593 entries on 527 dates · the books disagree on 153
dates 1–60 of 527 next
March 1969
spring 1969: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Army and Palestinian guerrillas clash almost daily in the south.
Jumblatt led mass protests in Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli and Beirut, Saiqa units came in from Syria and the Palestinian groups drove the Lebanese police out of the camps, all as the guerrillas resisted an army drive to clear them from the border zone and deny Israel a pretext for further raids.
\_this day in full
August 1969
August–September 1969: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Israel's first air raids on Lebanon hit Hasbaya and southern villages.
Hasbaya and several villages in the south were bombed in August and September, the first Israeli air raids on Lebanon.
Sources differ: Fisk gives no date for the Israeli shelling of Hasbaya he describes (48 dead, 45 wounded), so it is unclear whether it is the same attack.
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February 1970
February 1970: day not established
The road to war · From the books
A threatened general strike forces health cover under social security.
Some 250,000 employees were due to gain health cover when the government, facing a general strike called for February 1970, started the National Social Security Fund's medical scheme. To pay less, employers laid off long-serving staff en masse.
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March 1970
Monday, 23 March 1970
The road to war · From the books
A Palestinian funeral convoy is fired on at Kahhale.
Palestinians died when a convoy carrying a guerrilla's coffin to Damascus for burial and the residents of Kahhale, a Maronite village, traded fire. Who shot first, and how many were killed, is disputed. Hanf places the incident among the first serious clashes between Palestinians and armed Christians.
Sources differ: De Clerck & Malsagne: a Kataeb attack, 18 Palestinians dead. Hanf: ten dead; he reports both sides' versions and judges it likeliest that villagers took Palestinian shots into the air for an attack.
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Wednesday, 25 March 1970
The road to war · From the books
Bashir Gemayel is kidnapped and held in Tall al-Za'tar.
Kamal Jumblatt's intervention with Yasir Arafat freed Bashir Gemayel, the Kataeb leader's younger son, seized by Palestinians and held in Tall al-Za'tar camp.
Sources differ: Hanf: 25 March 1970, held eight hours. Ménargues: 1969, adding he was beaten. Jumblatt became interior minister after the November 1969 Cairo Agreement (Hanf), which fits late 1969 or 1970.
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late March 1970: day not established
The road to war · From the books
A week of fighting between Palestinians and Kataeb around Tall al-Za'tar.
Only the Egyptian foreign minister's intervention ended a week of Palestinian-Kataeb fighting that broke out right after Kahhale, heaviest between Tall al-Za'tar and Dekwaneh, a mainly Maronite suburb beside it.
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August 1970
August or September 1970 (disputed): day not established
The road to war · From the books
Suleiman Frangieh is elected president by one vote.
Kamal Jumblatt's bloc tipped the balance, and Suleiman Frangieh, a Zghorta clan leader backed by the Tripartite Alliance and Saeb Salam, beat the Chehabist Elias Sarkis by a single vote. When the Speaker contested the result, Frangieh's gunmen came armed into the chamber.
Sources differ: August 1970 (Hanf) against September 1970 (Traboulsi twice, Picard). The September date has more citations, but Picard may refer to the political agreement rather than the vote, and Hanf's footnote is the only explicit date for the election itself. Kept open.
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August 1971
Wednesday, 18 August 1971
The road to war · From the books
Yuhanna Bassul is elected Greek Catholic bishop of Zahle.
Elected Greek Catholic bishop of Zahle on 18 August 1971, Yuhanna Bassul was welcomed with ceremony in the town and in Christian villages of the northern Bekaa. His journals, covering 1971-1976 and long unknown, are a rare source on how the war came to Zahle.
Art and memory- book Bishop Yuhanna Bassul's journals for 1971-1976, kept at the Greek Catholic archbishopric of Sayyidat al-Najat in Zahle, surfaced during fieldwork in 2016. They trace tensions over the Palestinian question in Zahle and Ta'labaya.
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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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March 1972
March–April 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Lebanese University students launch a mass strike; private universities join.
In spring 1972 AUB, Saint-Joseph and Beirut Arab University students backed a mass strike called by NULUS, the Lebanese University students' union, now run by the left (PSP, Communists, OCA).
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February 1973
early 1973: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Israeli paratroopers raid two Palestinian camps near Tripoli.
In one of Israel's mounting strikes of early 1973, helicopter-landed paratroopers and marines attacked two Palestinian camps near Tripoli.
