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111101 entriesfrom the booksonly where the books disagree
chronologiesallThe road to war 1968–1974The Lebanese war 1975–1990After the war 1991–2005July 2006, as the books tell it 2006Since 2005 2005–2025
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35 entries on 34 dates · the books disagree on 35

August 1975

Friday, 29 August 1975

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

After mortar and rocket exchanges in the streets of Zahleh made several victims, a partial curfew was imposed on the town.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Tegho Bou Nassif date Zahleh's entry into the war to 24 August 1975, when Palestinian fighters planted a bomb in its tourist district, Wadi al-Arayish. In Hanf's account, Zahleh's Christians and Shi'is of its outskirts and nearby villages, helped by Palestinian guerrillas, came to blows late in August after a non-political arcade quarrel. Three Zahleh men were executed at the end of August.

Other date in the books: Sunday, 24 August 1975

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April 1976

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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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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Tuesday, 29 June 1976

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

The Jisr al-Basha camp falls.
The small Palestinian camp of Jisr al-Basha, overlooking Tal al-Za'tar in East Beirut, fell to the Christian militias and army units, and was razed.

Sources differ: Hanf gives 1 July; Picard August; Yara El Khoury places its fall with Tal al-Za'tar on 12 August.

Other date in the books: Thursday, 1 July 1976

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November 1976

Tuesday, 9 November 1976

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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March 1978

Wednesday, 29 March 1978

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The Arab Strike Force's mandate was extended for another 6 months.

Other date in the books: Saturday, 28 October 1978

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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, 29 April 1981

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Syria deploys SAM missiles in the Bekaa: the 'missile crisis'.
A day after Israel downed two Syrian helicopters, Syria set up SAM-6 and SAM-2 batteries openly in the Bekaa, near Rayak and Chtaura. Israel demanded their removal; de Clerck and Malsagne see the deployment as the first direct Syrian-Israeli confrontation.

Sources differ: Traboulsi names the missiles as Sam 3, the other sources as SAM-6 and SAM-2. Traboulsi's own chronology (p. 252) places the battle of Zahleh and the missile crisis in March 1980, contradicting his main text.

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May 1981

Saturday, 9 May 1981

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Both sectors in Beirut witnessed a day of terror. Blind bombardments caused 21 dead and 98 wounded. The shelling reached Jounieh, Bkerkeh, and Beit Mery.
What the books addFor 8 May, a day of shelling throughout Habib's meetings, Ménargues gives the US embassy toll: 21 dead and 98 wounded.

Other date in the books: Friday, 8 May 1981

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June 1981

Tuesday, 9 June 1981

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The American envoy Philip Habib began a new round of visits in the region.

Other date in the books: Wednesday, 10 June 1981

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May 1982

Sunday, 9 May 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Israel launched several raids in Southern Lebanon.

Other date in the books: Monday, 10 May 1982

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June 1982

Wednesday, 9 June 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

A gigantic air battle took place over the Bekaa. The Israelis were 10 kilometers away from Beirut.
What the books addOn 9 June Israeli aircraft destroyed the Syrian SAM missile batteries in the Bekaa and fought a long air battle with Syrian MiGs. Figures: 22 MiGs downed and 19 batteries destroyed that day (Ménargues); more than 80 planes and all missile batteries lost in five days (Picard). The same evening Israeli paratroopers took Damour, on the coast south of Beirut.

Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 8 June 1982, Thursday, 10 June 1982

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July 1982

Friday, 9 July 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

While Beirut and its suburbs were severely bombed, Damascus refused to receive the Fedayin.
What the books addIn Ménargues, Damascus unofficially signalled no objection to transit through Latakia on 7 July, then officially refused the fighters on 9 July, the day Israeli troops took the Beit Eddine army barracks.

Other date in the books: Wednesday, 7 July 1982

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Thursday, 29 July 1982

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Israeli phosphorus shells hit the Bourj al-Barajneh camp.
At the Barbir hospital Dr Amal Shamaa logged 19 phosphorus burn cases from 6 June to 29 July, all civilians but one guerrilla. They included a woman and eleven relatives, still alight on arrival after a shell hit the family's two-storey shack in the camp.

Other date in the books: Sunday, 6 June 1982

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August 1982

Sunday, 29 August 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The Lebanese Army deployed in the central district in Beirut while the soldiers of the Arab Strike Force still positioned in Beirut, were being evacuated.

Other dates in the books: Saturday, 21 August 1982, Monday, 30 August 1982

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October 1982

Saturday, 9 October 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The situation in the capital was back to its normal course of action, since the policemen were addressing citations to drivers, the campaign against squatters was intensified, and the confiscation of weapons continued.
What the books addHistorians describe this 'return to normal' as harsh for West Beirut. The army's first task was to evict squatters, most of them refugees from the south, and street hawkers, with no rehousing (Hanf). Police backed by bulldozers razed shanty areas in Ouzai and Raml al-Ali and fired on protesting residents (Traboulsi). Fisk describes arrests of anyone without valid papers on 3 October, when thousands of troops sealed off a whole district. Hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims seized in these weeks disappeared.

Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 21 September 1982, Sunday, 3 October 1982

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February 1984

Wednesday, 29 February 1984

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

President Amine Gemayel visited Damascus. The observers expected a normalization soon after. Indeed, the Syrian President approved the opening of new round Israeli-Lebanese negotiations.
What the books addMénargues gives two different days for this visit: 24 February in his prologue and 26 February in another passage. Hanf and Fisk both give 29 February. Fisk notes a 21-gun salute; Hanf says Gemayel told Assad he was ready to abrogate the 17 May agreement.

Other dates in the books: Friday, 24 February 1984, Sunday, 26 February 1984

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October 1984

Tuesday, 9 October 1984

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Fouad Abou Nader is elected commander of the Lebanese Forces.
On 9 October the Lebanese Forces elected the President's candidate, Fouad Abou Nader, Amine Gemayel's nephew and Pierre Gemayel's grandson; it was seen as a Kataeb win. The 'intifada' of 12 March 1985 ousted him.

Sources differ: Ménargues says Gemayel removed Fadi Frem in October 1984; that agrees on the month.

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 12 March 1985

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May 1985

Thursday, 9 May 1985

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The executive committee of the Lebanese Forces elected Elie Hobeika president and Samir Geagea chief of staff.
What the books addDates differ: 9 May (de Clerck and Malsagne), 12 May (Hanf, who describes a meeting of the LF command council after Geagea had signed a declaration of loyalty to state institutions), 9 September (Traboulsi). Geagea kept the post of chief of staff.

Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 12 March 1985, Sunday, 12 May 1985, Saturday, 28 December 1985

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March 1986

Sunday, 9 March 1986

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The black series continued. Terrorism hit this time Jeetaoui where a car bomb killed 3 persons and wounded 40 others.
Four French journalists from Antenne 2 were kidnapped in Bir El Abed.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the kidnapping of the Antenne 2 crew to 8 March 1986. It was claimed by the "Revolutionary Justice Organisation".

Other date in the books: Saturday, 8 March 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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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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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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November 1988

Wednesday, 9 November 1988

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Adel Osseirane names General Sami Khatib, former Chief of the Arab Strike Force, Chief Commander of the Army.
What the books addDe Clerck (p. 283) dates the appointment to 10 November and says Hoss made it; Hanf (p. 571) says early November. On 12 November Aoun's cabinet referred al-Khatib to the military court.

Other date in the books: Thursday, 10 November 1988

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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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February 1990

Friday, 9 February 1990

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

New dividing lines appeared in the Eastern region and the medias war raged. Hospitals suffered from a serious penury and the Lebanese continued to flee by thousands. That week, 417 were killed and 1,655 wounded.
What the books addTotals for the whole army-Lebanese Forces war differ. De Clerck and Malsagne count over 1,500 victims, fighters and civilians, and say the first three weeks claimed more than the six months of the 1989 war against Syria; the army alone lost 21 officers and 221 soldiers, about 100,000 people moved elsewhere in Lebanon and close to 200,000 went abroad. Hanf estimates about 1,000 dead and 3,500 wounded; Picard 1,000 dead and 3,000 wounded for January-July; Fisk 'well over a thousand' dead in Beirut from end January to end May.

Other date in the books: Wednesday, 31 January 1990

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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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January 1991

Wednesday, 9 January 1991

After the war · From the books

Parliament votes confidence in Omar Karami's cabinet of former warlords.
Karami's thirty-minister cabinet, formed on 24 December 1990, won thirty-four votes of the forty deputies attending. Its policy statement took up the whole Taif agenda: militias dissolved, Syrian treaties, the displaced home, rebuilding. Seven militia leaders, Berri, Jumblatt, Geagea and Hobeika included, were ministers of state.

Other date in the books: Monday, 24 December 1990

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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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August 1991

Thursday, 29 August 1991

After the war · From the books

General Aoun is spirited out of the French embassy into exile in France.
Aoun, sheltering in the French embassy since 13 October 1990, was removed ten months later in the secret 'Hortensia' operation, run by General Philippe Rondot with French gendarmes and RAID police. He remained in exile until 2005.

Sources differ: Quéméner's calendar places the exfiltration under 1990.

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February 1992

Saturday, 29 February 1992

After the war · From the books

The Central Bank gives up defending the pound.
By early May a dollar cost 2,000 pounds; the bank had given up on the pound after losing a third of its foreign reserves.

Sources differ: Peak rate: 2,000 (Hanf, early May) or 2,200 (Picard, 1992).

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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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May 2005

Sunday, 29 May 2005

Since 2005 · From the books range

Parliamentary elections over several weeks give the anti-Syrian coalition a majority.
Saad Hariri's anti-Syrian coalition won 72 of 128 seats and Michel Aoun's movement much of Mount Lebanon; with each region returning its own local leaders, the vote showed a country more divided by sect than ever.

Sources differ: The two chapters of the same book disagree on when voting ended: 12 June in Abirached's chronology, 19 June in Khayat's chapter. Picard dates the elections simply to May 2005.

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