775 entries on 705 dates · the books disagree on 208
dates 1–60 of 705 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
October 1969
mid-October 1969: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Syria shuts the border as the army moves on guerrilla supply routes.
Acting alone, the army command moved to cut the guerrillas' supply routes from Syria. Damascus responded by massing troops at the frontier, closing the border and imposing economic sanctions; Saiqa and PLO fighters attacked Bekaa border posts; Palestine Liberation Army units occupied Bekaa villages and assaulted Rashaya; the Beirut–Tripoli road was blocked.
Sources differ: Traboulsi dates the army's last attempt to the end of September; Hanf and Picard to October (Hanf: mid-October).
\_this day in full
late October 1969: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Faruq al-Muqaddam's '24 October Movement' takes over Tripoli's citadel and several police stations.
As Palestinian groups opened other fronts to ease army pressure on their fighters cut off in the Arqoub, Karami's populist rival Faruq al-Muqaddam led his '24 October Movement' in taking Tripoli's citadel and several police stations.
\_this day in full
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.
\_this day in full
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full
September 1970
September 1970: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Black September in Jordan: the PLO leadership and thousands of fighters move to Lebanon.
Lebanon became the Palestinian resistance's chief base after King Hussein's army defeated the PLO in Jordan; thousands of fighters and tens of thousands of civilians came with its leaders, who settled in Beirut. Within months, Hanf judges, the Palestinians held the upper hand.
Sources differ: Figures differ: Hanf gives estimates of 200,000 to 500,000 Palestinians in Lebanon after 1970 and calls them unreliable; Picard cites the PLO Research Center (over 240,000 in 1970, plus over 100,000 from Jordan in two years). Quéméner alone gives a day (12 September) for the start of the Jordanian offensive.
\_this day in full
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.
\_this day in full
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).
\_this day in full
September 1972
Saturday, 16 September 1972
The road to war · From the books
After Munich, Israel invades South Lebanon for three days.
Israeli forces entered the south in reprisal for the Munich Olympics attack on Israeli athletes, striking Nahr al-Bared camp and southern and Bekaa villages. The Lebanese army held them up for two days; they left after three, destroying bridges and houses on the way out. De Clerck & Malsagne count 118 dead.
Sources differ: Death toll 118 (de Clerck & Malsagne) or more than 100 (Picard). Only de Clerck & Malsagne give the day.
\_this day in full \_on this day
autumn 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Habash and Jibril reject the 'freeze' Arafat accepts.
Urged by the government to hold back, Arafat agreed to suspend operations; Habash and Jibril said their groups were not bound. Hanf notes that southern Shi'is, at first wary of the guerrillas, came to blame government inaction for Israel's blows.
\_this day in full
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.
\_this day in full
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.
\_this day in full
October 1973
Saturday, 6 October 1973
The road to war · From the books range (6–25 October 1973)
Israel wrecks the Barouk radar in the October War; Lebanon stays out.
During the October War Israel destroyed the Mount Barouk radar Lebanon had lent Syria, and its jets crossed the Bekaa to strike Damascus, though Lebanon took no part. In Zahle the bishop and residents sent relief to Damascus for the Syrian army and nursed wounded soldiers at Tal Chiha hospital.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Saturday, 20 October 1973
The road to war · From the books
Armed robbery of the Bank of America in Beirut.
This raid on the Bank of America was the first major hold-up, coming before the war; once fighting began, bank robberies became common.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full
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'.
\_this day in full
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.
\_this day in full
September 1974
September 1974: day not established
The road to war · From the books
After a clash at Tarshish and an arms shipment at Jounieh, Prime Minister Taqi al-Din al-Sulh resigns.
In September 1974 Taqi al-Din al-Sulh resigned, accusing Frangieh of covering up an arms cargo for the Christian militias landed at Jounieh with army help; his cousin Rashid replaced him. Phalangist-PSP clashes at Tarshish (Metn) had led Jumblatt to suspend his ministers.
\_this day in full
October 1974
October 1974: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Israel bombards southern villages and Chatila camp in Beirut.
Israeli bombardments hit Beirut's Chatila camp and villages in South Lebanon in October.
The road to war · From the books
The Rabat Arab summit recognises the PLO as sole representative of the Palestinians.
The Arab League summit at Rabat ruled out any more separate accords with Israel and, with Jordan's consent, named the PLO sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians.
