115 entries on 103 dates · the books disagree on 25
dates 1–60 of 103 next
May 1969
Tuesday, 6 May 1969
The road to war · From the books
On television, President Helou sets Lebanese sovereignty as the limit of support for the Palestinians.
Lebanon was left without a cabinet for months after 6 May, when President Charles Helou said on television that backing the Palestinian cause must not put Lebanon's sovereignty and security at risk. He and the army had open support only from Christian politicians; no leading Sunni would take office.
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April 1973
Monday, 30 April 1973
The road to war · From the books
Fatah members with explosives are arrested at Beirut airport.
Four Fatah members with explosives in their luggage were stopped at the airport before a flight to Europe; a day later, near the US embassy, five Democratic Front guerrillas were held.
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October 1973
Saturday, 6 October 1973
The road to war · From the books range (6–25 October 1973)
Israel wrecks the Barouk radar in the October War; Lebanon stays out.
During the October War Israel destroyed the Mount Barouk radar Lebanon had lent Syria, and its jets crossed the Bekaa to strike Damascus, though Lebanon took no part. In Zahle the bishop and residents sent relief to Damascus for the Syrian army and nursed wounded soldiers at Tal Chiha hospital.
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January 1975
Monday, 6 January 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The army launched an attack in Tripoli
The army succeeded, after a tense day of occasional shootings, to invest and control the old town of Tripoli where many outlaws have been hiding for the past 6 months. Two civilians died, 12 were wounded, and 75 persons were arrested.
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Thursday, 30 January 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
15,000 persons demonstrated in Beirut to express their solidarity with South Lebanon, which had been regularly bombed by Israel.
What the books addTraboulsi counts this among the early-1975 protests, a southern general strike and Beirut demonstrations, over the Palestinian presence and the south's defence.
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May 1975
Friday, 30 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
'Black Thursday': sectarian kidnappings and killings in Beirut.
Sectarian abductions rose sharply on either side of the demarcation line after a Palestinian was killed and frightening rumours spread through Beirut. The worst came at Bashura, where Christians walking between Basta and the cemetery were abducted and some of them killed or mutilated. The Shiite gang Fityan Ali was blamed. De Clerck and Malsagne stress that this happened months before Black Saturday, often wrongly called the war's first massacre.
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June 1975
Friday, 6 June 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Musa al-Sadr announces the Amal movement.
Musa al-Sadr made the founding of Amal public. He already had armed men, as a blast at a Fatah training camp near Baalbek showed soon afterwards.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date Amal's creation to July 1975 (its public revelation by the explosion of 5 July).
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September 1975
October 1975
Thursday, 30 October 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Yarmouk units enter the Bekaa near Zahleh.
Yarmouk units, a Palestinian force trained by the Syrian army, entered the Bekaa plain near Zahleh by way of Bar Elias. The bishop's diary shows that the Palestinian fighters in the district had until then been Fatah and its Lebanese allies.
Sources differ: Hanf dates the Yarmouk Brigade's crossing to 20 December.
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December 1975
Saturday, 6 December 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The assassination of four young Phalangists on the Fanar road provoked horrible killings in the streets of Beirut.
The capital was rapidly set ablaze. It was the apocalypse. Militias launched street fights resulting in tens of innocent victims. Violence was at its peek and nothing seemed to end this thirst for blood.
What the books addThe bodies of four young Kataeb members were found on 6 December 1975, while Pierre Gemayel was in Damascus; Muslims seized at makeshift checkpoints by the port were killed in reprisal. Accounts place the bodies in the Metn (Hanf), near Tal al-Za'tar (Haugbolle) or outside the electricity company offices (Fisk). De Clerck and Malsagne blame Joseph Saadeh, whose son was among the four. Only Fisk puts Bashir Gemayel in Damascus and cites Phalangist officers saying he ordered the reprisal. The Muslim dead number about 200 (Hanf, Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne) or several dozen (Picard); Fisk gives at least 300 Muslims, and probably as many Christians, in the reprisals.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel visits Damascus.
At Assad's invitation, Pierre Gemayel took a Kataeb delegation to Damascus to set out his ideas for a new National Pact, the party's first visit there since the war began. Black Saturday took place in Beirut that day.
