39 entries on 38 dates · the books disagree on 39
January 1973
Tuesday, 23 January 1973
The road to war · From the books
The army fires on tobacco growers, killing two.
Two peasants died on 23 January 1973 when soldiers fired on protesting tobacco growers. About 20,000 rallied in Beirut in support, and clashes spread across Lebanon.
Sources differ: Place: Nabatieh (Traboulsi) or Kfar Remmaneh-Nabatieh (Tufaro). Aftermath: 20,000 in Beirut 'a few days later' (Traboulsi) or a march from the South to Beirut the next day (Tufaro); possibly the same event.
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January 1975
Tuesday, 7 January 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Presidents Assad and Frangieh meet at Chtaura.
At Chtaura, President Suleiman Frangieh received Syria's president, Hafez al-Assad, who pledged to defend Lebanon against Israeli attack. Hanf, quoting Goria, judges that Lebanon thereby lost what neutrality had gained it.
Sources differ: Ménargues gives 17 January 1975. Traboulsi's narrative chapter dates the summit to 7 January 1974, while his own chronology gives 7 January 1975. Two sources agree on 7 January 1975.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 7 January 1974, Friday, 17 January 1975
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Saturday, 11 January 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Patriarch Meouchi died
The 70th Maronite patriarch of Antioch and the Middle East died of a hart attack. He was 81 years old.
Other date in the books: Monday, 3 February 1975
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January 1976
Wednesday, 7 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Palestinian camps of Tell El Zaatar and Jisr El Bacha being under a blockade, 1200 armed elements attacked the region of Horsh Tabet. Pitched battles opposed Phalangist and Fedayin activists.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the siege of Tal al-Za'tar from 4 January 1976 to the camp's fall on 12 August. According to Hanf, Interior Minister Camille Chamoun had Internal Security Forces units join the assault.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 4 January 1976
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Wednesday, 14 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian militias take the Dbayeh camp.
Militiamen of the National Liberal Party's Tigers and the Phalange took Dbayeh, a Palestinian camp north of Beirut whose refugees were mostly Christian, and expelled its people. Traboulsi and de Clerck and Malsagne treat it as the Christian militias' first drive to purge their territory of Palestinian and Muslim pockets.
Sources differ: Traboulsi gives 13 January.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 13 January 1976
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Sunday, 18 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Karantina massacre
Christian forces conquered Karantina, a slum district populated primarily by poor Kurds and Armenians but controlled by a PLO detachment. More than 1000 civilians were massacred.
What the books addDates differ between historians: 16 January (Ménargues), 18 January (de Clerck and Malsagne; consistent with Fisk), 19 January (Hanf), 20 or 22 January (Traboulsi). Maslakh, next door, fell at the same time. Most of the district's people were Shi'is, living alongside Palestinians, Kurds and Armenian Lebanese. Haugbolle estimates 150-500 dead, de Clerck and Malsagne 600-1,000; some 30,000 people were driven out to West Beirut and the southern suburbs.
Art and memory- film Les Enfants de la guerre, Jocelyne Saab's 1976 documentary, was shot in the aftermath of the Karantina massacre.
- place The B018 nightclub, put up at Karantina in 1998, was given a coffin-like look that Haugbolle reads as an allusion to the massacre there.
- book Jonathan Randal's reporting made the Karantina and Damour massacres known abroad.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 16 January 1976, Monday, 19 January 1976, Tuesday, 20 January 1976, Thursday, 22 January 1976
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Tuesday, 20 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Damour massacre
Avenging the massacre of Karantina by Christian forces 2 days before, Palestinians and leftist Muslims attacked the Christian city of Damour, located about 20 kilometers south of Beirut, and murdered 350 civilians.
What the books addThe siege of Damour had begun on 9 January, before the fall of Karantina; the main massacre began on 20 January (Hanf, Ménargues, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne; Traboulsi gives 22 or 24 January). Jiyeh fell the same day. The attackers were mainly PLA, Saiqa and Fatah units, with Lebanese leftist parties. Estimates of the dead range from about 150 bodies found plus 200 missing (Fisk) and 300-584 (de Clerck and Malsagne) to about 900 (Ménargues); some 5,000 people fled by land and sea.
Art and memory- film Ziad Doueiri's The Insult (2017) recalls the Damour massacre.
- photograph The German magazine Stern published a photograph taken during the Damour massacre of January 1976.
- novel Farid and Michel Gharib's novel Damour, Man Anti (1978) tells of Damour up to the massacre.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 9 January 1976, Friday, 16 January 1976, Monday, 19 January 1976, Thursday, 22 January 1976, Saturday, 24 January 1976
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Wednesday, 21 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books 21-22 January
Army helicopters and boats evacuate Jiyeh but not Damour or Saadiyat.
