111 entries on 109 dates · the books disagree on 111
dates 1–60 of 109 next
December 1968
Saturday, 28 December 1968
The road to war · From the books
Israeli commandos destroy Lebanon's civil airliners at Beirut airport.
In retaliation for a Palestinian attack on an El Al airliner at Athens, Israeli commandos landed by helicopter at Beirut International Airport and destroyed thirteen or fourteen Lebanese passenger planes on the ground, most of them belonging to Middle East Airlines. The army failed to respond. Abroad the raid was widely condemned; at home it fed anger at the state and sympathy for the Palestinians.
Sources differ: Number of aircraft: 13 (Traboulsi, Hanf, Picard, Fisk) or 14 belonging to three Lebanese companies, 8 of them MEA (de Clerck & Malsagne). Traboulsi and Hanf speak of MEA planes only; Fisk and de Clerck & Malsagne of MEA and other companies. Picard says the Israeli air force blew up the planes; Hanf, Fisk and de Clerck & Malsagne describe a heliborne or landed commando. Picard places the Athens attack 'two months earlier'; Hanf and de Clerck & Malsagne date it 26 December 1968. Traboulsi and Hanf call it a hijacking, de Clerck & Malsagne and Fisk an attack.
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April 1969
Wednesday, 23 April 1969
The road to war · From the books
Security forces fire on pro-Palestinian demonstrations; Karami resigns.
Prime Minister Rashid Karami resigned after violent protests, notably in Tripoli: in Beirut and Sidon the army and security forces had fired on mass demonstrations backing the Palestinian resistance, leaving dead and wounded, and in Sidon a march from Ain al-Hilweh camp became an army-commando battle. A cabinet crisis of over seven months followed.
Sources differ: Hanf places Karami's resignation after President Helou's television address of 6 May; Traboulsi and de Clerck & Malsagne put it on or right after 23 April. The length of the crisis is 215 days (Traboulsi) or 216 days (de Clerck & Malsagne). Hanf names Sidon and Ain al-Hilweh; Traboulsi Sidon and Beirut; de Clerck & Malsagne Beirut.
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December 1972
Friday, 15 December 1972
The road to war · From the books
Ghandour locks out and dismisses its workers.
Talks failed; the company locked out and sacked its whole workforce. Traboulsi says it reopened after a week, taking back all but 100 it saw as ringleaders; Tufaro describes a six-month lockout that fresh protests ended, with the demands unmet.
Sources differ: Length of the lockout: one week (Traboulsi) against a declared six months (Tufaro).
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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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April 1973
Tuesday, 10 April 1973
The road to war · From the books
Israeli commandos kill three PLO leaders in rue Verdun, Beirut.
During the night of 9 to 10 April, Israeli commandos came ashore and drove into West Beirut in hired cars. Fatah's Abu Yusuf al-Najjar and Kamal Adwan and the poet Kamal Nasser, PLO spokesman, were killed at home, within about a hundred metres of a police barracks; commandos also landed at Sidon. By the time the army was alerted, the raiders had left.
Sources differ: Operation name: 'Verdun' (de Clerck & Malsagne chronology), 'Wrath of God' (de Clerck & Malsagne, p. 50) or 'Aviv Ne'urim' (Ménargues). Fisk adds that the wife of one leader was killed; de Clerck & Malsagne mention civilian collateral victims. Hanf alone mentions targets in Sidon.
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mid-April 1973 (days after 10 April): day not established
The road to war · From the books
Huge funerals for the PLO leaders; Prime Minister Salam resigns.
When Saeb Salam demanded the removal of the army commander, General Iskandar Ghanem, Frangieh refused and Salam resigned. Huge crowds mourned the three leaders; Traboulsi says they were angry at an army used against Lebanese, not for defence.
Sources differ: Crowd size: a quarter of a million (Traboulsi) or nearly 100,000 (de Clerck & Malsagne).
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December 1974
December 1974 (disputed): day not established
The road to war · From the books
Pierre Gemayel sends President Frangieh a memorandum on the Palestinian presence.