Sources differ: Fisk says it was Bashir Gemayel who was in Damascus.
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January 1976
Friday, 30 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the normalization process continued, the Superior Military Committee decided to dispatch the Lebanese Army to Damour, Mkalles, and Dbayeh, as well as to the road leading to the Beirut International Airport.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lieutenant Ahmed Khatib left the Hasbaya barracks and announced the creation, in the Bekaa, of the Army of Arab Lebanon.
What the books addHistorians date Lieutenant Ahmad al-Khatib's breakaway to 21 January (de Clerck and Malsagne, in the Bekaa) or 22 January (Julie Tegho Bou Nassif, from the diary of the Greek Catholic bishop of Zahleh); Hanf places the mutiny in the south. About 300-400 Muslim soldiers followed him at first. The entry of 30 January may record a later step.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 21 January 1976, Thursday, 22 January 1976
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May 1976
Thursday, 6 May 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Jocelyne Khoueiry and six young women defend a building in Beirut.
Jocelyne Khoueiry and six other young women defended a building against 300 Palestinian fighters.
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Sunday, 30 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An avalanche of missiles and shells hit Beirut while combats continued on all fronts. The bombings reached the airport, imposing the closure of runways to air traffic at night.
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July 1976
Friday, 30 July 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Khalil Salem, director-general of the Finance Ministry, is kidnapped.
Lebanese Arab Army officers wanted Khalil Salem, director general of the Finance Ministry, to sign false pay-slips, and he refused. Seized in West Beirut on his way to work, he was found shot dead in his car boot on 2 August. Nobody has identified his killers.
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August 1976
Friday, 6 August 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian militias take Nabaa; its Shi'i population leaves.
Christian militias occupied the Shi'i and Palestinian district of Nabaa in East Beirut after Imam Musa Sadr negotiated the departure of its Shi'i inhabitants. Tens of thousands fled to the southern suburbs and West Beirut.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology dates the fall of Nabaa to 12 August, with Tal al-Za'tar. The numbers displaced range from more than 40,000 (de Clerck and Malsagne) to 100,000 (Picard) or 200,000 Muslims of East Beirut (Traboulsi).
Art and memory- place Displaced Christians later occupied the abandoned houses of Nabaa, while displaced Muslims and Palestinians occupied houses in Damour.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 August 1976
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January 1977
June 1977
Thursday, 30 June 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
On the last day of its full-powers, the Council of Ministers published a series of decree-laws. The most important ones stipulated the revision of certain laws relative to the Lebanese University, the amendment of some press censorship laws, and the adoption of the mandatory car insurance.
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July 1977
January 1978
Friday, 6 January 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Begin Plan concerning the settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon made some noise.
The Lebanese reacted with firmness and indignation to the conspiracy initiated by foreign countries. According to Salim El Hoss, 'Every project expecting the settlement of Palestinians outside of their land is rejected.' The President of the Republic also rejected any project stipulating the permanent settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon. 'Our country should determine itself what it is able to offer. It is unfair to solve the Palestinian question by creating a Lebanese problem. We will make every effort to let our right prevail', he said.
What the books addHanf notes that in December 1977 Menachem Begin, Israel's prime minister, had excluded any return of the Palestinian refugees in neighbouring countries.
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March 1978
May 1978
June 1978
Tuesday, 6 June 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Front stiffened its position.
It considered that the Palestinian Resistance did not have its place in Lebanon anymore. The Front proclaimed that all the agreements with the PLO were null and void. The Front hoped that the Lebanese army replaces the primarily Syrian Arab Strike Force. President Sarkis was determined to dispatch the army to the South.
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January 1979
February 1979
April 1979
May 1979
Sunday, 6 May 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israeli aviation, aiming at a Palestinian target, killed five innocents and injured 15 others in a wedding ceremony in the Akkar. All the victims were Lebanese with, among them, several kids.
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June 1979
Saturday, 30 June 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The 'race for peace' organized by the Lebanese Federation of Athletics under the patronage of L'orient-Le Jour was a manifestation of the Lebanese sportsmen in favor of national unity. Departed from Achrafieh, the 66 participants representing 18 clubs from all the Lebanese regions met in Manara after having crossed the Fouad Chehab Ring.
