79 entries on 78 dates · the books disagree on 79
dates 1–60 of 78 next
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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May 1981
Monday, 4 May 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Reagan sends Philip Habib to the Middle East.
Reagan sent Philip Habib, a retired US diplomat of Lebanese descent, as special envoy to ease the Syrian–Israeli missile crisis; he spent months travelling between Jerusalem, Damascus, Riyadh and Beirut.
Sources differ: Ménargues implies Habib was expected in Damascus on 2 May, before de Clerck & Malsagne's date of 4 May for his dispatch.
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Friday, 8 May 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The American envoy Philip Habib began his talks at the Baabda Palace.
What the books addMénargues writes that Habib came from Damascus by road on the evening of 7 May, Beirut airport being closed. De Clerck and Malsagne date Reagan's dispatch of Habib to 4 May.
Other date in the books: Monday, 4 May 1981
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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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Tuesday, 12 May 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
SAM missiles were launched against Israeli spy airplanes.
What the books addMénargues's run of drone losses begins on 14 May, when a Syrian SAM-6 downed an Israeli reconnaissance drone over the Bekaa; more were lost on 19, 22 (two) and 25 May.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 14 May 1981
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June 1981
Monday, 8 June 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab Vigilance Committee, ending its meetings in Beiteddine, took note of all the parties' commitment to respect the cease-fire on the Lebanese territory. On the other hand, the Committee announced that it would meet again on June 23 in Saudi Arabia and on July 4 in Beiteddine.
What the books addThe meeting was called after Begin told the Knesset on 4 June of his promises to Lebanon's Christians. The Arab envoys asked Bashir Gemayel to break with Israel; he demanded guarantees in return (Hanf, Ménargues).
Other date in the books: Thursday, 4 June 1981
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Tuesday, 30 June 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
95 militiamen from the Lebanese Forces were evacuated from Zahleh with their individual weapons after having surrendered their heavy weapons to the Arab Strike Force and to the Internal Security Forces. An Internal Security Forces unit was positioned in the neighborhoods of Zahleh.
What the books addMénargues has some 600 Internal Security Forces gendarmes entering Zahleh on 30 June, ending the siege, and the 95 fighters from outside the town leaving by bus over a mountain road behind a Syrian colonel's car, past Syrian troops posted along it; Hanf says they left under Saudi escort. Siege toll: 200 dead and over 2,000 wounded (Ménargues), over 200 and 2,000 (de Clerck and Malsagne), 300 and 3,000 by the Phalange's count (Fisk).
Art and memory- place Of 38 civilians in a warehouse basement by Zahleh's disused railway, one child survived when tank fire toppled the building; after the siege Fisk also found the town's dead under wooden crosses in a makeshift graveyard.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 1 July 1981
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July 1981
Monday, 6 July 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Bashir Gemayel pledges in writing to break with Israel.
Bashir Gemayel met the Arab Vigilance Committee's condition, a pledge of no cooperation with Israel, in a letter to Sarkis, signed after a secret night visit to Israel on 5–6 July to brief Begin. Sarkis told the committee but never made the letter public.
Sources differ: The original entry 482 dates a Sarkis–Gemayel meeting on the pledge to 8 July.
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Wednesday, 8 July 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The chief of State Elias Sarkis, met with Bechir Gemayel and Pierre Gemayel. He announced after the meeting that he was given guarantees concerning the rupture of the relations with Israel.
What the books addBashir Gemayel's pledge took the form of a letter to President Sarkis dated 6 July, which Sarkis never published (Ménargues).
Other date in the books: Monday, 6 July 1981
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Tuesday, 14 July 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Syrian MiG is shot down over south Lebanon.
A Syrian MiG was lost near Kfarfalous when Syria's air force tried to intercept Israeli fighter-bombers over the south.
Sources differ: Original entry 489 records a Syrian MiG downed on 29 July; Ménargues's Kfarfalous loss is on 14 July, so they may be separate.
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Monday, 20 July 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Iraq opens a channel to the Lebanese Forces.
Iraq, fighting Syria's ally Iran, provided aid after a pro-Iraqi Baathist lawyer, Gebran Majdalani, offered Bashir Gemayel direct ties with Baghdad. LF envoys met Tariq Aziz in Paris in mid-August and went to Baghdad in December.