\_this day in full
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'.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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).
\_this day in full
September 1975
Monday, 1 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The army creates the Ansar brigade.
Under a Shiite commander and with mostly Shiite recruits, the Ansar brigade was a legal militia set up by the army to keep young Lebanese out of the Palestinian struggle.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Egypt and Israel initial the Sinai II agreement.
Egypt and Israel initialled the Kissinger-brokered Sinai II accord. De Clerck and Malsagne judge it disastrous for Lebanon. For Hanf, it weakened Syria, which pressed the PLO for coordination, and deepened Palestinian fears of liquidation.
Sources differ: Initialled on 1 September (Hanf; de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology); de Clerck and Malsagne's narrative gives 4 September, the signature in Geneva.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 4 September 1975
\_this day in full \_on this day
Tuesday, 2 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Fedayeen stab to death the Christian owner of a Ta'labaya wheat mill and his two sons.
At Ta'labaya near Zahleh, a Christian wheat-mill owner and his two sons were knifed to death by intruding fedayeen.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Sunday, 7 September 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Tripoli was in fire and blood
Exceptionally violent fights opposed Tripolitans to Zghortiotes, causing fires, kidnappings and street fights.
What the books addHistorians describe the Tripoli-Zgharta round as following the Zahleh fighting of late August: kidnappings on both sides, the killing of twelve Muslim bus passengers on the Beirut-Tripoli road, attacks on Christian villages in Akkar and the flight of Christians from Tripoli and Akkar. It ended when the army created a buffer zone between the two towns.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Wednesday, 10 September 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
General Said, 52 years old, replaced General Ghanem at the head of the army.
What the books addHanf: Franjieh accepted Karami's condition for sending the army between Tripoli and Zgharta, Ghanem's removal; his replacement, Hanna Said, was a 'politically uncontentious' colonel.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Saturday, 13 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Deir Achache in Akkar falls; three priests are killed.
Three priests were shot and the inhabitants expelled when Saiqa and fedayeen fighters seized Deir Achache, a Christian village in Akkar.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Sunday, 14 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Massacre at Beit Millat in Akkar.
Most of Akkar's Christians left for the predominantly Christian regions after gunmen overran and looted Beit Millat, a Maronite village of Akkar, and shot many of its people.
Sources differ: The attackers were Saiqa and Syrian militias (Tegho Bou Nassif) or Sunnis of Akkar (Hanf). About ten dead, or 'a large part' of the village.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Wednesday, 17 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range
Fighting reaches downtown Beirut; the souks are destroyed.
On the night of 17-18 September the war reached central Beirut. The old souks, where Christian and Muslim traders alike worked, were largely destroyed by Kataeb shelling.
Sources differ: Existing entry 28 records the fighting on 19 September.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Friday, 19 September 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Beirut was the theater of numerous troubles - street fights, plastic bomb attacks, and fires were reported. The downtown, the heart of the old Beirut, was in fire too, and the heart of the Lebanese full of fear. At night, a cease-fire was announced.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the start of fighting in central Beirut to the night of 17-18 September 1975; Hanf and Traboulsi hold the Kataeb responsible for shelling the old souks. A cease-fire and the setting-up of the National Dialogue Committee followed.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 17 September 1975
\_this day in full \_on this day
Saturday, 20 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh is shelled.
Five days after the Kataeb and the Tajammu called a general mobilisation (15 September), 25 rockets and 17 mortar rounds hit Zahleh.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Sunday, 21 September 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Bread, flour, gas, and meat became scarce in Beirut while snipers spread terror.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the start of bread rationing to September 1975.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Monday, 22 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh forms a Higher Committee under its bishop.
Bishop Bassul chaired a new Higher Committee of Zahleh notables, deputies, merchants, Tajammu and Kataeb. It controlled donations and arms buying, organised relief and dealt with the fedayeen.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Thursday, 25 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Guardians of the Cedars issue their first communiqué.
Al-Nahar carried the first communiqué of the Guardians of the Cedars, Etienne Sakr's radical nationalist militia, whose thinking drew on the poet Said Akl. El Khoury thinks it had formed some months earlier.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Friday, 26 September 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The cease-fire breaks down.
The September cease-fire collapsed and fighting resumed in Beirut.
