135 entries on 120 dates · the books disagree on 24
dates 1–60 of 120 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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February 1975
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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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
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
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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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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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
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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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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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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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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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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September 1976
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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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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September 1977
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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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
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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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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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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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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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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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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February 1979
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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July 1979
September 1979
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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November 1979
Thursday, 22 November 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
For the first time since 1974, the Lebanese celebrated Independence Day with showiness.
What the books addHanf writes that West Beirut's Sunnis sided with the Shi'is on National Day, which became a protest against every foreign armed presence; cedar flags hung all over the city.
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January 1980
Tuesday, 22 January 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab Strike Force withdrew from the road going South. This initiative surprised the authorities.
What the books addHanf places it in early 1980. Palestine Liberation Army units under Syrian or pro-Syrian command took over the Syrian posts in and near Beirut, while the Syrian troops, bar one garrison, quit the city's dividing line and the coast road to the south and redeployed to the heights above the capital.
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February 1980
Friday, 22 February 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel and Dany Chamoun present a joint plan in Jerusalem.
Bashir Gemayel and Dany Chamoun, summoned to Jerusalem by the Mossad on Begin's instructions, had been warned that Israel would find it hard to keep helping them unless they united. On 22 February 1980, a week later, they came back with a joint plan of action; the Israelis quickly saw that neither had discussed it with the other. They went home by sea, and Maya Gemayel was killed the following morning.
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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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April 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
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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Wednesday, 22 October 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Chafic Wazzan was asked to form a new government, while Israel launched an air strike againt Damour. The aerial Traffic at the Beirut International Airport was interrupted.
What the books addIn Ménargues's account the appointment came on 25 October, after Damascus had vetoed Takieddine Solh and put up three candidates including Hoss; by picking none of them Sarkis disregarded Syrian advice for the first time in his presidency.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 25 October 1980
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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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December 1980
Monday, 22 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Five Syrian soldiers are killed in Zahle; Syrian artillery shells the town.
In Ménargues's account an ambush inside Zahleh killed five Syrian soldiers; when the town would not hand over the culprits after six hours of shelling, it was pounded non-stop for 48 hours, until Washington deplored Syria's conduct in public. Hanf gives an officer and five soldiers dead, shelling through Christmas week and a real ceasefire only weeks later.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date the Syrian bombardment to 21 December (stored entry 415), Ménargues to 22 December onwards. End of the shelling: 26 December (entry 415), after about 48 hours (Ménargues), or an effective ceasefire only weeks later (Hanf).
Other date in the books: Sunday, 21 December 1980
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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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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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Wednesday, 22 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The nightmare continued. The Lebanese authorities were completely powerless to stop the violence and the conflicting parties were unable to reach an agreement. The Beirut International Airport was closed to traffic and both dead and wounded victims continued to shed their blood on this agonizing Lebanese land.
What the books addAccording to Ménargues, Bashir Gemayel answered the collapse of a cease-fire on 22 April, which left 140 dead or wounded in Beirut within hours, by having the international airport shelled. On 11 May US ambassador John Gunther Dean urged the Lebanese Forces, via Alfred Madi, to let it reopen; that evening they dropped their objection.
Other date in the books: Monday, 11 May 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Abbot Boulos Naaman meets Khaddam in Damascus.
Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam spent three hours with Abbot Boulos Naaman, superior of the Maronite monks and a steadfast backer of Bashir Gemayel. Their list of issues to settle included a cease-fire, talks with the Kataeb, ending ties with Israel and food for Zahleh, but never the Arab Deterrent Force's mandate. The Beirut cease-fire collapsed during their meeting.
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May 1981
Tuesday, 5 May 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Syrian plan outlined three main stages: The national understanding, the settlement of the conflict between Beirut and Damascus, and the organization of the relation with Palestinians.
What the books addAccording to Ménargues, Syria's foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam brought a five-page paper to Baabda on 5 May. In effect a Lebanese–Syrian accord on institutions, politics, the economy and culture, down to school curricula, it was rejected by the Kataeb leader Pierre Gemayel.
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Friday, 22 May 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the US envoy Philip Habib continued his trips between the different belligerents, the missile question seemed to be far from being settled as the parties concerned toughened their positions.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian missiles shoot down two Israeli drones over the Bekaa.
On 22 May Syrian missiles downed two Israeli reconnaissance drones over the Bekaa. Others were lost on 14, 19 and 25 May, and the SAMs became a theme of Israel's election campaign.
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June 1981
August 1981
September 1981
Saturday, 5 September 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Hamid Frangieh, one of the major figures of the Lebanese independence, died. Born in Ehden in 1907, he was the first Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Lebanese Independent State, in the 1943 cabinet of Riad Solh. He was deputy of Zghorta from 1943 to 1957. He negotiated in February 1948 the monetary convention with France. It was a big loss for Lebanon.
What the books addAccording to Picard, Hamid Frangieh negotiated Lebanon's financial agreements with France, which she places in 1943 rather than 1948.
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December 1981
June 1982
Saturday, 5 June 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The South was burning. Over 150 persons killed and 250 wounded were reported while the Israeli artillery, navy and aviation bombarded 38 towns and localities.
What the books addA Palestinian Katyusha killed an Israeli motorist in Galilee on 5 June, a day of some 50 Israeli raids by Fisk's count, which left civilians burning in cars on the coast road north of Damour. Picard's chronology and one passage of de Clerck and Malsagne date the start of the invasion to 5 June; the books' main chronologies give 6 June.
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July 1982
Thursday, 22 July 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Waves of Israeli fighter-bombers attack West Beirut after an ambush in the south.
Israel answered a Palestinian ambush that killed five of its soldiers in the occupied south by sending Kfir and F-16 jets to bomb West Beirut's camps and homes for hours. In late July raids came almost every day.
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October 1982
Friday, 22 October 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Having received and international back up to his efforts, the President of the Republic focused on boosting the negotiations to reach a comprehensive resolution of the Lebanese question. The short-term goals were: an agreement on the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and an increase in the size of the Multinational Force, as well as an extension of its area of deployment which was currently limited to Beirut and its close surroundings.
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November 1982
Monday, 22 November 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Lebanese army marches through East and West Beirut on Independence Day.
Washington pledged two years of trainers and modern arms to rebuild the army; it was a short euphoric spell: the city reunited, the PLO gone, multinational troops back.
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January 1983
Wednesday, 5 January 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Pope John-Paul II appointed the maronite Patriarch of Antioch and the East, Bishop Antonios Boutros Khoreiche, Cardinal. Bishop Khoreiche was born on the 20th of September, 1907 at Ain Ebel in Southern Lebanon. After having studied at Saint Joseph University, he was ordained priest on April 12, 1930. He became Bishop on October 1950 and Archbishop of Saida in 1957. On April 11, 1974, he became patriarchal vicar general of Bkerkeh. Following the death of Patriarch Meouchi on January 11, 1975, the synod elected Bishop Khoreiche on February 3, 1975, after a conclave of 15 days.
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dates 1–60 of 120 next
