt supporters.
Sources differ: Hanf places the main Joint Forces offensive in the Upper Metn in the last week of March.
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June 1976
Friday, 18 June 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Gerald Ford ordered the US embassy in Beirut to evacuate urgently all US nationals in Lebanon who would like to return home.
What the books addBarely a tenth of American and British residents accepted the evacuation, Fisk writes. The British went by road, the PLO escorting them through West Beirut and a Libyan officer on to the Syrian lines; a day later a US landing craft took evacuees off from a PLO-guarded bathing club on the Corniche.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 16 June 1976
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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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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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Monday, 18 June 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The army enters Ain al-Rummaneh and clashes with Bashir Gemayel's militiamen.
Unable to stop the fighting between their own militias, Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun turned to President Sarkis, who sent in the army. In Ain al-Rummaneh the troops clashed bloodily with Bashir Gemayel's Kataeb fighters, the first serious confrontation between the army and a Lebanese militia, and relations between the army and the Lebanese Forces worsened thereafter.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne put the Ain al-Rummaneh turning point on 18 June (p. 275) but have the army called in on 14 June in another passage (p. 321). Original entry 272, of 16 June, expected the army to move in early the following week, which fits Monday 18 June.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979
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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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August 1981
Sunday, 16 August 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Elias Youssef Hannouch, 38 years old, former leader of the NLP, refugee in West Beirut since November 1980, was killed in Raoucheh with his two children.
What the books addMénargues places the attack at 9 a.m. in a Hamra side street: four gunmen fired on Hannouche's Range Rover, killing him, his daughter May (9), his son Alain (7) and two bodyguards. His armed entry into Zahleh under Syrian protection on 20 December 1980 had started the Zahleh crisis.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 20 December 1980
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March 1982
Tuesday, 16 March 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The plot against foreign embassies continued. A large number of embassies closed their doors, while those that were still open were a regularly subjected to threats or assaults.
What the books addThe 117 foreign diplomatic staff killed in the war included the ambassadors of France (4 September 1981), Iraq (15 December 1981) and Algeria (13 January 1982).
Other date in the books: Friday, 4 September 1981
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June 1982
September 1982
Thursday, 16 September 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israelis' attacks against West Beirut continued, killing 31 persons and injuring 121 others. Major damages were also reported.
What the books addIsraeli troops entered West Beirut at 5 a.m. on 15 September, the morning after Bashir Gemayel's death, against the commitments given through Philip Habib; Lebanese leftist militias fought them in parts of the city.
Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 14 September 1982, Wednesday, 15 September 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Habib Tanios Chartouni, Bashir Gemayel's assassin, is arrested.
A cousin leading a group in the LF security service arrested Habib Tanios Chartouni, a 26-year-old Syrian Social Nationalist Party member, at about 5.30 p.m.; he confessed on camera. Handed to the army in April 1983, he walked free on 13 October 1990, when Syrian troops entered the Metn.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 28 April 1983
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The left founds the Lebanese National Resistance Front to fight the Israeli occupation.
Three parties founded it: the Lebanese Communist Party, the Organisation of Communist Action and the Arab Socialist Action Party. It coordinated armed action against Israeli troops in Beirut, the Mountain, the south and the Bekaa.
Sources differ: Picard dates the Front's first attacks to the end of August, before its formal launch.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range
Militiamen sent into Sabra and Chatila by the Israeli army begin a massacre that lasts until the morning of 18 September.
Elie Hobeika's Lebanese Forces security men entered the camps on the evening of 16 September under Israeli flares, inside an Israeli cordon; according to witnesses, Saad Haddad's militiamen went in first. The killing went on through the 17th until the morning of the 18th, when reporters first got in. See the check of original event 606.
Sources differ: Traboulsi gives 15-17 September and Hanf 17-18 September; most books give 16-18 September.
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Saturday, 18 September 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Hundreds of women, elderly persons, men and children were massacred in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatila. This ignominious act shook the world. Some militias were accused of committing the crime. Nevertheless, as usual in Lebanon, the identity of the murderers remained unknown while the victims were all innocent persons. .
What the books addThe massacre lasted from the evening of Thursday 16 September to the morning of Saturday 18 September (Traboulsi gives 15-17, Hanf 17-18). The killers were militiamen of the Lebanese Forces' security service under Elie Hobeika, together with men of Saad Haddad's South Lebanon militia. The Israeli army, which controlled the area after entering West Beirut on 15 September, let them into the camps, lit the camps with flares at night and watched from command posts nearby. Israel's Kahan Commission, published on 7 February 1983, held the Phalangists directly responsible and found Defence Minister Ariel Sharon personally responsible, recommending his removal; it also attributed indirect responsibility to other Israeli political and military leaders. Estimates of the dead range from about 460-800 to 3,500; Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout's survey found victims of twelve nationalities, about half Palestinian and more than a quarter Lebanese.