Damour and Saadiyat, defended only by National Liberal Party militiamen, were not evacuated, while on 21 and 22 January army helicopters and boats took refugees from neighbouring Jiyeh to Jounieh.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 20 January 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Ta'labaya, near Zahleh, falls to the PLA.
Bishop Yuhanna Bassul of Zahleh's diary records the dawn fall of Ta'labaya, a Bekaa village, to a surprise assault by the Palestine Liberation Army and Yarmouk brigades, and the forced departure of its Christians.
Sources differ: Hanf (p. 210) dates a Palestinian seizure of Ta'labaya, with its people expelled, to December 1975; de Clerck and Malsagne (p. 154) record 35 killed there from that month.
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Thursday, 22 January 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the Palestine Liberation Army controlled the Akkar and the Bekaa with the exception of Zahleh, a cease-fire was concluded under the aegis of Syria.
What the books addTraboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne, and Yara El Khoury date the Syrian-mediated cease-fire to 23 January. PLA and Saiqa units attacked Zgharta in the north but were repulsed, and Zahleh, besieged, held out.
Other date in the books: Friday, 23 January 1976
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Friday, 30 January 1976
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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January 1977
Wednesday, 12 January 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The collection of heavy and light arms continued while the government was helping the victims of the war and trying to boost the economy.
What the books addUnder the Riyadh decisions of October 1976 all parties were to give up heavy weapons to the Arab Deterrent Force; the Hoss government set a 5 December 1976 deadline (Traboulsi). Fisk reports the militias did not hand them in; Hanf, that the Palestinians moved most of theirs south of the 'red line'.
Other date in the books: Monday, 18 October 1976
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Friday, 21 January 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Lebanese Front's seminar defines Lebanon as a 'plurality of civilisations'.
Lebanese Front leaders met in seminar at the Sayyidat al-Bir convent. They discussed partition, dismissed the independence-era institutions as outdated and called Lebanon a set of 'civilisational groups'. The Front also issued constitutional reform proposals.
Sources differ: Original entry 110 dates a three-day Lebanese 'Forces' seminar at Broumana to 23 January; it may be the same meeting.
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Sunday, 23 January 1977
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In Broumana and in presence of 25 delegates, the week of the Lebanese Forces was held under the sign of coexistence.
This three-day seminar adopted the principle of diversity in respect of heritage and cultures. The seminar emphasized the need to solve Lebanon's economic problem using modern solutions.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne put the Lebanese Front's seminar at the Sayyidat al-Bir convent, not Broumana, on 21 January 1977. Its leaders, they report, judged the independence-era institutions obsolete, raised partition and defined a 'plurality of civilisational groups'. The body was the Lebanese Front, the Christian leaders' coalition, not the Lebanese Forces militia.
Other date in the books: Friday, 21 January 1977
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January 1977: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Raymond Eddé leaves for exile in Paris.
In January 1977 National Bloc leader Raymond Eddé, who had survived several attempts on his life, went into voluntary exile in Paris. He opposed militia rule and the 'Syrian mandate over Lebanon' and sought a strong state for all faiths.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne count three attempts; Hanf says 'a number' and attributes them to the Kataeb and Saiqa.
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January 1978
Sunday, 22 January 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Front adopted a coexistence formula.
Leaders of the Lebanese Front, gathered at President Frangieh's home in Zghorta since the day before, inaugurated their seminar which main themes were the national understanding, the project of Palestinians settlement in Lebanon, and the internal organization of the Front itself. Their final press release made it clear that the Palestinian presence constituted an obstacle to the national understanding and that Lebanon rejected any kind of union.
Other date in the books: Friday, 21 January 1977
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January 1980
Monday, 21 January 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese army projected to deploy in South Lebanon while Israel was strongly opposed to this project.
What the books addDeploying the army, Sarkis insisted on his return from an Arab meeting at Ta'if in February 1980, should come before political reform (Traboulsi). Amal and the Phalange newspaper al-Amal also called for the army to be sent south (Traboulsi; Hanf).
Other date in the books: Thursday, 20 March 1980
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Friday, 25 January 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Fights opposed the Phalange Party and the NLP in Ehmej and Annaya. The road leading to Jbeil was closed. An acute crisis erupted between the two parties.
What the books addOne of many clashes between Kataeb and National Liberal militiamen: de Clerck and Malsagne count 46, with 200 dead, from 1976 to 1980, the latest wave running from 12 May 1979 to 2 July 1980 and reaching Achrafieh early in 1980. Ménargues traces the tension of early 1980 partly to disputes over dividing the arms Israel supplied.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979
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January 1981
Saturday, 3 January 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After its withdrawal from Ain El Remmaneh on October 31, 1980 the Army repositioned on the main road axes in the region.