Sources differ: Ménargues says the Lebanese Forces refused Iraqi money; Traboulsi says Iraq gave money as well as arms.
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Tuesday, 21 July 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the bombardment continued in South Lebanon, the Security Council ordered a cease-fire; but the latter wasn't observed despite the presence of the US envoy Philip Habib in the region.
What the books addMénargues dates to 22 July Reagan's indefinite freeze on F-16 deliveries to Israel and a unanimous Security Council call for an immediate cease-fire, which Arafat accepted at once.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 22 July 1981
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Friday, 24 July 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Philip Habib finally succeeded in his mission. A cease-fire was reached and accepted by both the Israelis and the Palestinians.
What the books addThe cease-fire came from separate talks with Israel and the PLO, helped by Saudi diplomats (Hanf), with the UN relaying to the PLO (Ménargues, Fisk). Border fire was to stop; Syria could keep its Bekaa missiles unused, and Israeli overflights continued. In Ménargues's account a last Israeli demand held up Israel's public acceptance for two days.
Other date in the books: Friday, 17 July 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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September 1981
Friday, 11 September 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Museum roadway was officially reopened after several days of shilly-shallying.
What the books addMénargues sets the agreement at the Vigilance Committee meeting of 11 September, where Syria's Mohammad Ghanem came out for deploying the Lebanese Army from Sodeco to the port. The Museum crossing, almost completely shut for five months, reopened on 12 September.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 12 September 1981
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October 1981
Thursday, 1 October 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The horror record was broken. A car bomb devastated half of a street in the Boustani neighborhood in Tarik Jdideh killing 83 and injuring 225. Another car scheduled to explode a little bit later in the same area was defused.
What the books addThis bomb ended a wave of attacks (17 September to 2 October 1981, about 300 dead) that de Clerck and Malsagne, after Ronen Bergman, attribute to the 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners', set up by Israeli officers; Bergman says its car bombs from October 1981 aimed to provoke the Palestinians into a reprisal that would justify an invasion.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 17 September 1981
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November 1981
Monday, 2 November 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab Strike Force launched a security operation in the West of the capital where Palestinian, Libyan and Iranian influence multiplied lately.
Other date in the books: Friday, 11 September 1981
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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 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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February 1987
Tuesday, 17 February 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Communist thinker Hussein Mroue is assassinated.
Hussein Mroue, a prominent Marxist thinker of the Lebanese Communist Party, was murdered, one of several party officials and intellectuals killed in 1986-87 amid the rift between Hezbollah and the Communists.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne link the killings to the break between Hezbollah and the Communist Party; Hanf attributes the murders of Communist intellectuals in early 1987 to Amal supporters. Neither names the killers of Mroue specifically.
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Sunday, 22 February 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Syrian army returns to West Beirut.
Much of the population welcomed the Syrian troops who entered West Beirut at Muslim leaders' invitation after a week of fighting between Amal and the PSP and its leftist allies. Militiamen were banned from carrying arms in the streets; Amal fell back to the southern suburbs, which the Syrians left alone. Gemayel protested.
Sources differ: Date: 22 February (Hanf; de Clerck and Malsagne, twice), 20 February (Picard), 28 February (Traboulsi). 22 February has the most support and is also the date given in original entry 988. Size of force: two brigades (Hanf), 12,000 soldiers plus Special Forces (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8,000 (Quéméner).
Other dates in the books: Friday, 20 February 1987, Saturday, 28 February 1987
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February 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian troops kill some twenty Hezbollah members in Beirut.
About twenty Hezbollah fighters were killed when Syrian troops enforcing the arms ban stormed a Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. Fisk wrote that month of killings of prisoners held by Syria in Beirut.
Sources differ: Hanf places the killing of 23 Hezbollah fighters right after the Syrian entry of 22 February, and Fisk writes of Syrian killings of prisoners in Beirut in February 1987; de Clerck and Malsagne date the storming of Hezbollah's headquarters and the killing of about twenty members to the end of 1987. The Confluences article is by the same two authors, so it is not independent confirmation. February has the better support.
