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chronologiesallThe road to war 1968–1974 The Lebanese war 1975–1990 After the war 1991–2005 July 2006, as the books tell it 2006 Since 2005 2005–2025

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40 entries on 35 dates · the books disagree on 40

September 1972

Saturday, 16 September 1972

The road to war · From the books

After Munich, Israel invades South Lebanon for three days.
Israeli forces entered the south in reprisal for the Munich Olympics attack on Israeli athletes, striking Nahr al-Bared camp and southern and Bekaa villages. The Lebanese army held them up for two days; they left after three, destroying bridges and houses on the way out. De Clerck & Malsagne count 118 dead.

Sources differ: Death toll 118 (de Clerck & Malsagne) or more than 100 (Picard). Only de Clerck & Malsagne give the day.

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May 1975

Friday, 16 May 1975

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

A cease-fire ends the first round of fighting.
De Clerck and Malsagne date the ceasefire that closed this first round to 16 May; an earlier Syrian mediation had not stopped the fighting. The Solh cabinet resigned the same day (existing entry 15).

Sources differ: The existing entry 13 records a cease-fire on 15 April.

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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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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 1977

Wednesday, 16 March 1977

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Kamal Joumblatt was assassinated
He was leaving Moukhtara when he and two other passengers were killed. An ambush was set up not far from an Arab Strike Force control post. This assassination aroused a huge wave of disapproval. A call for a strike was immediately issued. The country was in mourning. Chief of the Lebanese left wing, leader of the Druze community, author of several political books, coming from a famous family in the Chouf, Kamal Joumblatt was born in 1917 in Moukhtara, with essentially an eclectic spirit. After he graduated from the Law school in Saint Joseph University in Beirut, he went into politics very young. In 1946 he was elected for the first time Deputy of the Chouf in the Parliament and three years later he was appointed Minister of Economy and Agriculture. In 1949, he founded the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). Three months before his assassination, he had given up politics.

What the books addJumblatt was ambushed near a Syrian checkpoint of the Arab Deterrent Force; Fisk places it on the mountain road near Baaqlin. Most historians give 16 March 1977 (Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne, the Confluences authors, and Hanf on one page); Hanf elsewhere and Ménargues give 17 March, which Ménargues ties to the burial. His son Walid took over, and Christians were killed in reprisal in Chouf villages. Hanf writes that most politicians, Muslims above all, took the murder as a warning against defying Syria openly, and that Jumblatt had attacked the Syrian presence in speech and print, in Lebanon and abroad.

Art and memory

book Dima de Clerck reads Kamal and Walid Jumblatt as shapers of Druze memory around family grievances: the defeat after 1860 and Bashir Jumblatt's fall in 1825.

Other date in the books: Thursday, 17 March 1977

The Lebanese war · Added from the books range

Christians are killed in Chouf villages in reprisal for Kamal Jumblatt's murder.
Many of the Christians killed in revenge for Kamal Jumblatt's assassination were Jumblatt loyalists, communists or SSNP sympathisers. Some died at home in Chouf villages; on mountain roads, clergy and civilians were stopped in their cars and shot; in West Beirut districts held by the leftist Joint Forces, Christians were abducted and executed. Walid Jumblatt said he had tried to halt the killings, and some Druze warned Christian neighbours or diverted school buses.

Sources differ: Death toll: 177 (de Clerck and Malsagne) against 130 to 180 (Hanf). Displaced: 25,000 after these killings (Hanf) against more than 25,000 for all the 1977 Chouf massacres including Brih (de Clerck and Malsagne, p. 159). Date: 16 March (de Clerck and Malsagne) against 17 March (Ménargues). Hanf (p. 275) calls it an 'isolated incident'.

Art and memory

testimony Mountain Christians use two words for the massacres of 1976, 1977 and 1983: majazir, plain 'massacre', and madhabih, a cruder term evoking throat-cutting and killing at close range.

Other date in the books: Thursday, 17 March 1977

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June 1979

Saturday, 16 June 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

After murderous combats, the Lebanese authorities decided to send the army to Ain el Remmane at the beginning of the week.

What the books addBashir Gemayel's men fought a bloody battle with army units sent, at Pierre Gemayel's and Camille Chamoun's request, to separate the Kataeb and National Liberal militias, at war since 12 May. De Clerck and Malsagne call it the first serious armed clash between the army and a Lebanese militia, dating it once to 14 June and once to 18 June.