Art and memory- film Ari Folman's autobiographical animated documentary Waltz with Bashir (2008) showed how central Israeli soldiers were to the massacre.
- film Massaker (2005), by Lokman Slim and Monika Borgmann, records former Lebanese Forces militiamen describing their part in the massacre.
- testimony Jean Genet entered Chatila on 19 September 1982; de Clerck and Malsagne count his 'Four Hours in Shatila' (1983) among the war's most harrowing accounts.
- artwork Drawing on Genet's text, Iraqi painter Dia al-Azzawi made nine prints in 1983; his polyptych Sabra and Shatila Massacre (1982-83) is now at Tate Modern.
- novel Sorj Chalandon, Libération's man in Lebanon, was among the first into the camps; his 2013 novel Le Quatrième Mur depicts the massacre.
- book Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout's Sabra and Shatila, September 1982 (2004) surveys the victims and records witnesses' descriptions of the killers.
- novel In activism and in fiction, notably Bab al-Shams (Gate of the Sun), Elias Khoury sought to make Palestinians' war experience part of Lebanese memory.
- novel In Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game (2006), George returns from the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which he took part, and describes the killings.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 15 September 1982, Thursday, 16 September 1982, Friday, 17 September 1982
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November 1982
Tuesday, 16 November 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israelis reinforced their control in the Chouf and Aley. The leaders in the mountain called upon Amine Gemayel who seemed determined to speed the settlement of the crisis in the Druze-Christian regions.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 14 September 1982
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March 1983
Wednesday, 16 March 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
14 American Marines and Italian bersaglieri were wounded by three attacks perpetrated in less than 12 hours. Washington and Rome declared however that the Multinational Force would continue its mission. The Lebanese Army launched a clean up operation in the Southern suburbs.
What the books addA caller claimed the attacks for 'Islamic Jihad', then an unknown name; the same voice later claimed the embassy bombing (Fisk). He counts ten Italians, two critically, and five US Marines wounded within 48 hours. De Clerck and Malsagne date these first Islamic Jihad attacks to 17 March.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 17 March 1983
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September 1983
Friday, 16 September 1983
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The battle for Souk el-Gharb begins.
From 16 September the Druze and their Syrian and Palestinian allies attacked Souk el-Gharb, the ridge village above East Beirut, the Defence Ministry and the Baabda palace, held by Michel Aoun's army brigade. By the army's report most of it had fallen on the night of 18 September.
Sources differ: The Americans afterwards accused the army of overstating its plight to pull in the US Navy (Fisk).
Other date in the books: Sunday, 18 September 1983
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October 1983
Sunday, 16 October 1983
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli troops fire on the Ashoura crowd in Nabatieh.
On Ashoura, Israeli soldiers whose convoy had entered Nabatieh's crowds were stoned and fired, killing two Shi'is and wounding seven. De Clerck and Malsagne note it is often seen as a turning point for Islamic resistance to the occupation.
Sources differ: The Israeli army first denied any casualties, then said it had been fired on (Fisk).
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January 1984
Monday, 16 January 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Saad Haddad, commander of the Army of Free Lebanon, died from a generalized cancer. He was 47 years old and was buried in his birthplace, Marjeyoun.
What the books addSources disagree on the date of Saad Haddad's death: Ménargues gives 13 January 1984; Hanf and Fisk give January 1984; de Clerck and Malsagne give December 1983. No supplied book gives 16 January. Ménargues also gives his birth year as 1937 and his origin as Marjayoun, consistent with the age stated here.
Other date in the books: Friday, 13 January 1984
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March 1984
Friday, 16 March 1984
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
CIA Beirut station chief William Buckley is kidnapped.
William Buckley was abducted leaving his home in Raouche; officially a political attaché at the American embassy, he died in captivity in 1985.
Sources differ: Fisk contradicts himself: 'a week' after 7 March in one passage (about 14 March), May 1984 in another. De Clerck and Malsagne give 16 March, which agrees with Fisk's first account.
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March 1985
Saturday, 16 March 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The regional director of the Associated Press, Terry Anderson, was kidnapped in West Beirut. Many other US and British nationals had already been kidnapped. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for these acts.
What the books addTerry Anderson was the AP's Beirut bureau chief. He was seized near the Ain Mreisseh mosque and held for more than six years. Two Britons had been kidnapped in the two days before him; Islamic Jihad claimed all three on 17 March.
Art and memory- book Terry Anderson's memoir Den of Lions (1993) recounts his captivity; Fisk devotes a chapter, 'Wait for me', to his kidnapping.
Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 8 January 1985, Sunday, 17 March 1985
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September 1985
Monday, 16 September 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In Tripoli, ten soldiers from the Lebanese Army were killed and 35 others wounded by shells that fell on the Bahjat Ghanem barracks.
What the books addOn 7 October, Hanf writes, 20,000 Syrian soldiers entered Tripoli, after pro-Syrian groups had in September 1985 attacked the Tawheed movement then holding the city; some 250,000 civilians fled.
Other date in the books: Monday, 7 October 1985
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September 1986
Thursday, 18 September 1986
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While a terrorist vague submerged France, the French military attaché, Christian Goutierre was assassinated in Mar Takla.
What the books addHe was shot in the head 25 m from the ambassador's office, a day after the rue de Rennes attack in Paris (7 dead, 55 wounded).
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 17 September 1986
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April 1987
Sunday, 5 April 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An agreement was concluded between the National Palestinian Salvation Front and the Amal movement under the aegis of Ghazi Kanaan. This agreement stipulated a global cease-fire and the end of the camps' blockade in Beirut
What the books addUnder the 5 April accord, reached by Amal, the PLO and the pro-Syrian Palestinian National Salvation Front with the Syrian general Ghazi Kanaan present, the blockade was to be lifted, the wounded taken out and the PLO was to leave three villages near Sidon. Food and medicine then reached Chatila and Bourj al-Barajneh, the first since March. Picard dates the end of the siege to an Amal-Palestinian agreement of 11 September 1987; Hanf has Amal lifting the blockade only on 18 January 1988.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 11 September 1987, Monday, 18 January 1988
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May 1987
Monday, 18 May 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Marxist thinker Mahdi Amel (Hassan Hamdan) is assassinated.
Hassan Hamdan, known as Mahdi Amel, a philosopher and leading theorist of the Lebanese Communist Party, was assassinated. Hanf says his Shi'i background made him especially hated, branded an 'atheist traitor'.
Sources differ: Responsibility: Hanf names Amal supporters; de Clerck and Malsagne place the killing in the context of the Hezbollah-Communist break without naming the killers.
Art and memory- book Hanf's annotated list of Arabic writing on the war includes Mahdi Amel's 1979 work on the causes of the civil war, Theory in Political Practice, and describes its author as a Shi'i philosophy professor and Communist Party member.
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June 1987
Friday, 5 June 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A general strike paralyses the country for five days.
A general strike, part of the CGTL's drive for peace and an economic rescue plan, shut the country down for close to five days.
Sources differ: Hanf lists CGTL political strikes in 1987 for April, July, August, September and November, but none in June. The strike began four days after Karami's assassination, on the day Husseini resigned (original entry 1003).
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January 1988
Monday, 18 January 1988
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amal lifts its blockade of the Palestinian camps.
Amal ended the blockade of the Palestinian camps it had kept up since 1985. Hanf gives two reasons: the West Bank intifada, which made Syria and Amal look like Israel's accomplices if they kept squeezing the camps, and Amal's coming fight with Hezbollah.
Sources differ: Existing entry 1053 (20 January) describes Syrian and Sixth Brigade deployment around Chatila and Bourj al-Barajneh. Picard's chronology dates an agreement ending the war of the camps to 11 September 1987; Hanf (p. 304) also says the war ended only in late 1988.
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April 1988
Tuesday, 5 April 1988
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Amal-Hezbollah war begins in the south.
Amal launched an offensive to disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Brief fighting, notably at Nabatiyeh and Ghaziyeh, went Amal's way, and armed Hezbollah fighters vanished from view there. A three-phase 'war of brothers' had begun, lasting until November 1990.
Sources differ: Existing entry 1068 dates the fall of Nabatiyeh to Amal to 6 April. Picard's chronology gives 28 November 1988 for the beginning of Amal-Hezbollah clashes. The Confluences article is by the same authors as de Clerck's book.
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August 1988
Tuesday, 16 August 1988
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The former 78 years old Chief of State, Sleiman Frangie, announces officially his candidacy for the presidential elections.
What the books addTwo days later, on 18 August 1988, the session convened at the Mansour Palace failed to reach a quorum (Hanf, p. 569).
Other date in the books: Thursday, 18 August 1988
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September 1988
Sunday, 18 September 1988
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Mikhael Daher, deputy from the North, 'was designated' candidate at the presidential elections in accordance with a Syrian-American agreement. This designation did not please everyone.
What the books addHanf (pp. 569-570): the joint US-Syrian proposal came out of three days of talks in Damascus from 15 September, after which Murphy warned the Maronite Patriarch that the alternative to Daher was chaos.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 15 September 1988
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February 1989
Thursday, 16 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An agreement on military disengagement is concluded between the Army and the L.F., within in a four-party committee.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne have a truce under the Maronite Patriarch's patronage from 17 February. Hanf says Aoun accepted a ceasefire once the militia agreed to hand over Dock Five of the port and the Bourbara checkpoint.