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March 1987
Saturday, 28 March 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An anti-Syrian assault in Ramlet El Baida constituted the most serious incident since the entry of Syrian troops in West Beirut on February 22nd.
What the books addHanf writes that in June 1987 Walid Jumblatt was forced to surrender to Syria several men of the PSP intelligence branch, his security chief among them, who had joined in hit-and-run attacks on Syrian forces in West Beirut.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 22 February 1987
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April 1987
Sunday, 5 April 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An agreement was concluded between the National Palestinian Salvation Front and the Amal movement under the aegis of Ghazi Kanaan. This agreement stipulated a global cease-fire and the end of the camps' blockade in Beirut
What the books addUnder the 5 April accord, reached by Amal, the PLO and the pro-Syrian Palestinian National Salvation Front with the Syrian general Ghazi Kanaan present, the blockade was to be lifted, the wounded taken out and the PLO was to leave three villages near Sidon. Food and medicine then reached Chatila and Bourj al-Barajneh, the first since March. Picard dates the end of the siege to an Amal-Palestinian agreement of 11 September 1987; Hanf has Amal lifting the blockade only on 18 January 1988.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 11 September 1987, Monday, 18 January 1988
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April 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Clerics propose an Islamic republic for Lebanon, with a draft constitution.
Amal's leaders distanced themselves from an Iranian-style draft constitution by Iranian and Lebanese clerics: all laws to follow Islamic law, an all-Shi'i council to design the new order, autonomy for minorities where they were the majority.
Sources differ: Hanf's footnote 220 dates the same Hottinger article to 6 May 1987, his bibliography to 6 April 1987.
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May 1987
Monday, 18 May 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Marxist thinker Mahdi Amel (Hassan Hamdan) is assassinated.
Hassan Hamdan, known as Mahdi Amel, a philosopher and leading theorist of the Lebanese Communist Party, was assassinated. Hanf says his Shi'i background made him especially hated, branded an 'atheist traitor'.
Sources differ: Responsibility: Hanf names Amal supporters; de Clerck and Malsagne place the killing in the context of the Hezbollah-Communist break without naming the killers.
Art and memory- book Hanf's annotated list of Arabic writing on the war includes Mahdi Amel's 1979 work on the causes of the civil war, Theory in Political Practice, and describes its author as a Shi'i philosophy professor and Communist Party member.
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June 1987
Friday, 5 June 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A general strike paralyses the country for five days.
A general strike, part of the CGTL's drive for peace and an economic rescue plan, shut the country down for close to five days.
Sources differ: Hanf lists CGTL political strikes in 1987 for April, July, August, September and November, but none in June. The strike began four days after Karami's assassination, on the day Husseini resigned (original entry 1003).
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September 1987
Friday, 11 September 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amal and the Palestinians agree to end the war of the camps.
Picard puts the end of the war of the camps on this day, with an Amal-Palestinian agreement. Other historians date the end of the siege differently: to a ceasefire on 5 April 1987, and to 18 January 1988, when Amal finally lifted the blockade after the Palestinian intifada had begun.
Sources differ: End of the camps war or siege: 5 April 1987 ceasefire (de Clerck and Malsagne; original entry 989), 11 September 1987 (Picard), 18 January 1988 (Hanf), January 1988 for Chatila (de Clerck and Malsagne, who date the war 1985-1987).
Other dates in the books: Sunday, 5 April 1987, Monday, 18 January 1988
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September 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amal and Hezbollah clash in the south.
Amal and Hezbollah fighters clashed in southern Lebanon, the two movements already at odds over Lebanon's future, recruitment and Iranian money. Their open war began in April 1988.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date the start of the Amal-Hezbollah conflict to a Syrian assault on Hezbollah at the end of 1987, and its first phase to 5 April 1988.
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1987
1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The worst currency crisis since independence.
The Lebanese pound collapsed in 1987: worth about 35 to the dollar in 1986, it stood at some 520 in 1987, having lost up to 90 percent of its value. Inflation ran at 450 to 620 percent according to the measure used, and nearly one Lebanese in five was poor.