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March 1973
March 1973: day not established
The road to war · From the books
First congress of the National Union of Agricultural Workers.
Delegates from 163 villages nationwide attended the National Union of Agricultural Workers' first congress.
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August 1973
Tuesday, 28 August 1973
The road to war · From the books
The labour confederation holds a general strike.
The government met the CGTL general strike with a decreed 5 per cent rise, higher minimum wage and family allowances, and curbs on sacking unionists. Strikers also wanted commercial profits capped and cooperatives aided: for Traboulsi, the unions' first challenge to the commercial oligarchy.
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August 1973: day not established
The road to war · From the books
The government announces 140 appointments and the end of sectarian quotas in the top civil service.
The Sulh cabinet's 140 administrative appointments of August 1973 came with a declared end to civil-service sectarianism: junior posts split evenly between Christians and Muslims, director-general posts no longer held by one sect. Traboulsi sees the real aim as swapping Chehabist officials for the returning notables' men.
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February 1974
early February 1974 (disputed year): day not established
The road to war · From the books
Another postponement of the general strike sets off wildcat strikes across Lebanon.
Wildcat actions broke out after the CGTL again postponed its general strike. For two days the workers' committees of Beirut's Mkalles–Tall al-Za'tar industrial belt kept the factories shut and nearby roads blocked, with about 10,000 workers. Tufaro also records some 20,000 students and workers cutting the Sidon–Beirut road, and protesters ransacking a union office in Tripoli.
Sources differ: Traboulsi dates this wave to 5-6 February 1973; Tufaro to February 1974, citing L'Orient-Le Jour of 7 February 1974 and placing it after the general strike of 28 August 1973 and months of postponements. The details are nearly identical, so it is probably one event; 1974 is preferred here because of Tufaro's dated press reference and sequence, but the day (5-6 February) comes from Traboulsi.
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early 1974: day not established
The road to war · From the books
A movement for church renewal forms around Bishop Grégoire Haddad.
Grégoire Haddad, Beirut's Greek Catholic bishop, later removed from his see, was in early 1974 the focus of a current seeking 'ecumenical renewal with an independent perspective'. He sought secularism and an end to religious marriage; his journal Afaq condemned the 'exploitative social system'.
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March 1974
March 1974 (disputed year): day not established
The road to war · From the books
Musa al-Sadr tells a mass rally in Baalbek that 'arms are the ornaments of men'.
At a Baalbek rally of tens of thousands of armed young men, Imam Musa al-Sadr proclaimed arms 'the ornament of men' and warned of civil disobedience unless the deprived got what they demanded.
Sources differ: Traboulsi puts the Baalbek rally and its slogan in March 1973; Hanf in March 1974; de Clerck & Malsagne mention it with the 1974 rallies. Traboulsi's own Bidnayil meeting of 1974, which he links to an Economist report of March 1974, may be the same rally. 1974 has more support.
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February 1975
Monday, 3 February 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After a debate that lasted 15 days, the conclave chose unanimously a neutralist candidate. Mgr Antonios Khoreiche was the new Patriarch of Antioch and the Middle East.
What the books addAntoine Khuraych headed the Maronite Church from his election on 3 February 1975 (enthronement 9 February) until 1986, styling himself the 'patriarch of dialogue'.
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Tuesday, 18 February 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Imam Musa al-Sadr preaches in a Beirut church.
Imam Musa al-Sadr, invited by Archbishop Boulos Bassim, gave a Lenten sermon at Saint-Louis, the Capuchins' church in Beirut. Amal, his movement, was already secretly training with weapons in the Bekaa.
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Thursday, 20 February 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel calls for a referendum on the armed Palestinian presence.
Kataeb leader Pierre Gemayel called for a referendum on whether Palestinian commandos should stay in Lebanon. He had already pressed the PLO to rein in its breakaway factions, and spoke of 'two governments and two armies'.
Sources differ: Traboulsi and Picard give no day.
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Wednesday, 26 February 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Troops fire on Sidon's protesting fishermen; Maarouf Saad is mortally wounded.
Maarouf Saad, the Nasserist deputy leading a Sidon fishermen's march, was shot when the army fired on it and died days later; several others were killed or wounded. The marchers opposed Protein, holder of a deep-sea fishing concession, with Camille Chamoun on its board. That evening armed men killed a soldier.
Sources differ: Hanf places the demonstration in March; the existing entry 10 gives 7 March. Traboulsi and de Clerck and Malsagne give 26 February.