What the books addDates differ. De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology has the Lebanese Forces controlling East Beirut from 31 October 1980. Ménargues puts the LF's 48-hour assault on Ain al-Remmaneh, held by Elias Hannouche's Chamounists, ten days after the 10 November car bombs, around 20 November 1980.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 31 October 1980, Thursday, 20 November 1980
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Thursday, 8 January 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab Strike Force withdrew from Zahleh.
What the books addAfter the December 1980 clashes in Zahleh, Syrian troops gave up their checkpoints inside the town but kept it under blockade (Hanf). Ménargues, however, says ADF checkpoints were still on the town's main roads when Lebanese Forces fighters seized them in the first days of April 1981.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 22 December 1980, Thursday, 2 April 1981
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January 1982
Tuesday, 12 January 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon makes a secret visit to the Christian-held zone of Lebanon.
Sharon came in person to see the ground and the Christians' political situation before the planned operation. Six days later, on 19 January, the LF sent a delegation to Tel Aviv to coordinate with the Israeli army.
Sources differ: Ménargues is inconsistent: his narrative gives 12–13 January, the Plan M annex 12 January, and since he puts the 19 January trip six days after the visit, that implies 13 January.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 19 January 1982
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January 1984
Monday, 2 January 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The year started like the previous one ended : everyone was talking about a new security plan for the mountain and the Southern suburbs of Beirut. Nevertheless, the fights continued intermittently in these regions between the Army and the Lebanese Forces on one side and the Progressive Socialist Party and Amal on the other.
What the books addOn 29 January the Druze resumed attacking the army at Souk al-Gharb, after Shi'i militia sniping at the army and French troops from mid-January, Hanf's next escalation.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 29 January 1984
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Sunday, 15 January 1984
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Ships from the sixth US fleet were positioned off Beirut. They were retaliating to the bombing of Marines' headquarters in the capital.
Other date in the books: Monday, 9 January 1984
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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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January 1985
Tuesday, 8 January 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The security plan for the coastal road and the Iqlim El Kharroub was finally put into execution. The Internal Security Forces started their deployment in these regions.
What the books addHanf dates the army's advance to 9 January 1985, the day he says the Israelis began to pull back. In his account the plan, agreed with Walid Jumblatt, the Sidon Nasserites and the region's Christian deputies, sent a mainly Muslim battalion into the Iqlim al-Kharroub and the Sidon hinterland.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 9 January 1985
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Saturday, 12 January 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The army deployed on the coastal road South of Beirut and in the Iqlim EL Kharroub after the withdrawal of the Lebanese Forces and the PSP militiamen. The government appointed Edmond Naim Governor of the Central Bank, Michel Samaha CEO of Télé Liban, Mohammed Beydoun president of the Council of the South, and Ayoub Hemayed General Director of the Information.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne say Edmond Naim succeeded Michel el-Khoury at the Central Bank because both the militia chiefs and the unity cabinet could accept him.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 9 January 1985
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Monday, 14 January 1985
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Israeli government decided to withdraw its army from South Lebanon progressively.
What the books addThe withdrawal was unilateral and staged. Antoine Lahad's militia, renamed the South Lebanon Army and backed by Israel, was to police the 'security zone' Israel kept. Historians date the departure from Sidon to 17 February (Traboulsi), and the fall-back to the security zone to May-June 1985 (de Clerck and Malsagne).
Other date in the books: Sunday, 17 February 1985
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January 1986
Tuesday, 14 January 1986
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The eleventh Gemayel-Assad summit was a total failure.
What the books addFor Gemayel, says Traboulsi, the accord robbed the presidency of its arbitrating role; they last met on 13-14 January 1986.
Other date in the books: Monday, 13 January 1986
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Wednesday, 15 January 1986
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In eight hours of violent fights, 100 persons were killed, and the chief of staff of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, evinced Elie Hobeika sending him into exile.
What the books addHistorians date Geagea's takeover to 15 January 1986 (de Clerck and Malsagne; Picard's chronology dates Gemayel's rejection of the accord to the same day). Traboulsi's narrative gives 12 March 1986 instead. De Clerck and Malsagne put the dead at about 800, far above the 100 given here. Hobeika was flown out by army helicopter after an army mediation backed by the patriarch, was briefly exiled in France, then settled in Zahle under Syrian protection.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 12 March 1986
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January 1986: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A wave of assassinations targets Communist and pro-Iraqi Baath leaders.
Assassins killed a number of leading figures in the Lebanese Communist Party and the pro-Iraqi Baath.
Sources differ: Entry 902 places the killing of the Communist leaders Khalil Nous and Souheil Tawileh in late February.
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January 1987
Wednesday, 28 January 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Assad and Gemayel met for 55 minutes in Kuwait during a pan-Islamic conference to put an end to a disagreement that lasted one year. Besides, Washington decided to prohibit US nationals from travelling to Lebanon.