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January 1980
March 1980
Thursday, 6 March 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Units from the Arab Strike Force positioned in the Sin el Fil- Dekouaneh-Mekalles region started to gather in order to withdraw towards Jamhour-Aley. The total withdrawal should be executed by Saturday night and the Lebanese army would replace the Syrian soldiers.
What the books addHanf: clashes among the Christian militias grew more frequent after the partial Syrian withdrawal, which removed Syrian checkpoints on the roads into East Beirut and between Achrafieh and the Christian suburbs and gave the militias one unbroken territory for the first time since 1976.
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June 1980
Friday, 6 June 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Selim el Hoss resigned from office. President Sarkis accepted his resignation on June 16.
What the books addMénargues dates the resignation to March 1980, after repeated deadlock between Hoss and Sarkis over the army; Hoss stayed on as caretaker until Shafiq Wazzan's appointment in late October.
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July 1980
Sunday, 6 July 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Violent confrontations opposed in Ain Mreisse the Mourabitoun and the Arab Socialist Union. 3 persons died and 16 others were wounded.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun propose merging their parties.
On Sunday 6 July 1980 Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun, unable to stop their militias fighting, proposed merging the Kataeb and the National Liberal Party at an afternoon meeting at Gemayel's Bikfaya home. Bashir attacked at dawn next day.
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December 1980
Tuesday, 30 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Christian–Druze draft agreement is written, then blocked by Damascus.
On 30 December Samir Frangieh set down Antoine Najm's proposals in a handwritten text countersigned by the Druze officer Riad Takieddine: a six-member cabinet including Bashir Gemayel and Walid Jumblatt, no use of Lebanese territory for aggression against Arab states, and sound relations with Syria. Damascus learned of the talks; Assad summoned Jumblatt and rejected any Druze–LF rapprochement, and Jumblatt dropped the idea.
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March 1981
April 1981
Monday, 6 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Haig condemns the Syrian shelling of Zahleh.
Zahleh was heavily shelled from dawn. That morning in Riyadh, Secretary of State Alexander Haig blamed Moscow for sponsoring the Syrian bombardment, which he severely condemned.
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Thursday, 30 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel and Camille Chamoun meet Begin secretly in Jerusalem.
Late on 30 April an Israeli helicopter flew Bashir Gemayel and Camille Chamoun to Jerusalem. Around midnight Begin, with Shamir and his military and intelligence chiefs, told them Israel would act if Syria did not remove its SAMs from the Bekaa.
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June 1981
Tuesday, 30 June 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
95 militiamen from the Lebanese Forces were evacuated from Zahleh with their individual weapons after having surrendered their heavy weapons to the Arab Strike Force and to the Internal Security Forces. An Internal Security Forces unit was positioned in the neighborhoods of Zahleh.
What the books addMénargues has some 600 Internal Security Forces gendarmes entering Zahleh on 30 June, ending the siege, and the 95 fighters from outside the town leaving by bus over a mountain road behind a Syrian colonel's car, past Syrian troops posted along it; Hanf says they left under Saudi escort. Siege toll: 200 dead and over 2,000 wounded (Ménargues), over 200 and 2,000 (de Clerck and Malsagne), 300 and 3,000 by the Phalange's count (Fisk).
Art and memory- place Of 38 civilians in a warehouse basement by Zahleh's disused railway, one child survived when tank fire toppled the building; after the siege Fisk also found the town's dead under wooden crosses in a makeshift graveyard.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 1 July 1981
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July 1981
Monday, 6 July 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel pledges in writing to break with Israel.
Bashir Gemayel met the Arab Vigilance Committee's condition, a pledge of no cooperation with Israel, in a letter to Sarkis, signed after a secret night visit to Israel on 5–6 July to brief Begin. Sarkis told the committee but never made the letter public.
Sources differ: The original entry 482 dates a Sarkis–Gemayel meeting on the pledge to 8 July.
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August 1981
Sunday, 30 August 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Internal Security Forces destroyed the illegal constructions in Ouzaï.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Claude Cheysson, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared after his 24-hour visit to Lebanon: 'It would be criminal to question the unity of Lebanon'.