Art and memory- film Censored in Lebanon, Le Liban dans la tourmente (1975) was Jocelyne Saab's first war documentary. Filming both a wealthy, carefree bourgeoisie and cheerful children in the Palestinian camps, she asked where the hatred came from.
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March 1975
Tuesday, 4 March 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Kataeb march in Beirut in support of the army.
On 4 March 1975 the Kataeb rallied in East Beirut for the army, which Muslim leaders and the Left blamed for the Sidon shooting. Hanf finds that rival pro- and anti-army marches helped brand the army a Christian instrument.
Sources differ: Picard places the march on the day after the Sidon demonstration.
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Friday, 7 March 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Major events were reported in the town of Saida.
The army clashed with demonstrators protesting in favor of fishermen. Maarouf Saad, former legislator, was hit by a bullet and died from his wounds. Saida was in fire and blood. Many dead and wounded persons were reported, on the civilian as well as on the military sides. Businesses and schools shut down. Many leaders accused the Prime Minister, Rachid El Solh, of being responsible for the recent events in Saida. Nevertheless, demonstrations supporting the army were organized in Beirut.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Traboulsi date the Sidon fishermen's protest to 26 February 1975. The marchers opposed Protein, a fishing company whose board included Camille Chamoun; their leader, Maarouf Saad, was shot and died some days later. Clashes between the army and armed groups in Sidon and Tyre followed at the start of March: de Clerck and Malsagne give 6 soldiers and 11 civilians killed and an army pull-out from Tyre, Hanf 5 soldiers and 11 civilians. The Kataeb staged a pro-army demonstration in Beirut. Hanf puts the fishermen's protest in March, and Picard describes the Sidon marchers as Palestinian militants.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 26 February 1975
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Saturday, 8 March 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad calls for a joint Syrian-Palestinian command.
Assad publicly called for Syria and the Palestinians to unite their political and military leadership. Hanf relates Syria's acceptance of Arafat's proposal for a joint supreme command to Egypt's drift towards a separate arrangement with Israel.
Sources differ: Ménargues says the PLO met the call with silence; Hanf says Syria accepted an offer from Arafat.
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Wednesday, 12 March 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The cabinet transfers two officers over the Sidon shooting.
On 12 March the Solh cabinet partly yielded to Sidon and the National Movement, giving Sidon's governor a month's administrative leave and moving two army officers, which Gemayel opposed.
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Wednesday, 19 March 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Imam Moussa Sadr remained the spiritual leader of the Shiite community until he was 65 years old.
The Imam was 48 years old. His mandate was extended unanimously by the General assembly of the Superior Shiite Council.
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early March 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Fighting between the army and armed groups in Sidon and Tyre.
Early March fighting forced the army out of Tyre. Protests against the army in Sidon and Tyre had followed Saad's death; roads were blocked, Palestinian, Nasserist and leftist fighters attacked troops, and Muslim and leftist leaders sought a shake-up of its command.
Sources differ: Dead: 6 soldiers and 11 civilians (de Clerck and Malsagne) or 5 soldiers and 11 civilians (Hanf).
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August 1975
Monday, 18 August 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The National Movement publishes its reform programme.
The Lebanese National Movement published a transitional programme of democratic reform. Its demands included a constituent assembly, administrative decentralisation and an optional civil code of personal status, together with proportional representation in a single national constituency and an end to sectarian quotas.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology gives 12 August. Tufaro's 18 August comes from the date printed on the LNM document itself and is preferred here.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 12 August 1975
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Friday, 22 August 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel calls for a secular state.
While holding that the Constitution and National Pact needed unanimous consent to change, Pierre Gemayel answered the LNM programme on 22 August 1975 by calling for a secular state: one personal status law and civil service posts filled on merit.
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Sunday, 24 August 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A bomb in Zahleh's Wadi al-Arayish draws the town into the war.
On 24 August 1975 Palestinian fighters planted a bomb in Wadi al-Arayish, Zahleh's tourist quarter: four months after Beirut, the war reached the Bekaa's chief town.
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Friday, 29 August 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After mortar and rocket exchanges in the streets of Zahleh made several victims, a partial curfew was imposed on the town.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Tegho Bou Nassif date Zahleh's entry into the war to 24 August 1975, when Palestinian fighters planted a bomb in its tourist district, Wadi al-Arayish. In Hanf's account, Zahleh's Christians and Shi'is of its outskirts and nearby villages, helped by Palestinian guerrillas, came to blows late in August after a non-political arcade quarrel. Three Zahleh men were executed at the end of August.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 24 August 1975
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August 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Saiqa attacks Hawsh al-Umara near Zahleh.
