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1972, 1979

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22 entries on 22 dates · the books disagree on 22

February 1972

February 1972: day not established

The road to war · From the books

The Israeli army invades the south as far as the Litani.
Picard counts over 100 dead and over 150 houses destroyed as Israeli troops, aiming to disable the fedayeen and their Lebanese backers, drove south to several points on the Litani.

Sources differ: Picard gives one toll, 'on each occasion', for this and the September 1972 invasion alike.

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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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November 1972

Friday, 3 November 1972

The road to war · From the books

Workers at the Ghandour factories begin an open-ended strike.
On 3 November 1972 an indefinite strike began at the Ghandour confectionery group, Lebanon's largest non-unionised industrial workforce. Workers wanted their factory committee recognised, the right to unionise, equal wages for women and higher pay.

Sources differ: Workforce: 1,200 in Shiyah (Traboulsi) or about 1,250 in Choueifat plus 350 in Chiyah (Tufaro).

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Saturday, 11 November 1972

The road to war · From the books

Police fire on Ghandour strikers, killing two.
Two workers died on 11 November 1972 when security forces opened fire outside Ghandour's Chiyah plant: Fatima al-Khawaja of the Communist Party and Yusuf al-Attar of the OCA's workers' committees. Others were wounded. De Clerck & Malsagne call it the first workers' protest since independence put down with deadly force.

Sources differ: Wounded: 14 (Traboulsi) or 19, including 13 policemen (de Clerck & Malsagne).

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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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1972

1972 (month not given): day not established

The road to war · From the books

The last parliamentary elections before the war.
After the 1972 general elections there were none for twenty years; the parliament they chose sat through the whole war. Hanf rates them Lebanon's cleanest and freest; Traboulsi stresses how little they let new forces in.

Sources differ: Hanf: Lebanon's freest elections; Traboulsi, citing Le Monde: a chamber hardly representing public opinion.

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February 1979

Monday, 12 February 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Brian Urqhart, the assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, examined with Lebanese officials the modalities of the Army's deployment in the South next to the UNIFL Israel nevertheless rejected the program.

Other date in the books: Wednesday, 18 April 1979

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Wednesday, 14 February 1979

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Revolution in Iran: Lebanon's Shi'is find a patron abroad.
Iran became an Islamic Republic after the Shah's overthrow; its new defence minister, Mustapha Chamran, had directed a technical school in south Lebanon founded by Sadr. With Musa al-Sadr's disappearance in Libya, the revolution quickly mobilised the Shi'is of Beirut and the south and gave Amal fresh strength.

Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne give 14 February 1979 for the birth of the Islamic Republic; Hanf and Traboulsi date the overthrow of the Shah to January 1979. These may be different stages of the revolution.

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March 1979

Tuesday, 13 March 1979

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Parliament adopts a law to rebuild the army and send it south.
The new defence law set up a Higher Defence Council and a Military Council, allocated military posts by sect among the six main communities, allowed the army to be used only with national consensus, and planned its deployment to the UNIFIL area in the south.

Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne give 13 March 1979 in their text and 13 May in their chronology, where the entry sits between February and March, so 13 May is probably a slip. Picard gives March 1979.

Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 18 April 1979, Sunday, 13 May 1979

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Monday, 26 March 1979

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Egypt and Israel sign a peace treaty; the Lebanese balance shifts.
In Lebanon the Israeli-Egyptian treaty, signed in Washington, had deep effects. The Lebanese Forces strengthened their cooperation with Israel, and Syria moved closer to the PLO, letting it return in 1979 to its earlier positions south of Beirut. For Traboulsi, the peace process undermined the Sarkis regime.

Sources differ: Traboulsi and Picard give the month only; de Clerck and Malsagne give 26 March.

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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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May 1979

Tuesday, 15 May 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The Phalange Party and the LNP merged under the sign of cooperation with the State.

What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the start of the fighting between Kataeb and National Liberal Party militias to 12 May 1979, at Furn el-Chebbak; clashes recurred in various places until July 1980.

Other date in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979

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May 1979: day not established

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

Clashes between the Kataeb and the Armenian Tashnag militia.
Refusing to pay the Christian militias' levies, the militia of the Armenian Tashnag party, which had largely kept out of the 1975-76 war, clashed briefly with the Kataeb. Fighting resumed later in the year before the dispute was settled.

Sources differ: Hanf gives May and September 1979 (the original has a clash on 11 September); de Clerck and Malsagne give November.

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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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Monday, 18 June 1979

The Lebanese war · Added from the books

The army enters Ain al-Rummaneh and clashes with Bashir Gemayel's militiamen.
Unable to stop the fighting between their own militias, Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun turned to President Sarkis, who sent in the army. In Ain al-Rummaneh the troops clashed bloodily with Bashir Gemayel's Kataeb fighters, the first serious confrontation between the army and a Lebanese militia, and relations between the army and the Lebanese Forces worsened thereafter.

Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne put the Ain al-Rummaneh turning point on 18 June (p. 275) but have the army called in on 14 June in another passage (p. 321). Original entry 272, of 16 June, expected the army to move in early the following week, which fits Monday 18 June.

Other date in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979

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August 1979

Tuesday, 14 August 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Tension reached its peak everywhere in Lebanon.
Heavy fights opposed the Lebanese Forces to the Lebanese army at the Beirut River's Corniche and in Oyoune el Simane.

Other date in the books: Monday, 18 June 1979

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Friday, 31 August 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr, a general strike paralyzed Beirut. For the first time Sheikh Mohammed Mehdi chamseddine accused the Libyans of his disappearance.

Other date in the books: Friday, 25 August 1978

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September 1979

Saturday, 22 September 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

President Elias Sarkis delivered an important speech, in which he emphasized the overriding role the army should play. Without it 'the State will be a body with no soul', he said. He insisted that the Arabs should stop to shilly-shally about Southern Lebanon.

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 13 March 1979

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October 1979

Tuesday, 23 October 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

Phalangist elements and the LNP fought in Beit Mery.

Other date in the books: Saturday, 12 May 1979

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Saturday, 27 October 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

A car bomb exploded in basta, next to the office of the Army of Arabic Lebanon provoking 8 deaths and 32 injuries. The attack was followed by a strike in West Beirut.

Other date in the books: Sunday, 22 April 1979

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November 1979

Monday, 12 November 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The work document that Lebanon was going to present in Tunis, contained 6 main points: exercising pressure on the United States to end Israeli aggressions, freezing the actions of the Fedayin, laying the Lebanese authority in the South, banning any illegal armed presence, re-activating the Beiteddine Committee, and grouping guerillas in some specified zones.

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 20 November 1979

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Friday, 23 November 1979

The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology

The Tunis summit was disappointing. Lebanon received only a solemn proclamation of support doubled by a financial assistance up to 2 billion dollars, but the Southern Lebanon problem remained unsolved, the summit having just called the State and the resistance to get along.

What the books addThe Arab summit met in Tunis from 20 to 22 November 1979.

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 20 November 1979

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