The president, with Camille Chamoun, called for a referendum on the fedayeen after Pierre Gemayel sent him a memorandum demanding they be put under state control and warning that the Rejectionist Front's line risked making Lebanon a second Palestine.
Sources differ: December 1974 (Hanf) or the beginning of 1975 (Picard). De Clerck & Malsagne (p. 68) date Gemayel's own referendum proposal to 20 February 1975, which belongs to the 1975 chronology.
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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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April 1975
Tuesday, 15 April 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A cease-fire was reached
After more than three days of anguish, with 120 deaths and many injuries, two suspects were handed over to the Justice. Beirut and its surroundings have been the theater of violent clashes between the Phalange Party and Palestinian militias. Also, Zghortiotes and Tripolitans fought in Tripoli. A cease-fire was declared at night and all parties reached an agreement, the execution of which was entrusted to the Internal Security Forces.
What the books addAfter several days of fighting (Hanf; four, says Traboulsi), Pierre Gemayel gave up to the police two militiamen implicated in the Ain al-Rummaneh shooting. Early Syrian mediation failed to stop this round, which de Clerck and Malsagne end with a cease-fire on 16 May 1975; no book confirms a truce on 15 April.
Other date in the books: Friday, 16 May 1975
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December 1975
Saturday, 6 December 1975
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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Monday, 8 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Murabitun overrun Kataeb positions in the hotels.
On 8 December the Kataeb lost the Phoenicia and St Georges and were pushed back to Martyrs' Square by a Murabitun offensive, backed by Palestinian groups, on their downtown and hotel-district positions. According to Traboulsi, an army move on 9 December to retake the two hotels brought the Palestinian organisations more directly into the fighting.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 9 December 1975
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Friday, 12 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Sixty people are killed in Zahleh.
Six days after Black Saturday, assaults and shelling by Palestine Liberation Army and Yarmouk units killed sixty Christians of Zahleh; Bishop Bassul called it a massacre.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne blame attacks by the PLA and Yarmouk units; Tegho Bou Nassif blames fedayeen shelling.
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Monday, 15 December 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After a week of dreadful combats, the first phases of the 18th cease-fire agreement were executed with the evacuation of the towers and big hotels in the capital.
What the books addHanf has the Murabitun, discreetly backed by the Palestinians, going on the offensive against the Kataeb downtown and around the hotels on 8 December and seizing the Phoenicia and St Georges. Traboulsi places an army attempt to retake the two hotels on 9 December.
Other dates in the books: Monday, 8 December 1975, Tuesday, 9 December 1975
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Saturday, 20 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
PLA troops cross from Syria and besiege Zahleh.
Syrian guns in the Anti-Lebanon shelled Zahleh as 3,000 men of the PLA's Yarmouk Brigade, under Syrian officers, crossed the border and besieged it from 20 December: Syria was now intervening directly.
Sources differ: Tegho Bou Nassif dates the first Yarmouk infiltration near Zahleh to 30 October 1975.
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Monday, 22 December 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Thousands of armed elements attempted to invade Zahleh
The army riposted and hundreds of shells, mortars and rockets, fell on the Town. Simultaneously, bloody fights were reported in Tripoli.
What the books addBishop Yuhanna Bassul's diary records 500 shells hitting Zahleh on the night of 22 December, with some 15,000 fedayeen gathered in the plain; at his appeal the army's Maghawir commando regiment came to help. Hanf writes that 3,000 men of the PLA's Yarmouk Brigade had entered from Syria on 20 December and besieged the town, which Syrian positions also shelled.
Art and memory- testimony Bishop Yuhanna Bassul of Zahleh kept a regular, detailed diary of the 1975-1976 war, issued by the Greek Catholic diocese in two volumes; most dated Zahleh events here come from it.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 20 December 1975
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December 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian militias expel Muslims from enclaves north and east of Beirut.