Other dates in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979, Monday, 18 June 1979

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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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August 1981

Sunday, 16 August 1981

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Elias Youssef Hannouch, 38 years old, former leader of the NLP, refugee in West Beirut since November 1980, was killed in Raoucheh with his two children.

What the books addMénargues places the attack at 9 a.m. in a Hamra side street: four gunmen fired on Hannouche's Range Rover, killing him, his daughter May (9), his son Alain (7) and two bodyguards. His armed entry into Zahleh under Syrian protection on 20 December 1980 had started the Zahleh crisis.

Other date in the books: Saturday, 20 December 1980

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March 1982

Tuesday, 16 March 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The plot against foreign embassies continued. A large number of embassies closed their doors, while those that were still open were a regularly subjected to threats or assaults.

What the books addThe 117 foreign diplomatic staff killed in the war included the ambassadors of France (4 September 1981), Iraq (15 December 1981) and Algeria (13 January 1982).

Other date in the books: Friday, 4 September 1981

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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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Wednesday, 16 June 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The bombings resumed on West Beirut.

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 15 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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September 1982

Thursday, 16 September 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The Israelis' attacks against West Beirut continued, killing 31 persons and injuring 121 others. Major damages were also reported.

What the books addIsraeli troops entered West Beirut at 5 a.m. on 15 September, the morning after Bashir Gemayel's death, against the commitments given through Philip Habib; Lebanese leftist militias fought them in parts of the city.

Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 14 September 1982, Wednesday, 15 September 1982

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Habib Tanios Chartouni, Bashir Gemayel's assassin, is arrested.
A cousin leading a group in the LF security service arrested Habib Tanios Chartouni, a 26-year-old Syrian Social Nationalist Party member, at about 5.30 p.m.; he confessed on camera. Handed to the army in April 1983, he walked free on 13 October 1990, when Syrian troops entered the Metn.

Other date in the books: Thursday, 28 April 1983

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

The left founds the Lebanese National Resistance Front to fight the Israeli occupation.
Three parties founded it: the Lebanese Communist Party, the Organisation of Communist Action and the Arab Socialist Action Party. It coordinated armed action against Israeli troops in Beirut, the Mountain, the south and the Bekaa.

Sources differ: Picard dates the Front's first attacks to the end of August, before its formal launch.

The Lebanese war · Added from the books range

Militiamen sent into Sabra and Chatila by the Israeli army begin a massacre that lasts until the morning of 18 September.
Elie Hobeika's Lebanese Forces security men entered the camps on the evening of 16 September under Israeli flares, inside an Israeli cordon; according to witnesses, Saad Haddad's militiamen went in first. The killing went on through the 17th until the morning of the 18th, when reporters first got in. See the check of original event 606.

Sources differ: Traboulsi gives 15-17 September and Hanf 17-18 September; most books give 16-18 September.

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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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November 1982

Tuesday, 16 November 1982

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The Israelis reinforced their control in the Chouf and Aley. The leaders in the mountain called upon Amine Gemayel who seemed determined to speed the settlement of the crisis in the Druze-Christian regions.

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 14 September 1982

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March 1983

Wednesday, 16 March 1983

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

14 American Marines and Italian bersaglieri were wounded by three attacks perpetrated in less than 12 hours. Washington and Rome declared however that the Multinational Force would continue its mission. The Lebanese Army launched a clean up operation in the Southern suburbs.

What the books addA caller claimed the attacks for 'Islamic Jihad', then an unknown name; the same voice later claimed the embassy bombing (Fisk). He counts ten Italians, two critically, and five US Marines wounded within 48 hours. De Clerck and Malsagne date these first Islamic Jihad attacks to 17 March.

Other date in the books: Thursday, 17 March 1983

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September 1983

Friday, 16 September 1983

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

The battle for Souk el-Gharb begins.
From 16 September the Druze and their Syrian and Palestinian allies attacked Souk el-Gharb, the ridge village above East Beirut, the Defence Ministry and the Baabda palace, held by Michel Aoun's army brigade. By the army's report most of it had fallen on the night of 18 September.

Sources differ: The Americans afterwards accused the army of overstating its plight to pull in the US Navy (Fisk).

