205 entries on 187 dates · the books disagree on 34
dates 1–60 of 187 next
April 1973
Tuesday, 10 April 1973
The road to war · From the books
Israeli commandos kill three PLO leaders in rue Verdun, Beirut.
During the night of 9 to 10 April, Israeli commandos came ashore and drove into West Beirut in hired cars. Fatah's Abu Yusuf al-Najjar and Kamal Adwan and the poet Kamal Nasser, PLO spokesman, were killed at home, within about a hundred metres of a police barracks; commandos also landed at Sidon. By the time the army was alerted, the raiders had left.
Sources differ: Operation name: 'Verdun' (de Clerck & Malsagne chronology), 'Wrath of God' (de Clerck & Malsagne, p. 50) or 'Aviv Ne'urim' (Ménargues). Fisk adds that the wife of one leader was killed; de Clerck & Malsagne mention civilian collateral victims. Hanf alone mentions targets in Sidon.
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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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Wednesday, 9 July 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh's bishop approves arming the town.
Arms for Zahleh's young fighters got Bishop Yuhanna Bassul's go-ahead at a meeting with the Tajammu and Elias Hraoui, deputy and minister. The author sees him thereafter as the town's main decision-maker, backed by notables like Skaf and Hraoui.
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August 1975
September 1975
Wednesday, 10 September 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
General Said, 52 years old, replaced General Ghanem at the head of the army.
What the books addHanf: Franjieh accepted Karami's condition for sending the army between Tripoli and Zgharta, Ghanem's removal; his replacement, Hanna Said, was a 'politically uncontentious' colonel.
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November 1975
Monday, 10 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An emissary of Pope Paul VI arrived to Beirut holding a papal message
Cardinal Bertoli called all leaders to start working for the restoration of peace.
What the books addCardinal Paolo Bertoli's mission lasted from 9 to 14 November 1975 (de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology). Like the French envoy Couve de Murville, he backed a limited revision of the National Pact.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 9 November 1975
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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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January 1976
Friday, 9 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The siege of Damour begins.
The Red Cross could not reach Damour to evacuate its wounded, and water, power and supplies were cut: Palestinian and leftist forces besieged the mainly Maronite coastal town of some 20,000 south of Beirut.
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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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Friday, 9 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Parliament amends the constitution to allow an early presidential election.
With Syria enforcing a truce, deputies changed Article 73 of the constitution so that Frangieh's successor could be elected up to six months before his term ended, not two.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 9 April, Yara El Khoury 10 April.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 10 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian forces enter the Bekaa; Saiqa moves to relieve besieged Zahleh.
Syrian army tanks appeared at Anjar, Judaydat Yabus and Bayadir al-Adas, inside Lebanon, while Saiqa fighters came in and began to relieve besieged Zahleh. When Jumblatt asked, Dean Brown said the Syrians were clearing roads.
Sources differ: The original entry 62 dates the Syrian entry into the Bekaa to 10 April.
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Saturday, 10 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian fighters clash among themselves in Zahleh.
Three fighters died when members of the Tajammu', Zahleh's Christian militia, fired on one another; the clash, during the manoeuvring before Syrian troops entered the town, split the group.
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June 1976
Wednesday, 9 June 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Arab League decides to send an Arab peace force.
Meeting in Cairo, the Arab League Council appealed for a ceasefire and voted to deploy an Arab peace force. That day an official Tass statement openly condemned Syria's intervention.
Sources differ: Traboulsi and Picard's Liban-Syrie call this force the ADF; Hanf distinguishes it from the Arab Deterrent Force created at Riyadh in October.
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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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November 1976
Tuesday, 9 November 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Elias Sarkis appointed Colonel Ahmad Hajj commander of the Arab Strike Force.
What the books addMénargues names only Sami al-Khatib. Traboulsi confirms that the Arab Deterrent Force's first Lebanese commander was Ahmad al-Hajj, who did not gain Syria's favour and was quickly replaced by al-Khatib.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Phase 1of the peace plan assigned to the Arab Strike Force takes effect tonight.