Sources differ: Inflation for 1987: 620 percent retail prices (Hanf) against 450 percent for the Beirut consumer price index (de Clerck and Malsagne); the two measure different things. The original entries 979, 1011, 1033 and 1038 give the daily stages (about LL 100 in February, 162 in July, near 500 in late October).
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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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February 1990
Saturday, 3 February 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
February 3, 4
The army takes control of Dbayeh after a tough battle.
What the books addHanf: the army's counter-offensive of 6 February 1990 reached the coast near Antelias and took Dbayeh, home to Lebanese Forces barracks and the militia's finance department.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 6 February 1990
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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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Sunday, 11 February 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Kesrouan was now at the center of the Aoun-Geagea conflict. Despite all mediations and attempts to maintain the precarious truce, belligerents were fighting on the new front of Daraya, separating the Metn and the Kesrouan.
What the books addColonel Paul Fares declared himself head of a 'neutral army' on 10 February 1990, as a Lebanese Forces push on the army's Kleiat mountain position stalled (Hanf).
Other date in the books: Saturday, 10 February 1990
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Thursday, 15 February 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Despite Mgr Sfeir's pathetic call, a blaze of fire hits the 'Christian country'. The army takes control of Ain el Remmaneh.
What the books addHanf: after the army took Ain al-Rummaneh on 16 February 1990, having attacked the eastern suburbs on the 11th, the Lebanese Forces fell back to Ashrafieh through West Beirut. A Reuters reporter with the troops said it was 'like an earthquake had hit it'.
Other dates in the books: Sunday, 11 February 1990, Friday, 16 February 1990
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after 16 February 1990: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Geagea asks the Hrawi government for help.
The four Fouga-Magister aircraft seized at Halat went to General Lahoud's Qlayaat base as a goodwill gesture from Samir Geagea, who after losing Ain al-Rummaneh appealed to the 'legal authorities', the President and the Hoss cabinet. Hrawi's price: unreserved acceptance of the Taif Agreement and of the government's authority.
Sources differ: Entry 1190 dates Geagea's rapprochement with Hrawi to 3 April.
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March 1990
Wednesday, 14 March 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Six weeks of inter-Christian fightings cost Lebanon over a third of its annual GNP and continue to paralyze the country's industrial heart.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 31 January 1990
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April 1990
Tuesday, 3 April 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The chief of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, joins President Hraoui, while General Michel Aoun turns to the Arab Troika. At the same time, the N.L.P. withdraws from the commandment of the Lebanese Forces.
What the books addHanf: Hrawi made unconditional acceptance of Taif the price of help when Geagea, after losing Ain al-Rummaneh, turned to the 'legal authorities' (Hrawi and the Hoss government) and passed four captured Fouga-Magister aircraft to General Lahoud's Qlayaat base. Aoun, low on fuel and ammunition, was supplied by the SSNP and Hobeika's pro-Syrian militia (Hanf); de Clerck and Malsagne also name Frangieh and Jumblatt.
Other date in the books: Friday, 16 February 1990
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Monday, 23 April 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the blockade war rages between the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Forces, the President of the Republic declines Geagea's offer to surrender to him the barracks of Jbeil and the Kesrouan.
Other date in the books: Friday, 16 February 1990
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April to early May 1990: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The army is stopped short of the Lebanese Forces headquarters at Karantina.
In April, Vatican, US and Israeli pressure stopped the army short of Karantina, the Lebanese Forces' headquarters, which it was preparing to storm after taking the Metn and upper Kisrawan in weeks of fighting that killed several hundred. De Clerck and Malsagne also cite the jamming of army radios by Israeli radars in militia hands, officers won over or bought by the militia, and Patriarch Sfeir's threat to excommunicate Christian soldiers.
Sources differ: Hanf sees stalemate from March, the Lebanese Forces keeping Karantina, with no hint it was about to fall; for Fisk, by July Aoun and Geagea each held half the Christian enclave.
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May 1990
Tuesday, 8 May 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Lebanese Forces shell the Military Academy; its commander, General François Zein, is mortally wounded.
Lebanese Forces guns deliberately and repeatedly shelled the Military Academy, killing its commander, General François Zein, the most senior officer to die in the war. De Clerck and Malsagne see the army, with many Muslim officers and cadets, as a symbol of national unity and a prime target for the militia, whose 'military school' at Ghosta was losing Christian cadets to it.