In December Palestinian guerrillas seized Ta'labaya, a Christian village of the Bekaa, and expelled its people. Christian militias drove out a Bedouin group from the hills east of Beirut and the inhabitants of a Shi'i district beside Antelias, home to an active Communist branch.
Sources differ: Tegho Bou Nassif dates the fall of Ta'labaya to 21 January 1976; this may be a second attack.
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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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April 1976
Friday, 2 April 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A ten-day truce had bee decided, in order to elect a new President of the Republic after the expected departure of Sleiman Frangieh.
What the books addParliament used the truce to amend Article 73 of the constitution so that Frangieh's successor could be elected early: on 9 April according to Hanf, 10 April according to Yara El Khoury. The truce had coincided with the arrival on 31 March of the US envoy Dean Brown.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 31 March 1976, Friday, 9 April 1976, Saturday, 10 April 1976
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Friday, 9 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Parliament amends the constitution to allow an early presidential election.
With Syria enforcing a truce, deputies changed Article 73 of the constitution so that Frangieh's successor could be elected up to six months before his term ended, not two.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 9 April, Yara El Khoury 10 April.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 10 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian forces enter the Bekaa; Saiqa moves to relieve besieged Zahleh.
Syrian army tanks appeared at Anjar, Judaydat Yabus and Bayadir al-Adas, inside Lebanon, while Saiqa fighters came in and began to relieve besieged Zahleh. When Jumblatt asked, Dean Brown said the Syrians were clearing roads.
Sources differ: The original entry 62 dates the Syrian entry into the Bekaa to 10 April.
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Monday, 12 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad attacks the National Movement and offers to intervene.
Pierre Gemayel called it a historic speech: in Damascus, President Assad said Syria was ready to send forces into Lebanon to protect any oppressed group, Christian or Muslim, and attacked the PLO and National Movement leaders.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology lists 'al-Asad's speech attacking LNM' under '13 March', apparently a misprint for 12 April.
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Thursday, 15 April 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Despite the extension of the truce, several fronts were set ablaze, including those in Beirut.
A new agreement, called the Damascus Agreement, was likely to be applied in the next 48 hours. Syrian and Resistance leaders had signed it. The agreement stipulated ending hostilities, reactivating the 'Supreme Military Committee', refusing the partition of Lebanon, rejecting American arrangements and plans in Lebanon, continuing the Syrian initiative and refusing the internationalization or the 'Arabization' of the Lebanese crisis. Also, an agreement had been reached stipulating the withdrawal of Syrian troops that entered the Bekaa region on April 10, back to the Masnaa borderline.
What the books addTraboulsi's chronology puts the Syrian-PLO accord to restore order in Beirut on 11 April. Around 9 April Syrian army tanks entered the Bekaa at Anjar, Judaydat Yabus and Bayadir al-Adas (Traboulsi), some forty in all according to Yara El Khoury, as Saiqa fighters set about ending the siege of Zahleh.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 9 April 1976, Sunday, 11 April 1976
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December 1976
December 1976: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Raymond Eddé leaves for exile in Paris.
National Bloc leader Raymond Eddé, targeted in three assassination attempts, chose exile in Paris (December 1976 per Picard, January 1977 per de Clerck and Malsagne), rejecting the militia system.
Sources differ: Picard gives December 1976; de Clerck and Malsagne January 1977.
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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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April 1979
Sunday, 22 April 1979
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Attack on Nahariya; Israeli officers set up a secret bombing front in Lebanon.
Senior Israeli officers answered a Palestinian raid on Nahariya, in northern Israel, by creating the 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners', manned by Lebanese of several communities. Up to 1983 its bombs killed hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians, civilians and fighters alike. Prime Minister Begin was told of it only in June 1980.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne attribute the Nahariya attack to the PFLP.
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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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April 1980
mid-April 1980: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Irish UNIFIL soldier Stephen Griffin is killed in fighting at At-Tiri.
Fighting broke out at At-Tiri between Saad Haddad's militia and UNIFIL. Militia gunmen killed Private Stephen Griffin, 21, of the Irish battalion, and UN soldiers killed a local militiaman; two of his brothers were later held responsible for the murder of two other Irish soldiers.