Other date in the books: Friday, 17 February 1989
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July 1989
Wednesday, 5 July 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In a joint declaration from Paris, Presidents Mitterand and Gorbatchev call for an immediate cease-fire.
What the books addHanf dates a joint declaration by Presidents Gorbachev and Mitterrand on Lebanon, welcoming the Arab troika's efforts, to 5 June 1989.
Other date in the books: Monday, 5 June 1989
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November 1989
Thursday, 16 November 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
US ambassador John McCarthy makes a televised statement aimed against General Aoun.
De Clerck and Malsagne cite the statement alongside sources saying that Samir Geagea accepted a mission to remove Aoun, given first by the Americans and later by President Hrawi.
Sources differ: Original entry 1150 says McCarthy left Lebanon in early September.
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November 1990
Monday, 5 November 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Damascus agreement between the Hezbollah and Amal is a copy of the one agreed upon on January 30th 1989. The cease-fire takes effect in the Iqlim-el-Touffah.
What the books addSources differ on dates. Picard has Damascus and Tehran imposing an Amal–Hezbollah ceasefire on 6 November 1990; de Clerck and Malsagne date the inter-Shi'i accord signed in Damascus to 9 November and, with Aoun's fall, treat it as formally ending the 'civil' war. Hanf says both movements withdrew their fighters from Iqlim al-Tuffah after drawn-out Syrian and Iranian mediation. That final round began in December 1989 (de Clerck and Malsagne, Confluences) or, in Hezbollah's official version, in July 1990, with an Amal siege of nearly 100 days.
Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 6 November 1990, Friday, 9 November 1990
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December 1990
Wednesday, 5 December 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Army controls the port of Beirut and the 5th dock is closed to the maritime traffic.
What the books addHanf says 300 Lebanese Forces militiamen stayed at Karantina and the port after the December 1990 withdrawal, and dates the army's entry into the Fifth Basin and other militia ports to 11 March 1991.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 3 December 1990, Monday, 11 March 1991
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May 1991
Sunday, 5 May 1991
After the war · From the books
The government plans to find state jobs for 20,000 ex-militiamen.
The government planned to absorb former Christian and Muslim militiamen gradually into the army, security forces and administration. Only one intake followed: 6,000 men and some dozens of officers, announced in October 1993, and about 2,000 civil servants.
Sources differ: Hanf speaks of 20,000 to be trained; the integration actually carried out was 6,000.
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April 1996
Thursday, 18 April 1996
After the war · From the books
Israeli shells kill 106 refugees in the UN compound at Qana.
A UN inquiry judged an error unlikely, largely on the strength of a soldier's video of an Israeli drone above the Fijian battalion's base, where some 560 villagers had taken shelter. The shelling lasted seventeen minutes, until 2.25 p.m.; more than half of the dead were children.
Sources differ: 106 dead (Fisk, de Clerck, Haugbolle), 107 (Picard), 102 (Quéméner calendar). Number of refugees: 560 (Fisk). Quéméner alone says UN soldiers were killed.
Art and memory- memorial Qana Day, 18 April, became a state day of national remembrance in 1997, with gatherings, exhibitions and a permanent museum display at Qana; the victims share a marble-covered grave beside the former UN base.
- book Robert Fisk's chapter 'The Massacre' in Pity the Nation is built on survivors' testimony and the UN soldier's video of the drone.
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March 2000
Sunday, 5 March 2000
After the war · From the books
Israel's cabinet decides on a unilateral withdrawal from the south.
Barak's plan set 7 July 2000 for leaving the 'security zone'. Beirut, deferring to a stalled Damascus, prepared nothing.
Sources differ: Cabinet decision on 5 March (Abirached); Picard places Barak's announcement in April.
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July 2006
Sunday, 16 July 2006
July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books
Rockets kill eight railway workers in Haifa; the G8 meets in St Petersburg.
On 16 July a Hezbollah rocket killed eight workers on the Haifa railway, and Condoleezza Rice said it was not the time for a ceasefire. The G8 summit closed that day with a statement that Abirached's chronology reads as a call for an immediate halt to the fighting; Harel and Issacharoff stress instead that it blamed Hamas and Hezbollah, floated an international force and wanted resolution 1559 applied and the Lebanese army sent south.
Sources differ: Reading of the G8 text: support for Israel (34 Days) against a call for an immediate halt (Abirached).
Reports at the time: The archive's Haifa toll moves from eight to nine and back to eight. It does not record Rice's 'not the time' remark; its Lebanese tolls that day do not add up to Abirached's sixty.
The reports of that day, as they came in
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