Sources differ: Entry 1195 on the same day records Aoun closing the roads to Lebanese Forces areas.
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Monday, 21 May 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Vatican-mediated ceasefire between the army and the Lebanese Forces takes effect.
A Vatican-mediated ceasefire took effect between Aoun's army and the Lebanese Forces. Mutual exhaustion held it; their hatred did not abate, and the Christian enclave stayed divided between them through the summer.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date the truce to 26 May. Accounts of when the war ended differ: March (Quéméner), May (Traboulsi, Fisk), July (Picard).
Other date in the books: Saturday, 26 May 1990
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June 1990
July 1990
Sunday, 15 July 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lakhdar Ibrahimi met, for the first time since the Taef agreement, with General Michel Aoun, after having conferred with Presidents Hraoui, Husseini and Hoss. Later on, he met with the chief of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea.
What the books addAoun answered Ibrahimi's offer of a national unity cabinet including himself and Geagea with conditions of his own: a stronger president, no appointed deputies, and the militias dissolved and elections held before the Taif amendments were ratified. Hanf counts at least four meetings between the two in summer 1990; Ibrahimi confessed he could not tell what Aoun wanted.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 11 July 1990
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July 1990: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The war of Iqlim al-Tuffah between Amal and Hezbollah begins.
Amal and Hezbollah fought mainly over Iqlim al-Tuffah, high ground east of Sidon and a route to the Israeli-held border strip. Hanf has the clashes there resuming in December 1989; Hezbollah's official account starts its 'war of Iqlim al-Tuffah' in July 1990, with an Amal siege lasting nearly 100 days.
Sources differ: Hanf: from December 1989. The Confluences article is by the same authors as the 2025 book.
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August 1990
Tuesday, 21 August 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The second Lebanese Republic was born and the National Assembly approved with a majority of 48 deputies the constitutional reforms included in the Taef agreement. However, General Aoun continued to contest the legality of the Chamber.
What the books addSources disagree on the dates. Hanf dates the parliamentary vote (48 for, 1 against, 2 abstentions out of 51 deputies) to 26 August 1990 and its promulgation by President Hrawi to 21 September 1990. De Clerck and Malsagne, and Picard, give 21 September as the date the constitutional law was adopted. Haugbolle says parliament approved the Taif Agreement in August 1990. Traboulsi's postscript gives '21 September' but places it in 1991, probably by mistake. The vote started the Taif timetable: six months to disband the militias, and two years before Syrian troops withdrew to the Bekaa. Aoun called it a comedy, arguing that parliament had been dissolved.
Other dates in the books: Sunday, 26 August 1990, Friday, 21 September 1990
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September 1990
Friday, 21 September 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
President Hrawi promulgates the amended Constitution of the Second Republic.
Hrawi promulgated the revised Constitution, with the Taif reforms written in, and announced on air that it would found the Second Republic. Three ex-army commanders then urged Aoun's soldiers to accept General Lahoud's authority; some officers did.
Sources differ: Hanf calls 21 September the promulgation, after a vote on 26 August; de Clerck and Malsagne and Picard call it the adoption. Entry 1204 dates the vote to 21 August.
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Thursday, 27 September 1990
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The blockade against the Eastern region gets tougher and tougher. The goal is proclaimed: force General Aoun to give up before schools reopen.
What the books addHanf notes the blockade had little support even outside the enclave, as civilians rather than Aoun's soldiers bore it. On 28 September 1990, he records, Lahoud's troops tightened it by taking every checkpoint around Aoun's area; Aoun's followers protested daily there and at Baabda.
Other date in the books: Friday, 28 September 1990
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October 1990
Thursday, 11 October 1990
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Hrawi asks Assad for military support against Aoun.
Syrian jets flew low over Baabda on that day and the next, and Israel did not react; Hanf concludes that its 'red line' on Syrian air power no longer held. The flights followed a letter in which Hrawi, acting on a cabinet decision, asked Assad for the Syrian military support for the Lebanese army that Taif provided.
Sources differ: Entry 1210 on the same day speaks of last-minute efforts to avoid an operation.
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