Sources differ: Fisk's wording implies 18 April. Stored entries 346 and 347 (10 and 12 April) describe Israeli and militia action against UNIFIL in the same days.
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April 1980: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Nabih Berri becomes leader of the Amal movement.
The lawyer Nabih Berri took over Amal after a short spell under the deputy Hussein Husseini. Under Berri the movement fought the Palestinian organisations and their Lebanese allies, and called for Palestinian fighters to leave residential districts and for the Lebanese army to be sent south.
Sources differ: Hanf and de Clerck and Malsagne's 2020 article give April 1980; the other books give only the year. The 2020 article and the 2025 book are by the same authors.
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December 1980
Friday, 12 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel presents President Sarkis with a federal plan.
An army-backed coup before the 1982 presidential election was what a confidential paper drafted for Bashir Gemayel by Karim Pakradouni proposed; he and Sarkis went over it at Baabda. Its aims: ending Syria's occupation, the curbing, then destruction, of the Palestinian organisations, and a federal system replacing the 1926 constitution. Sarkis asked for time, never answering directly.
Sources differ: Traboulsi names Pakradouni and Abou Khalil as authors and says Elie Hobeika and Zahi Boustani took the plan to Iraq; Ménargues names Pakradouni, with edits by Antoine Najm.
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Sunday, 14 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel warns his brother Amine's officer to stop building a separate militia.
Bashir Gemayel ran into Colonel Ibrahim Tannous, close to his brother Amine, at the Jeitawi hospital and warned him to stop building up Amine's militia. A month earlier Amine had defied the common Lebanese Forces badge by parading some 3,000 men in Phalange insignia at Jdeideh. Ménargues says Amine backed down from then on.
Sources differ: Hanf says Amine's Metn militia kept a measure of autonomy until 1988.
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Saturday, 20 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Elias Hannouche's men seize the National Liberal office in Zahle; fighting with Syrian troops.
Rocket, mortar and heavy machine-gun fire swept central Zahle until about 11 p.m., when Syrian troops and Elias Hannouche's men withdrew. Under Syrian protection, Hannouche had seized the former National Liberal Party office early that morning with some forty men; local Lebanese Forces failed to dislodge them, Syrian soldiers intervened, and an LF fighter was killed.
Sources differ: Hanf gives November and December without a day.
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Sunday, 21 December 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The situation worsened in Zahleh under heavy bombardments. These confrontations between Zahliotes and soldiers from the Arab Strike Force continued until December 26 when a cease-fire eased the tension.
What the books addThe crisis began on 20 December when Elias Hannouche, a former Tiger commander backed by Syria, seized the old National Liberal office in Zahle. After an ambush inside the town killed five Syrian soldiers on 22 December, Syrian artillery opened fire on it (Ménargues; Hanf counts an officer and five soldiers). De Clerck and Malsagne date the bombardment to 21 December and call it the first round of the battle of Zahle. Most of the former Tigers then joined the Lebanese Forces, and Syrian troops stayed positioned around the town until the siege of spring 1981.
Other dates in the books: Saturday, 20 December 1980, Monday, 22 December 1980
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Monday, 22 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Five Syrian soldiers are killed in Zahle; Syrian artillery shells the town.
In Ménargues's account an ambush inside Zahleh killed five Syrian soldiers; when the town would not hand over the culprits after six hours of shelling, it was pounded non-stop for 48 hours, until Washington deplored Syria's conduct in public. Hanf gives an officer and five soldiers dead, shelling through Christmas week and a real ceasefire only weeks later.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date the Syrian bombardment to 21 December (stored entry 415), Ménargues to 22 December onwards. End of the shelling: 26 December (entry 415), after about 48 hours (Ménargues), or an effective ceasefire only weeks later (Hanf).
Other date in the books: Sunday, 21 December 1980
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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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April 1981
Thursday, 2 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The battle of Zahleh begins.