Palestinian fighters of the pro-Syrian Saiqa struck Hawsh al-Umara, near Zahleh, killing 15 people and wounding many.
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February 1976
Saturday, 7 February 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
President Frangieh and Prime Minister Karami go to Damascus.
Sleiman Frangieh and Rashid Karami travelled to Damascus, where, with President Assad, they agreed on the text of a 'Constitutional Document' to reform the distribution of power.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology gives 7 February as the day Frangieh declared the Document.
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Saturday, 14 February 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Frangieh announces the 'Constitutional Document'.
Laws would need both the president's and the premier's signatures, parliament would elect the premier, Christians and Muslims would share its seats equally, and the three top posts stayed with the same communities: so ran the Constitutional Document agreed in Damascus, which Frangieh issued as a new National Pact. The Kataeb approved it; Kamal Jumblatt and the National Movement opposed it for confirming the sectarian system.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology dates the declaration to 7 February, the day of the Damascus trip; Hanf, de Clerck and Malsagne and Yara El Khoury give 14 February. De Clerck and Malsagne (p. 296) also write that the Christian camp accepted the Document 'from 21 January', before its publication.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 7 February 1976
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Monday, 23 February 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A forty-five years old fanatic locked up 35 persons at the Canadian embassy. This situation lasted 8 hours and immersed Lebanon in a torrid suspense. The hostages were then liberated in a happy ending.
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February 1976: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel calls for the Palestinians to be shared out among the Arab countries.
By February 1976 Pierre Gemayel was proposing to disperse Lebanon's Palestinians to the surrounding Arab states, after his party had openly blamed them, once the January fighting ended, for meddling in Lebanese affairs.
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March 1976
Friday, 5 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian soldiers from Akkar leave the Sarba barracks.
After the Army of Arab Lebanon attacked Qubayat, their home village in Akkar, 200 Christian soldiers walked out of the Sarba barracks in Kesrouan in protest. Their 'Lebanese Liberation Army', announced with a demand that the government protect their families, went no further.
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Thursday, 11 March 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
After a day marked by the resignation of Rachid Karameh and the aggravation of the war of barracks in Tripoli, a military Coup was executed by Corporal Aziz Ahdab, commanding the place of Beirut. Corporal Ahdab was supported by the Commander of the army, 270 loyalist officers, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Army. He claimed the resignation of Sleiman Frangieh, but the President refused to give up and locked himself in Baabda.
What the books addOn 11 March Brigadier-General Aziz al-Ahdab, Beirut garrison commander (retired, says Traboulsi), seized the television station, named himself interim military governor and called for Frangieh's resignation and an early election. Few troops stood behind him and Syria opposed him: on 15 March PLA and Saiqa units under Syrian control blocked his men and Khatib's Lebanese Arab Army on their way to Baabda. Backed by Chamoun, Gemayel and President Assad, Frangieh refused to go.
Other date in the books: Monday, 15 March 1976
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Friday, 12 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Phalange delegation travels secretly to Israel.
Ammunition running out, Pierre Gemayel relented, and on 12 March 1976 the Phalangists Joseph Abu Khalil, Sami Khoueiry and Fouad Roukoz went by speedboat to Israel for arms. Israel shipped them within days but again ruled out intervening directly.
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Sunday, 14 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syria sounds out the United States on a military intervention.
Richard Murphy, the US ambassador in Damascus, heard a hint from Syria's chief of staff, Hikmat Shihabi, that Syrian troops might enter Lebanon. That day the short-lived Front for Freedom and Man in Lebanon held its last meeting.
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Monday, 15 March 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lieutenant Ahmed Khatib, chief of the ' Army of Arab Lebanon ', rejoined Ahdab's reformist movement. Barracks fell in the hands of protesters. 68 deputies signed a petition claiming the departure of Sleiman Frangieh who refused to leave his post, despite all the pressures against him.
What the books addThe deputies' petition demanding Frangieh's resignation is dated 11 March in Traboulsi's chronology and 13 March by de Clerck and Malsagne; Picard and Traboulsi's chronology count 68 signatures out of 99, Traboulsi's narrative 69. On 15 March Syrian-controlled PLA and Saiqa units halted a march on the Baabda palace by the Lebanese Arab Army and al-Ahdab's followers. Within days Khatib's force grew to a few thousand men and held most of the army's heavy weapons.