What the books addClaude Cheysson met Yasser Arafat in Beirut on 30 August. De Clerck and Malsagne see the meeting as a sign of France's new pro-Palestinian line under Mitterrand.
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October 1981
Friday, 30 October 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli plans for an invasion of Lebanon presented to Sharon.
On 30 October Israel's northern command put three invasion plans to Defence Minister Ariel Sharon, from 'Little Pines', taking the south up to Sidon, to 'Big Pines', fighting Syria throughout Lebanon and clearing Beirut.
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November 1981
January 1982
March 1982
Saturday, 6 March 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Another car bomb exploded in Jnah killing 6 persons and injuring 17 others.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne, drawing on Ronen Bergman, attribute to Ariel Sharon a series of car bombings from October 1981, carried out under the name 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners' and aimed chiefly at Palestinians, to provoke retaliation that could justify an invasion. They list no individual attacks, so this bombing cannot be matched to their account.
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June 1982
Sunday, 6 June 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israelis invaded the South along three axes.
The Security Council adopted immediately a resolution requesting the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Israeli forces up to the internationally recognized borderlines. However, this did not stop Israel from reaching Saida and Tyr.
What the books addThe invasion, called 'Operation Peace for Galilee', began on Sunday 6 June: Israeli commandos crossed the border at 1.30 a.m. to attack Beaufort castle (Ménargues), and up to 25,000 troops moved along the coast, through Tibnin and across the eastern sector (Fisk). The government declared a limited aim of a 40-kilometre zone, but Defence Minister Ariel Sharon and Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan kept advancing (Hanf). One overview in de Clerck and Malsagne and Picard's chronology give 5 June.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 5 June 1982
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July 1982
August 1982
Friday, 6 August 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Accra building occupied by refugees collapsed during an Israeli air raid on Beirut, provoking the death of 250 persons.
What the books addIn rue Aussi near Sanayeh park a car bomb exploded among rescuers minutes after Israeli bombs levelled two five-storey blocks, says Robert Fisk's dispatch datelined West Beirut, 5 August; a neighbour put over 100 people, mostly squatters from the camps and the south, beneath the rubble. Arafat had reportedly met there just before.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 5 August 1982
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Monday, 30 August 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Yasser Arafat leaves Beirut by sea.
The last units of Syria's 85th Brigade left by road the day Arafat sailed. After stopping at Walid Jumblatt's house he boarded the Greek ship Atlantis with several hundred fighters, protected by French legionnaires and US Marines, and reached Tunis, the PLO's new headquarters, via Athens.
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January 1983
Thursday, 6 January 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israeli forces pursued their combing operations in the sectors of Laylaki, Kfarchima and Choueifat. The 'Marines' sent a severe warning to the Israeli army.
What the books addRobert Fisk recounts that Defence Secretary Weinberger proposed an award for Charles Johnson, a Marine captain who in January 1983 stopped an Israeli tank unit entering the Marine sector off the old Sidon road by climbing onto the lead tank and pointing his pistol at its commander.
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Sunday, 30 January 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A bomb storm fell on East Beirut. While a constructive beginning of the week was expected, mainly concerning the project of a disarmed and open 'Greater Beirut', blind violence hit again. Following the degradation of the situation in the mountain between the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party, mortar shells, Katiouchas and other Grad fell on East Beirut causing important material damages.
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April 1983
May 1983
Friday, 6 May 1983
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Shultz is told in Damascus that Syria will not withdraw.
In Damascus President Assad told US Secretary of State George Shultz that Syria opposed the draft Lebanese-Israeli agreement and would not withdraw; in Beirut, Druze and Phalangist gunners paused only during Shultz's visit.
Sources differ: Hanf dates the Damascus meeting to 6 May, Fisk to 8 May.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 8 May 1983
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September 1983
Tuesday, 6 September 1983
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bhamdoun falls; its Christian inhabitants are massacred or flee.
Druze fighters, with tanks and anti-Arafat Palestinian guerrillas, routed the Lebanese Forces at Bhamdoun, a Greek Orthodox town, which was then looted. No bodies of the Christian dead were ever found; De Clerck and Malsagne count 334.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne (p. 178) also record that some anti-Arafat Fatah dissidents hid and saved Christians in Bhamdoun.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Two US Marines and a French officer are killed by shellfire.