From December 1980 the Syrian army held positions on the edge of Zahleh. Lebanese Forces fighters in the town repulsed its attack, and a siege of roughly 90 days followed, which Bashir Gemayel portrayed as a fight for 'the last Christian town' of the East.
Sources differ: Ménargues ends the siege on 30 June 1981 and Fisk by 1 July; de Clerck & Malsagne (p. 80) place the end of hostilities in May–June.
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Saturday, 4 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An intensive bombardment in Zahleh killed 20 and injured 100.
What the books addMénargues dates a day of intensive shelling of Zahleh, with about twenty dead, to 6 April.
Other date in the books: Monday, 6 April 1981
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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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Sunday, 12 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Following several days of violent confrontations with the Phalange militia, the Arab Strike Force completed its occupation of the most strategic hills of Zahleh. The supply channels between the capital of the Bekaa and Mount Lebanon were closed.
What the books addMénargues writes that Syrian special forces, landed by helicopter at dawn on 10 April, soon took the heights of Qalaat Aramta and Deir Charfé around Zahleh, leaving its defenders almost encircled.
Other date in the books: Friday, 10 April 1981
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Wednesday, 22 April 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The nightmare continued. The Lebanese authorities were completely powerless to stop the violence and the conflicting parties were unable to reach an agreement. The Beirut International Airport was closed to traffic and both dead and wounded victims continued to shed their blood on this agonizing Lebanese land.
What the books addAccording to Ménargues, Bashir Gemayel answered the collapse of a cease-fire on 22 April, which left 140 dead or wounded in Beirut within hours, by having the international airport shelled. On 11 May US ambassador John Gunther Dean urged the Lebanese Forces, via Alfred Madi, to let it reopen; that evening they dropped their objection.
Other date in the books: Monday, 11 May 1981
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Friday, 24 April 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian helicopter-borne troops seize the summit of Mount Sannine.
Helicopter-borne Syrian special forces overran the Lebanese Forces' posts on Sannine's crest, among them the 'French Room', a mountain post the French built in 1939. Holding Sannine let the Syrians dominate the Christian region down to the coast. Israel's air strike of 28 April followed.
Sources differ: The date is disputed: 24 April (Ménargues), 26 April (Hanf), 21 April for a first landing and 27 April for the fort (Phalangists quoted by Fisk). Ménargues gives the most detail (hour, units, commander), but he relies heavily on Lebanese Forces sources.
Other dates in the books: Tuesday, 21 April 1981, Sunday, 26 April 1981
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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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December 1981
Tuesday, 15 December 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A bomb attack destroyed the Iraqi embassy. 20 persons were killed including the ambassador and 100 were wounded.
What the books addMénargues dates the bombing to 16 December. The six-storey embassy at Ramlet al-Baida was destroyed by an explosives-laden car driven by Shiite suicide attackers; a group nobody knew claimed it, and the ambassador's body took four days to find. It followed heavy fighting in West Beirut on 4 December between Amal and pro-Iraqi Baathists, and a Lebanese Forces visit to Baghdad.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 16 December 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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April 1982
Wednesday, 21 April 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Six successive raids were reported within 90 minutes against Aramoun, Naameh and Damour, putting an end to a cease-fire that lasted 9 months. This new aggression claimed the lives of 80 victims.
What the books addFisk, on the coast road when it began, dates the Damour raid to 22 April: Israeli jets struck for over two hours, killing at least 19 Palestinians; Israel cited the death of a soldier on a mine in the south. For Fisk it previewed the invasion.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 22 April 1982
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December 1982
April 1983
Tuesday, 26 April 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Phalangist militia handed over the alleged assassin of Bechir Gemayel, Habib Chartouni, to the Army.
What the books addMénargues dates the handover to 28 April 1983. Held in an army intelligence cell at the Defence Ministry in Yarze, Chartouni admitted the killing before the military prosecutor that day. The case was later handed by Amine Gemayel's cabinet to a constitutional High Court that had never been created; he was freed on 13 October 1990.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 28 April 1983
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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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