130 entries on 125 dates · the books disagree on 32
dates 1–60 of 125 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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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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Tuesday, 26 December 1972
The road to war · From the books
The left demonstrates against the Ghandour dismissals.
On 26 December the Left protested again at the Ghandour sackings. Tufaro: workers left the dispute resentful of state and CGTL alike.
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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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December 1974: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Israel again bombards southern villages and Chatila camp.
Israeli bombardments struck the Chatila camp in Beirut and villages in South Lebanon again in December.
The road to war · From the books
Musa al-Sadr's candidate wins the Nabatieh by-election.
Sadr said at the presidential palace in December 1974 that he would 'open a new page with the State', days after his candidate, a rich emigrant from Africa, beat Kamel al-As'ad's in the Nabatieh by-election. The left won half the seats in the Higher Shi'i Council's executive bureau.
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December 1975
Monday, 1 December 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Israelis attacked villages in the South
Israeli raids against Beddawi, Nahr El Bared, and Nabatyeh were more violent then ever. The attacks killed 111 persons and injured 140 others. Lebanon requested an urgent meeting of the Security Council, which met on December 5 and strongly condemned the raids against Lebanon.
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Friday, 5 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Palestinian units in Aley shell Kahhale.
Palestinian forces in Aley, a Druze town, started shelling the Maronite village of Kahhale on the eve of Pierre Gemayel's Damascus visit.
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Saturday, 6 December 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The assassination of four young Phalangists on the Fanar road provoked horrible killings in the streets of Beirut.
The capital was rapidly set ablaze. It was the apocalypse. Militias launched street fights resulting in tens of innocent victims. Violence was at its peek and nothing seemed to end this thirst for blood.
What the books addThe bodies of four young Kataeb members were found on 6 December 1975, while Pierre Gemayel was in Damascus; Muslims seized at makeshift checkpoints by the port were killed in reprisal. Accounts place the bodies in the Metn (Hanf), near Tal al-Za'tar (Haugbolle) or outside the electricity company offices (Fisk). De Clerck and Malsagne blame Joseph Saadeh, whose son was among the four. Only Fisk puts Bashir Gemayel in Damascus and cites Phalangist officers saying he ordered the reprisal. The Muslim dead number about 200 (Hanf, Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne) or several dozen (Picard); Fisk gives at least 300 Muslims, and probably as many Christians, in the reprisals.
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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Wednesday, 24 December 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh's bishop appeals publicly for his besieged town.
'The cause of Zahleh' (qadiyyat Zahleh) was Bishop Bassul's theme in a public appeal on Christmas Eve, as people sheltered: the town, he said, was alone.
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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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early December 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Army raid in Zahleh angers the bishop.
Seeking to restore the state's monopoly of force, troops raided Hawsh al-Umara, the Tajammu's Zahleh base, and traded fire with its youths. Bishop Bassul condemned the army for attacking the town's defenders.
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December 1976
Thursday, 9 December 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Sarkis asked Salim El Hoss to form the Government.
The new Cabinet included: Salim El Hoss: Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Trade, Industry and Oil, and Information. Fouad Boutros: Vice-President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, and National Defense. Salah Salman: Minister of Interior, and Housing and Cooperatives. Ibrahim Cheaito: Minister of Health and Hydraulic and Electric Resources. Amine Bizri: Minister of Public Works, Transportation, and Tourism. Michel Doumit: Minister of Plan Assaad Risk: Minster of Social Affairs, National Education and Fine Arts, and Agriculture. Farid Raphael: Minister of Justice, Finance, and Posts and Telecommunications.
What the books addIts members were technocrats and businessmen; the one politician, Fouad Boutros, held both foreign affairs and defence (Traboulsi). Early on, at Syria's behest, it brought in press censorship (Hanf, Fisk); Traboulsi also mentions an order for militias to surrender their arms.
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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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December 1977
Tuesday, 20 December 1977
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
An-Nahar publishes a Lebanese Front memorandum on the Christians' future.