The 'Green Helmets' began their deployment at midnight and headed towards the mountain on four simultaneous axes. This positioning was difficult due to the blind bombings of the residential districts of Beirut.
What the books addFisk: Kahhaleh showed white flags and Hazmiyeh's Christians threw rice and rose water at the crews as at least 20 miles of Syrian tanks, guns and troop carriers came down on Beirut from dawn on 10 November.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 10 November 1976
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December 1976
Thursday, 9 December 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Sarkis asked Salim El Hoss to form the Government.
The new Cabinet included: Salim El Hoss: Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Trade, Industry and Oil, and Information. Fouad Boutros: Vice-President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, and National Defense. Salah Salman: Minister of Interior, and Housing and Cooperatives. Ibrahim Cheaito: Minister of Health and Hydraulic and Electric Resources. Amine Bizri: Minister of Public Works, Transportation, and Tourism. Michel Doumit: Minister of Plan Assaad Risk: Minster of Social Affairs, National Education and Fine Arts, and Agriculture. Farid Raphael: Minister of Justice, Finance, and Posts and Telecommunications.
What the books addIts members were technocrats and businessmen; the one politician, Fouad Boutros, held both foreign affairs and defence (Traboulsi). Early on, at Syria's behest, it brought in press censorship (Hanf, Fisk); Traboulsi also mentions an order for militias to surrender their arms.
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March 1977
Thursday, 10 March 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The cost of living had substantially increased in Lebanon. Meat, sugar, cheese, oil and chicken tripled since before 1975. Fares varied from a region to another due to the lack of control.
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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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August 1977
October 1977
Sunday, 9 October 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Charbel Makhlouf was proclaimed Saint of the Catholic Church during a moving religious ceremony that Pope Paul VI presided in the Saint Paul Basilica in the Vatican. Thousands of people attended the ceremony, including some miraculous Lebanese. It was a touching moment for the whole Christian community in Lebanon. The Lebanese Maronite delegation carried gifts to the Saint: markouk bred, wine, fruits from the Kesrouan, a partridge and a cedar. The hermit of Annaya became the first Orient Saint canonized by Rome.
What the books addOnce canonised, Saint Charbel stood for 'Maronite identity' and for the protection of a predominantly Christian Lebanon.
Art and memory- memorial Canonised in 1977, Saint Charbel turned into an emblem of 'Maronite identity' and of Christian Lebanon's protection.
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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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Wednesday, 9 November 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Israel launched an assault in the South. An air and sea Israeli bombing of Lebanese towns and Palestinian camps claimed the lives of 110 civilians. The town of Ezzieh was razed.
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January 1978
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
Thursday, 10 August 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the bombardment of Acharafieh continued, the Arab Strike Force evacuated twelve positions in this district. Christian parties requested the evacuation of the Port and the Karantina and that Saudis and Sudanese soldiers replace the Syrian soldiers.
What the books addAvoiding the risk of hitting their own men, and leaving positions hard to hold, were the main aims of the Syrian pull-back in Hanf's reading: a tactical move.
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September 1978
Sunday, 10 September 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Imam Moussa Sadr, a Shiite leader disappeared while visiting Libya. Libyans asserted that he left Tripoli for Rome. Sadr never arrived to Rome, and the Lebanese were worried.
What the books addMusa al-Sadr travelled to Libya on 25 August (de Clerck and Malsagne) at the invitation of the Libyan government (Ménargues) and was never seen again; Hanf dates the disappearance to September. Beirut papers speculated about the Shah's secret police or Libyan intelligence. Fisk writes that he was almost certainly killed in Libya. The loss mobilised the Shi'a and later strengthened Amal.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 25 August 1978, Wednesday, 13 September 1978
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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
April 1979
Tuesday, 10 April 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Israel launched a double air strike against military targets in Tyr and Damour. 3 people dead and 15 injured were reported. President Hoss began an Arab tour trying to obtain the renewal of the mandate of the Arabic Strike Force.