Other date in the books: Sunday, 18 September 1983

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October 1983

Sunday, 16 October 1983

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Israeli troops fire on the Ashoura crowd in Nabatieh.
On Ashoura, Israeli soldiers whose convoy had entered Nabatieh's crowds were stoned and fired, killing two Shi'is and wounding seven. De Clerck and Malsagne note it is often seen as a turning point for Islamic resistance to the occupation.

Sources differ: The Israeli army first denied any casualties, then said it had been fired on (Fisk).

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January 1984

Monday, 16 January 1984

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Saad Haddad, commander of the Army of Free Lebanon, died from a generalized cancer. He was 47 years old and was buried in his birthplace, Marjeyoun.

What the books addSources disagree on the date of Saad Haddad's death: Ménargues gives 13 January 1984; Hanf and Fisk give January 1984; de Clerck and Malsagne give December 1983. No supplied book gives 16 January. Ménargues also gives his birth year as 1937 and his origin as Marjayoun, consistent with the age stated here.

Other date in the books: Friday, 13 January 1984

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March 1984

Friday, 16 March 1984

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

CIA Beirut station chief William Buckley is kidnapped.
William Buckley was abducted leaving his home in Raouche; officially a political attaché at the American embassy, he died in captivity in 1985.

Sources differ: Fisk contradicts himself: 'a week' after 7 March in one passage (about 14 March), May 1984 in another. De Clerck and Malsagne give 16 March, which agrees with Fisk's first account.

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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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March 1985

Saturday, 16 March 1985

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The regional director of the Associated Press, Terry Anderson, was kidnapped in West Beirut. Many other US and British nationals had already been kidnapped. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for these acts.

What the books addTerry Anderson was the AP's Beirut bureau chief. He was seized near the Ain Mreisseh mosque and held for more than six years. Two Britons had been kidnapped in the two days before him; Islamic Jihad claimed all three on 17 March.

Art and memory

book Terry Anderson's memoir Den of Lions (1993) recounts his captivity; Fisk devotes a chapter, 'Wait for me', to his kidnapping.

Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 8 January 1985, Sunday, 17 March 1985

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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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September 1985

Monday, 16 September 1985

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

In Tripoli, ten soldiers from the Lebanese Army were killed and 35 others wounded by shells that fell on the Bahjat Ghanem barracks.

What the books addOn 7 October, Hanf writes, 20,000 Syrian soldiers entered Tripoli, after pro-Syrian groups had in September 1985 attacked the Tawheed movement then holding the city; some 250,000 civilians fled.

Other date in the books: Monday, 7 October 1985

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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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August 1988

Tuesday, 16 August 1988

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The former 78 years old Chief of State, Sleiman Frangie, announces officially his candidacy for the presidential elections.

What the books addTwo days later, on 18 August 1988, the session convened at the Mansour Palace failed to reach a quorum (Hanf, p. 569).

Other date in the books: Thursday, 18 August 1988

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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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February 1989

Thursday, 16 February 1989

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

An agreement on military disengagement is concluded between the Army and the L.F., within in a four-party committee.

What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne have a truce under the Maronite Patriarch's patronage from 17 February. Hanf says Aoun accepted a ceasefire once the militia agreed to hand over Dock Five of the port and the Bourbara checkpoint.

Other date in the books: Friday, 17 February 1989

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November 1989

Thursday, 16 November 1989

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

US ambassador John McCarthy makes a televised statement aimed against General Aoun.
De Clerck and Malsagne cite the statement alongside sources saying that Samir Geagea accepted a mission to remove Aoun, given first by the Americans and later by President Hrawi.

Sources differ: Original entry 1150 says McCarthy left Lebanon in early September.

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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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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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July 2006

Sunday, 16 July 2006

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

Rockets kill eight railway workers in Haifa; the G8 meets in St Petersburg.
On 16 July a Hezbollah rocket killed eight workers on the Haifa railway, and Condoleezza Rice said it was not the time for a ceasefire. The G8 summit closed that day with a statement that Abirached's chronology reads as a call for an immediate halt to the fighting; Harel and Issacharoff stress instead that it blamed Hamas and Hezbollah, floated an international force and wanted resolution 1559 applied and the Lebanese army sent south.

Sources differ: Reading of the G8 text: support for Israel (34 Days) against a call for an immediate halt (Abirached).

Reports at the time: The archive's Haifa toll moves from eight to nine and back to eight. It does not record Rice's 'not the time' remark; its Lebanese tolls that day do not add up to Abirached's sixty.

The reports of that day, as they came in

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