Lebanon's Christians faced a threat to their survival, the Lebanese Front argued in a memorandum carried by An-Nahar, as a Muslim majority would oppress whatever its intentions.
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December 1977: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Begin rules out any return of Palestinian refugees (context).
In December, before talks with Egypt had begun, Israel's prime minister declared that Palestinian refugees in neighbouring countries would not return.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
President Sarkis has a Sûreté officer close to Bashir Gemayel sent abroad.
Commissioner Zahi Boustani, whose work for Bashir Gemayel was becoming known, was made an example of in December 1977: Sarkis, angered by Bashir's attacks and opposed to officials helping the militia, had General Security chief Farouk Abillama send him into 'exile'. Boustani went to France; Bashir grew angrier still.
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December 1978
Tuesday, 5 December 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab tripartite committee including Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and a Syrian general, met in Baabda in presence of the chief of State. The committee excluded any immediate resort to the army.
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Friday, 8 December 1978
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A serious incident was reported in Jounieh.
A Phalangist leader, Elie Hobeika, was arrested at an army checkpoint in Nahr el Kalb. The incident degenerated into fights and the entire region flared up. A helicopter transporting Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and flying over the region was hit by submachine-gun shots. The Saudi ambassador was injured.
What the books addMénargues writes that when the Moukafaha, Johnny Abdo's own intervention unit, arrested Elie Hobeika for allegedly having the Saudi ambassador's helicopter fired on, Bashir Gemayel had about a hundred army officers abducted; they were traded for Hobeika three weeks later.
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December 1979
Friday, 7 December 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
For the first time in Lebanon, a particularly delicate surgical intervention was successfully undertaken. Professor Wafic Sinno performed an implantation of an artificial crystalline at the Hotel-Dieu hospital.
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Wednesday, 19 December 1979
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An ongoing manifestation in Tripoli went out of control. The demonstrators protesting against the increase of the cost of living, vandalized Tripoli's seraglio and molested the Mohafez of Northern Lebanon. The administrations and public services clerks in Tripoli decided to stop working for 3 days.
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late December 1979: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Arms shipment landed for the Christian militias near Tabarja.
At the end of 1979 a Ghanaian-flagged ship delivered arms, LAW anti-tank rockets among them, to a small cove near Tabarja. Around midnight Syrian ceasefire observers tried to take the cargo; Bashir Gemayel had the churches toll their bells and called for help on Voice of Lebanon radio, and hundreds of people converged on the cove. The weapons were landed and split equally between the Kataeb and the NLP.
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December 1980
Wednesday, 3 December 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The government held its first meeting on October 25. Despite the opposition of the Amal movement, the four Shiite ministers attended the meeting.
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A murderous Israeli raid was perpetrated between Damour and Saadyat. A Lebanese memorandum presented to the UN reported 15 deaths and 13 injuries.
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Tuesday, 9 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Michel Aoun is proposed for the Beirut front-line command.
Seeking closer militia–army cooperation, Zahi Boustani proposed Lieutenant-Colonel Michel Aoun to Johnny Abdo to command the sector along Beirut's demarcation line, from the port to Kfarchima. Abdo, who rated Aoun poorly, said a formal appointment must wait until mid-January and the return of the army commander, whose signature was required.
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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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Monday, 15 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian–Druze negotiators agree on the Palestinian question.
The first of four further meetings at Johnny Abdo's home took place on 15 December, with Lieutenant-Colonel Riad Takieddine of the army now speaking for the Druze. All agreed that the Palestinians were a common problem, and Abdo floated a ten-member cabinet including Bashir Gemayel, Walid Jumblatt and Shiite and Sunni representatives.
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Wednesday, 17 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel's chief of staff secretly visits the Lebanese Forces.