Other dates in the books: Thursday, 11 March 1976, Saturday, 13 March 1976
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Thursday, 18 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad tells the US ambassador that Frangieh has asked for Syrian military help.
When Murphy raised the security of Israel's borders, Assad said he could promise nothing but hoped Washington would persuade Israel this internal Arab matter did not concern it. Frangieh, he said, had asked Syria for military help.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Kamal Jumblatt's forces launch the 'Mountain War'.
Kamal Jumblatt, head of the National Movement, attacked on two fronts, Beirut and the Mountain, to crush the Christian camp militarily. That day's Druze attacks brought several massacres of Christians, some of them Jumblatt supporters.
Sources differ: Hanf places the main Joint Forces offensive in the Upper Metn in the last week of March.
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Sunday, 21 March 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The ' Holiday Inn ' occupied by the Phalange Party fell in the hands of the Mourabitun and their allies.
According to some sources, the Phalange Party succeeded in evacuating some of its militiamen who took with them seven dead bodies, three of which were young girls. According to other sources, 65 militiamen were able to run away using an underground passage. The Holiday Inn had been subject to repeated assaults for the past ten months.
What the books addMourabitoun and Palestinian fighters, backed by Lebanese Arab Army artillery, took the 24-storey Holiday Inn after a fight waged floor by floor, day and night, from 20 to 22 March 1976 (Traboulsi dates the fall to 22 March). The Kataeb withdrew to the Fattal building near the port. The five-month Battle of the Hotels was over, and Beirut was split along the Green Line.
Art and memory- novel Rabee Jaber's novel Birds of the Holiday Inn (2011) is set around the hotel during the battles for downtown Beirut.
- photograph In November 2002 Haugbolle photographed the ruined Holiday Inn behind a huge banner of the Roman temple at Baalbek; the picture illustrates his discussion of nostalgia.
- novel George Shami's documentary novel What Is Left of the Fighting (Madha baqa min al-qital, 2003) followed young militiamen through the 1976 hotels battle.
Other dates in the books: Saturday, 20 March 1976, Monday, 22 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A 'Maronite summit' at Baabda endorses the Syrian plan.
At Baabda the 'Maronite summit' endorsed Syria's plan: a presidential election, a security cabinet, army reunification and Frangieh's resignation. Its statement thanked Damascus for its grasp of the crisis and its efforts to stop the bloodshed.
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Tuesday, 23 March 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The ' Beirut Battle ' continued amid shelling.
The past 48 hours resulted in 150 deaths and 300 injuries. The control of downtown was at stake. Moslem-Progressive forces backed by Palestinian organizations were determined to eliminate any Phalangist presence West of the Martyrs Square. The new front was established on the axis Starco Hilton, while Phalangist militiamen faced assaults launched from the Riad El Solh and the Nejmeh Squares towards the Port area. In the Mountain where artillery duels continued, a common Palestinian Progressive breakthrough attempt was turned down in Mansourieh.
What the books addHanf traces the line that went on dividing the city along the Damascus road and across Martyrs Square to the harbour. It was set once the Kataeb, losing the Holiday Inn, had no positions left in West Beirut.
Art and memory- film Jocelyne Saab's 1976 documentary Beyrouth, jamais plus captures a Beirut that was disappearing.
Other date in the books: Monday, 22 March 1976
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Wednesday, 24 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israel sets the 'red lines' for a Syrian intervention.
An Israeli memorandum of 24 March 1976 barred any Syrian force above brigade strength or movement over 10 km south of the Beirut-Damascus road. On 23 March Israel had told Washington it would take strategic positions in Lebanon if Syria intervened.
Sources differ: Traboulsi adds that Israel publicly set the Litani as the red line on 21 April.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 23 March 1976
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Thursday, 25 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The presidential palace at Baabda is shelled; Frangieh leaves for Kfour.
With the Baabda palace shelled by the Lebanese Arab Army and the Joint Forces, Frangieh moved to Kfour in Kesrouan, where he joined Chamoun, Gemayel and Father Qassis on the Lebanese Front, formed in late May.
Sources differ: Traboulsi says Frangieh took refuge 'in East Beirut'; de Clerck and Malsagne, Yara El Khoury and Hanf name Kfour in Kesrouan.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The unified command of the Lebanese Forces is announced.
Baabda palace was shelled that day. In the evening the Kataeb's Voice of Lebanon radio announced a unified command of the Lebanese Forces, joining the Tanzim, the Guardians of the Cedars, Chamoun's Tigers and the Kataeb militia.