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May 1979
Wednesday, 9 May 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Elias Sarkis urged the United Nations and the Arabs to assume their responsibilities. The chief of the State violently condemned the repeated Israeli aggressions against Lebanon qualifying them of flagrant challenge to human principles.
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July 1979
August 1979
February 1980
Saturday, 9 February 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Bahige Takieddine, Minister of Interior and Tourism, and deputy of the Chouf, died from a heart attack.
The Presidency of the Republic ordered national funerals and three days of mourning. Bahige Takieddine was born in 1909 in Baakline in the Chouf. He studied at the French Lycée then went to the Law School at Saint Joseph University. He was minister several times since 1974.
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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
Wednesday, 9 April 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Council of Ministers raised the wages in the private sector by 29%. The ceiling of the raise was fixed at 625 Lebanese Pound, while the floor of the raise was fixed at 150 Lebanese pounds. The minimum salary increased therefore from 525 to 675 Lebanese Pounds.
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Thursday, 10 April 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Israelis settled in the UNIFL zone, but withdrew progressively in the following days. Beirut called upon the Security Council to convene urgently.
What the books addFisk: violating the UN's agreements with Israel, Haddad's militia set up positions inside the UNIFIL zone in spring 1980, beside At-Tiri, near Beit Yahoun and at ruined Rashaf, where it parked a Sherman tank reached by a road built with Israeli help.
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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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Thursday, 10 July 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Walid Jumblatt condemns the attack on the National Liberals.
Three days after the 7 July assault that drove his friend Dany Chamoun into exile, Walid Jumblatt sharply denounced the Lebanese Forces' move against fellow Christians, ending the Christian–Druze contacts begun on 5 July.
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August 1980
Saturday, 9 August 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Takieddine Solh announced that he will suspend his efforts to form a new Cabinet. 'It is still not possible to put together a government of active forces,' he said.
What the books addMénargues attributes Solh's failure to a Syrian veto.
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Sunday, 10 August 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel predicts a 'war of liberation'.
Lunching with foreign journalists at Ain Saadeh, Bashir Gemayel predicted sooner or later a 'war of liberation' must be fought, which his listeners took to mean expelling the Palestinians. He would not condemn Israel, cited the murdered journalists Salim al-Lawzi and Riad Taha, and cast the crushing of the Tigers as ending an era when militia chiefs counted political weight in tanks.
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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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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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Monday, 10 November 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A double assault spread terror in Achrafieh.
Two car bombs stuffed with 140 kg of TNT exploded and killed 10 persons and injured 70 others. The first explosion occurred at a busy hour, when school busses were taking students back home, in one of Achrafieh’s streets. The second car blew up twenty minutes later, on Elias Baaklini street, next to the Shell gas station. The second explosion was aiming to kill those who would rush on the street after the first one went off.
What the books addMénargues counts 10 dead and 62 wounded from two car bombs in Achrafieh, Bashir Gemayel's power base.
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December 1980
Tuesday, 9 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Michel Aoun is proposed for the Beirut front-line command.
Seeking closer militia–army cooperation, Zahi Boustani proposed Lieutenant-Colonel Michel Aoun to Johnny Abdo to command the sector along Beirut's demarcation line, from the port to Kfarchima. Abdo, who rated Aoun poorly, said a formal appointment must wait until mid-January and the return of the army commander, whose signature was required.
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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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Friday, 9 January 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A new phase of the war started in Lebanon: the war of televisions. The 'Lebanese Forces' wanted to broadcast under the name 'Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation' and the Mourabitun seemed to be willing to give them hard time. As a result, they both emitted on the same channel and thus jammed the image.
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March 1981
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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Thursday, 9 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
For the first time in Zahleh since the beginning of the confrontations, the Red Cross was able to evacuate 19 persons seriously injured.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
US envoy Morris Draper in Beirut.
State Department envoy Morris Draper saw President Sarkis and Prime Minister Wazzan, then Bashir Gemayel, whom he told that the militias must leave Zahleh; he asked whether Bashir would accept the Lebanese Army there.
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dates 1–60 of 187 next