What the books addTraboulsi dates the break between the two presidents to their meeting of 13-14 January 1986, when Gemayel rejected the Syrian-sponsored Tripartite Accord.
Other date in the books: Monday, 13 January 1986
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January 1988
Monday, 18 January 1988
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amal lifts its blockade of the Palestinian camps.
Amal ended the blockade of the Palestinian camps it had kept up since 1985. Hanf gives two reasons: the West Bank intifada, which made Syria and Amal look like Israel's accomplices if they kept squeezing the camps, and Amal's coming fight with Hezbollah.
Sources differ: Existing entry 1053 (20 January) describes Syrian and Sixth Brigade deployment around Chatila and Bourj al-Barajneh. Picard's chronology dates an agreement ending the war of the camps to 11 September 1987; Hanf (p. 304) also says the war ended only in late 1988.
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Wednesday, 20 January 1988
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The camps war, that lasted three years, seems to come close to an end with the deployment of the Syrian army and the Lebanese Army sixth brigade, replacing Amal around Chatila and Bourj-Brajneh.
What the books addHanf (p. 315) dates the lifting of Amal's blockade of the camps to 18 January 1988. The sources disagree on when the war of the camps ended: September 1987 (Picard's chronology), January 1988 (Picard, Hanf, de Clerck) or late 1988 (Hanf, p. 304).
Other dates in the books: Friday, 11 September 1987, Monday, 18 January 1988
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January 1989
Tuesday, 10 January 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The extraordinary conference of Arab ministers of Foreign Affairs was held in Tunis without the Lebanese delegation although the conference covered primarily the Lebanese crisis.
What the books addHanf: Syria, isolated among Arab states, reluctantly accepted the Lebanon commission the Arab League's Council of Ministers set up on 12 January under Kuwait's foreign minister. Iraq launched it to check Syria.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 January 1989
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Monday, 30 January 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Following negotiations conducted in Damascus, the pro-Syrian Amal movement and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah sign an agreement putting an end to their armed conflict that cost the life of 400 persons in 10 months.
What the books addThe dates differ: Hanf says Amal and Hezbollah suspended their war on 25 January, and also writes that the Syrian-Iranian ceasefire took until the spring. De Clerck and Malsagne date the ceasefire to February 1989. Picard names Syria and Iran as sponsors. Death tolls depend on the source and the period: some sources put civilian deaths at about 2,000 for 1988-1990 (de Clerck and Malsagne); an al-Nahar-based count gives 635 dead across 147 incidents between 1985 and 1991; Georges Corm estimated 2,000 dead for 1988-1989.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 25 January 1989
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January 1990
Saturday, 27 January 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Fighting breaks out between the army and the Lebanese Forces over a school in Furn al-Chebbak.
Both sides had Iraqi weapons. The spark was a school in Furn al-Chebbak, a strategic point between Baabda and East Beirut, which the Lebanese Forces had requisitioned and Aoun's government wanted back for the Ministry of Education. When the militia would not leave, the army fired, and heavy fighting broke out in many places within hours.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date the outbreak at Furn al-Chubbak to 31 January (entry 1177); Picard's chronology gives 30 January.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 31 January 1990
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Wednesday, 31 January 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Fights opposing the Lebanese Forces and General Aoun’s army were reported and deprived certain regions of electricity, phone, and water.
What the books addHistorians date the start of this second round of fighting between General Aoun's army and Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces to the last days of January 1990. De Clerck and Malsagne give 31 January, when the army tried to retake positions the militia held at Furn al-Chubbak; they add that the militia's own attack had been planned for 7 February. Hanf dates the first shots to 27 January, over a school in Furn al-Chebbak that the militia refused to hand back to the Ministry of Education. Picard's chronology gives 30 January. The fighting lasted until a ceasefire in May (accounts of its end range from March to July). Aoun's side called it the war for 'unifying the guns'; it is often remembered as the 'War of Elimination'.
Art and memory- artwork Aoun's paper L'Eveil wrote of a people 'born sixty days ago'; posters at the 1989-90 rallies around the Baabda palace cast him as Saint George killing the dragon.
- testimony Among demonstrators polled at Baabda in early 1990, three quarters were under 40 and 95 per cent opposed the Taif decisions (Professor Labaki's unpublished survey, cited by Hanf).
Other dates in the books: Saturday, 27 January 1990, Tuesday, 30 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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January 1993
Monday, 4 January 1993
After the war · From the books
A Ministry for the Displaced and a central fund are created.
Laws 190 and 193 created the ministry and a fund to pay for the return of the displaced, most of them Christians forced out of the Mountain. Walid Jumblatt, whose forces had driven out many of them, ran the ministry from 1992 to 1998.
Sources differ: 1992 (Haugbolle; Picard: minister from October 1992) or 4 January 1993 (de Clerck, Abou Jaoudé, citing the laws). The portfolio may predate the founding laws.
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