Sources differ: Dates differ: Ménargues puts the founding of the Lebanese Forces' unified command on 31 August 1976, while El Khoury says the formal union was announced to Frangieh in early September.
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Saturday, 27 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad and Jumblatt break after a seven-hour meeting.
The lasting rupture between Kamal Jumblatt and President Assad came at a meeting of some seven hours in Damascus. Assad refused what Jumblatt sought, a decisive military defeat of the Lebanese Front and Frangieh's departure, saying the Constitutional Document already gave him most of it. The same day the Maronite leaders met the patriarch at Bkerké.
Sources differ: Ménargues reports a further long meeting in mid-May.
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Wednesday, 31 March 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
US envoy Dean Brown arrives in Beirut.
Dean Brown recalled telling Maronite leaders that Syria, not American or international action, held the answer. Ford sent him to Beirut as envoy on Kissinger's advice; the US-brokered Syrian intervention took shape over his two-month stay.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology gives 1 April.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 1 April 1976
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late March - early April 1976: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Joint Forces take Mtein and Aintoura in the Upper Metn.
Christian army units and militias halted Abu Musa's Fatah troops and their allies, who had taken Mtein, Tarchiche and Aintoura and were heading for Bikfaya, the Gemayels' home town; Pierre Gemayel had urged every Christian man and woman, by radio, to take up the defence.
Sources differ: Hanf says the last week of March; Traboulsi says early April.
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March 1976: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Jesuit priest is killed on the demarcation line.
Gunfire on the demarcation line near Chiyah killed Father Alban de Jerphanion, Jesuit bursar of Notre-Dame de Jamhour college.
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August 1976
Friday, 6 August 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian militias take Nabaa; its Shi'i population leaves.
Christian militias occupied the Shi'i and Palestinian district of Nabaa in East Beirut after Imam Musa Sadr negotiated the departure of its Shi'i inhabitants. Tens of thousands fled to the southern suburbs and West Beirut.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology dates the fall of Nabaa to 12 August, with Tal al-Za'tar. The numbers displaced range from more than 40,000 (de Clerck and Malsagne) to 100,000 (Picard) or 200,000 Muslims of East Beirut (Traboulsi).
Art and memory- place Displaced Christians later occupied the abandoned houses of Nabaa, while displaced Muslims and Palestinians occupied houses in Damour.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 August 1976
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Thursday, 12 August 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Tell El Zaatar assault and massacre
After a siege that lasted 52 days, the Tell El Zaatar Palestinian camp fell in the hands of the Lebanese Forces as a result of an ultimate assault launched at dawn. It was in total confusion that the 12000 camp residents were evacuated. In retaliation, kidnappings were reported in West Beirut. 2000 people died in fighting during the entire siege, and 4000 were wounded. The surviving cilvilians were settled by The PLO in other camps and in Damour.
What the books addTal al-Za'tar fell on 12 August 1976 (13 August in Ménargues) after more than 70 assaults. Ménargues and Hanf count a siege of 52-53 days from the final offensive; de Clerck and Malsagne and Traboulsi count six months from the January blockade. An ICRC report cited by de Clerck and Malsagne puts the dead at about 2,500 residents and defenders and up to 800 attackers; many died trying to escape. The Tigers and the Guardians of the Cedar led the last assault, reportedly with Syrian and Israeli officers present. The camp was bulldozed and never rebuilt.
Art and memory- novel Liana Badr's novel The Eye of the Mirror tells of a girl growing up in Tal al-Za'tar during the siege of 1976.
- artwork Ziad Rahbani made the siege of Tal al-Za'tar widely known through one of his musical works.
- film Georges Hachem's film Balle perdue (2010) is set in late summer 1976 north of Beirut, in the lull that followed the fall of Tal al-Za'tar.
- place Tal al-Za'tar was bulldozed after its fall in 1976; neither it nor Jisr al-Basha, both levelled that year, has been rebuilt.
- testimony Nayla Hachem's testimony describes her relief work in 1976 at the siege of Tal al-Za'tar, the fall of Nabaa and the massacres; she was a nurse, later an ICRC delegate.
- book In Camille Chamoun's war diary, Tal al-Za'tar's fall in August 1976 was a triumph of fighters of every class.
- artwork The play Silence, ça tourne (2025) is built on the testimony of a Swedish nurse who survived the siege of Tal al-Za'tar.
Other dates in the books: Sunday, 4 January 1976, Friday, 13 August 1976
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