\_this day in full \_on this day
early/mid September 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
First contacts between Christian leaders and Israel.
In mid-September 1975 Rabin met Camille Chamoun and Pierre Gemayel on an Israeli boat offshore, agreeing to arm and train the militias but not to join the fighting. Days earlier the Mossad's David Kimche and Colonel Benjamin Ben-Eliezer had landed at Jounieh to see Pierre, Bashir and Amin Gemayel and Camille and Dany Chamoun, after Tanzim leader Georges Adwan called at Israel's Paris embassy and was received by Kimche.
\_this day in full
September 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Walid Jumblatt is kidnapped by the Kataeb and freed through Dany Chamoun.
Kataeb militiamen kidnapped Walid Jumblatt at Hazmieh, and Dany Chamoun obtained his release, an example of the lasting bond between the two Chouf families despite their rivalry.
\_this day in full
late September 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The National Dialogue Committee is formed.
Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria's foreign minister, mediated in Beirut; a cease-fire followed, and some twenty leaders formed a National Dialogue Committee to work on reforms. Its vote to abolish sectarian quotas led nowhere, the committee dissolved, and weeks later Franjieh offered a reform programme of his own.
\_this day in full
October 1975
Thursday, 2 October 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Rachid Karameh presided the meeting of the Ç National Committee for dialog È at the Serail. The committee decided that all armed elements will have to back up from their positions before the next day and will be replaced by Interior Security Forces.
What the books addFormed in September 1975 through Syria's foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, the National Dialogue Committee of some twenty leaders debated secularism and ending sectarian quotas; Hanf says it broke up empty-handed.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Saturday, 4 October 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Interior Security Forces held in check a land attack against the Beirut International Airport where 4 armed men tried to kidnap an airplane in order to go to Cairo.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Religious leaders meet at Bkerke and condemn the violence.
Lebanon's religious leaders, every community represented, jointly condemned the violence after a summit hosted by Patriarch Khuraych at Bkerke and continued at Dar al-Fatwa, seat of Mufti Hassan Khaled.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Monday, 20 October 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Battle of the Hotels begins.
The battle for Beirut's seafront hotels began. The Sunni Murabitun militia, allied with the National Movement and the PLO, fought from the Murr tower against the Kataeb in the Holiday Inn. Five months of close-quarters fighting wrecked central Beirut.
Sources differ: Traboulsi dates the launch of the battle to after Black Saturday (6 December).
\_this day in full \_on this day
Tuesday, 21 October 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Kamal El Assad was reelected president of the Chamber by 47 votes against one. At the same time, Beirut was still under fire and the list of victims, whether kidnapped, executed, or shot by snipers or mortar shells, kept growing.
Other date in the books: Monday, 20 October 1975
\_this day in full \_on this day
Saturday, 25 October 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
50 000 Lebanese demonstrated against violence in Lebanon, in response to the call launched by Cherif Akhaoui, the radio journalist famous for his security bulletins.
What the books addHaugbolle notes widespread protests on National Day in November 1975; Hanf places the war's first demonstration in that month, when gunmen held fire until tens of thousands from East and West Beirut, summoned by television announcer Sharif Akhawi, had gone home.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Monday, 27 October 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Murr tower was occupied by the Mourabitun, and the Holliday Inn-Phoenicia region was held by the Phalange Party.
What the books addBegun in late October 1975 (20 October in de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology), the Battle of the Hotels ran for five months, ending when the Holiday Inn fell on 20-22 March 1976. Traboulsi links its launch to Black Saturday in December.
Other date in the books: Monday, 20 October 1975
\_this day in full \_on this day
Thursday, 30 October 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Yarmouk units enter the Bekaa near Zahleh.
Yarmouk units, a Palestinian force trained by the Syrian army, entered the Bekaa plain near Zahleh by way of Bar Elias. The bishop's diary shows that the Palestinian fighters in the district had until then been Fatah and its Lebanese allies.
Sources differ: Hanf dates the Yarmouk Brigade's crossing to 20 December.
\_this day in full \_on this day
late October 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Karami shuts himself in the Serail to force a compromise.
Only the Greek Orthodox minister Ghassan Tueni was still with Prime Minister Karami a few days after Karami pledged, late in October, to stay in the Serail until the dialogue bore fruit.
\_this day in full
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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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dates 1–60 of 705 next