At 3 a.m. an Israeli CH-53 helicopter set General Rafael Eitan down by the Zouk power station with General Aharon Yariv, Colonel Shakhan Mulla and Reuven Merhav of the Mossad. Greeted with Israeli and Lebanese flags and anthems, he inspected Lebanese Forces lines on Beirut's demarcation line, viewed the Syrian and Palestinian positions on Mount Sannine and promised military aid, including 36 Soviet-built T-54 tanks captured from Arab armies. He flew out at about 11 p.m.
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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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Tuesday, 23 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Lebanese Front publishes 'The Lebanon we want to build'.
Meeting at Deir Aoukar, the Lebanese Front adopted a manifesto that defined Lebanon as a federation of communities and demanded an end to the 'Syrian occupation'. It also refused any permanent settlement of the Palestinians and proposed revising the 1943 Pact towards decentralisation, federation or confederation.
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Tuesday, 30 December 1980
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Christian–Druze draft agreement is written, then blocked by Damascus.
On 30 December Samir Frangieh set down Antoine Najm's proposals in a handwritten text countersigned by the Druze officer Riad Takieddine: a six-member cabinet including Bashir Gemayel and Walid Jumblatt, no use of Lebanese territory for aggression against Arab states, and sound relations with Syria. Damascus learned of the talks; Assad summoned Jumblatt and rejected any Druze–LF rapprochement, and Jumblatt dropped the idea.
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Wednesday, 31 December 1980
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Syrian-Israeli air fight took place in the Lebanese sky. Damascus admited that its two Migs were hit and that two Israeli airplanes were shot down. Tel-Aviv denied this information.
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December 1981
Friday, 4 December 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amal and pro-Iraqi Baathists fight in Moussaitbeh.
Amal militiamen and members of the pro-Iraqi Baath party fought each other with heavy weapons for three hours in the Moussaitbeh district of West Beirut.
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Monday, 7 December 1981
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Sadrist commando hijacked a Libyan airplane at the Beirut International Airport. The air pirates who held 43 hostages, injured a passenger and threatened to execute him in order to have the plane refueled. The aggressors called upon Khadafi to liberate the Imam.
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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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Sunday, 20 December 1981
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Sharon presents an invasion plan to the Israeli cabinet.
At the 20 December cabinet meeting Sharon outlined an invasion of Lebanon, operation 'Oranim'. Some ministers objected strongly and Begin shelved it for the time being; preparations continued.
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December 1982
Wednesday, 1 December 1982
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Joumblatt escaped a killing attempt that resulted in 3 dead and 42 injuries.
What the books addThe attempt on Walid Jumblatt left him only slightly hurt. Hanf sees it as one more spur to Druze mobilisation, which put about 30,000 men under arms.
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Wednesday, 8 December 1982
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
General Ibrahim Tannous is appointed commander of the Lebanese army.
Ibrahim Tannous took over as the army's commander-in-chief.
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December 1982: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Ariel Sharon threatens the Kataeb leader Pierre Gemayel over the coming negotiations.
Unless the president stopped relying on Washington alone and met Israel's demands, Sharon warned his father Pierre, he would be only 'mayor of Baabda'.
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December 1983
Thursday, 1 December 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Sheikh Halim Takieddine, Chief of the Druze religious law courts was assassinated; this triggered great emotions in political and religious spheres in Beirut.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Shelling kills 15 people in besieged Deir el-Qamar.
Shelling killed 15 people in besieged Deir el-Qamar, where no aid was allowed in.
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Sunday, 4 December 1983
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Syrian anti-air defense shut down two American airplanes and a pilot was captured. The positions of the Marines at the Beirut International Airport were bombarded. Eight Marines were killed. The American President was angry: 'We will retaliate if we are attacked again'.
What the books addUS aircraft struck Syrian positions on 4 December. Fisk counts one plane brought down, with the pilot dead and the co-pilot taken prisoner (Jesse Jackson obtained his release in January 1984); Hanf counts two planes lost. Hanf also places, without a date, the deaths of eight Marines from Syrian artillery fire in the same episode.
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dates 1–60 of 125 next