Shells across West Beirut killed two US Marines and a French officer. Tens of thousands of refugees awaited evacuation, for which the International Red Cross sought an immediate truce.
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November 1983
Sunday, 6 November 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The situation was dramatic in Tripoli. Inter-Palestinian fights claimed 500 deaths and 875 injured.
What the books addThe fighting set Fatah dissidents under Abu Musa, Syrian artillery and pro-Syrian Lebanese parties against Arafat's loyalists and the Sunni Tawhid militia. Hanf writes that in early November it took on the character of a Sunni-Alawite civil war, and that Tawhid fighters killed hundreds of communists.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range
A French secret service plan to bomb the Iranian embassy fails.
Technical faults wrecked a DGSE plan, on 6-7 November, to retaliate for the Drakkar bombing by exploding a jeep with 600 kg of explosives in front of Iran's embassy in Beirut.
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Wednesday, 30 November 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Gemayel met with the American President at the White House.
What the books addHanf writes that in Washington on 1 December the Americans pressed Gemayel to come to terms with the Druze and Shi'is and ruled out any change to the 17 May agreement.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 1 December 1983
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February 1984
Monday, 6 February 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In a matter of hours, Amal took control over West Beirut. The capital was heavily bombed, while the Army gave up the control of the Western sector of the Capital to Amal and to the Islamic militias.
What the books addThe books describe a joint Amal and PSP (Druze) offensive, not Amal alone; the mainly Shi'i Sixth Brigade went over to Amal. Hanf dates the last Christian soldiers' withdrawal to the east, and so the completed division, to 7 February. De Clerck and Malsagne record the uprising's name, 'the 6 February movement'. About 50,000 Christians moved east, almost half the public radio's 400 staff left their posts, and Télé-Liban split. A later Sunni militia took its name from the date (Hanf).
Art and memory- place The 6 February 1984 uprising gave its name to a later Sunni militia in West Beirut, the 'Sixth of February Movement'.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Army units loyal to Gemayel shell West Beirut through the night.
On the night of 6 February, with West Beirut in militia hands, Gemayel's loyal army units, all Christian, shelled it with new US-bought artillery; Fisk counts almost a hundred civilians dead.
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March 1984
Friday, 30 March 1984
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The US Sixth Fleet leaves the waters off Beirut.
The US Sixth Fleet remained off Beirut until 30 March 1984, a month after the Marines had been evacuated between 7 and 26 February.
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April 1984
Monday, 30 April 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The new national union government was as follows: Rachid Karameh: President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Osseirane: Minister of Defense and Agriculture Nabih Berri: Minsiter of Hydroelectric resources and Justice Camille Chamoun: Minster of Finance, Housing, and Cooperatives Pierre Gemayel: Minster of Posts and Telecommunications, Health and Social Affairs. Walid Joumblatt: Minister of Public Works, and Tourism Selim Hoss: Minister of Labor and National Education Joseph Skaff: Minister of Information Abdallah Racy: Minister of Interior Victor Cassir: Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry and Oil
What the books addPicard dates the government to the beginning of May 1984. Portfolios differ by source: de Clerck and Malsagne give Jumblatt Public Works and Transport, Tourism, and a Ministry of State for Reconstruction and the South. Picard says the 'Ministry of the South' was created in 1984 for the Shi'is, that is, for Berri. Picard also counts Frangieh's son-in-law among the ministers.
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September 1984
Thursday, 6 September 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
At the United Nations, the United States vetoed a Lebanese draft resolution submitted to the Security Council. This draft resolution requested from Israel, the 'occupying force', to respect civil rights in South Lebanon.
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January 1985
Sunday, 6 January 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The 12th round of the Israeli-Lebanese negotiations in Nakoura started.
What the books addPicard dates the end of President Gemayel's talks with Israel to January 1985.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Resistance bombs hit an Israeli patrol near Abbasiyeh.
On 6 January gunmen near Deir Qanoun en-Nahr shot dead a collaborator, and west of Abbasiyeh a combined Israeli army and Shin Bet patrol was hit by two roadside bombs and retreated towards Tyre under fire.
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dates 1–60 of 103 next
