716 entries on 648 dates · the books disagree on 174
dates 1–60 of 648 next
April 1969
Wednesday, 23 April 1969
The road to war · From the books
Security forces fire on pro-Palestinian demonstrations; Karami resigns.
Prime Minister Rashid Karami resigned after violent protests, notably in Tripoli: in Beirut and Sidon the army and security forces had fired on mass demonstrations backing the Palestinian resistance, leaving dead and wounded, and in Sidon a march from Ain al-Hilweh camp became an army-commando battle. A cabinet crisis of over seven months followed.
Sources differ: Hanf places Karami's resignation after President Helou's television address of 6 May; Traboulsi and de Clerck & Malsagne put it on or right after 23 April. The length of the crisis is 215 days (Traboulsi) or 216 days (de Clerck & Malsagne). Hanf names Sidon and Ain al-Hilweh; Traboulsi Sidon and Beirut; de Clerck & Malsagne Beirut.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Thursday, 24 April 1969
The road to war · From the books
A state of emergency is declared.
Under a state of emergency from 24 April, the day after the shootings, Jumblatt said curbs on the guerrillas helped only Israel, while Karami held that Lebanon must defend its sovereignty.
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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.
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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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June 1971
June 1971: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Jordan outlaws Palestinian groups and fighters; the resistance shifts its centre to Beirut.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian fighters, with the resistance's offices, hospitals, research and press centres, were now in Lebanon, chiefly Beirut, its main base once Jordan barred Palestinian political groups and fighters in June 1971.
\_this day in full
summer 1971: day not established
The road to war · From the books
First strikes led by workers' committees in Beirut's industrial suburbs.
By early 1971 OCAL's workers' committees were in the main factories of Beirut's southern suburbs; that summer workers struck at Seven-Up, Snibois, Unifid and Pioneer-Jabre. Some strikes were broken up by force; beyond the rehiring of some sacked workers, no demand was met.
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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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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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April 1973
Tuesday, 10 April 1973
The road to war · From the books
Israeli commandos kill three PLO leaders in rue Verdun, Beirut.
During the night of 9 to 10 April, Israeli commandos came ashore and drove into West Beirut in hired cars. Fatah's Abu Yusuf al-Najjar and Kamal Adwan and the poet Kamal Nasser, PLO spokesman, were killed at home, within about a hundred metres of a police barracks; commandos also landed at Sidon. By the time the army was alerted, the raiders had left.
Sources differ: Operation name: 'Verdun' (de Clerck & Malsagne chronology), 'Wrath of God' (de Clerck & Malsagne, p. 50) or 'Aviv Ne'urim' (Ménargues). Fisk adds that the wife of one leader was killed; de Clerck & Malsagne mention civilian collateral victims. Hanf alone mentions targets in Sidon.
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Monday, 30 April 1973
The road to war · From the books
Fatah members with explosives are arrested at Beirut airport.
Four Fatah members with explosives in their luggage were stopped at the airport before a flight to Europe; a day later, near the US embassy, five Democratic Front guerrillas were held.
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mid-April 1973 (days after 10 April): day not established
The road to war · From the books
Huge funerals for the PLO leaders; Prime Minister Salam resigns.
When Saeb Salam demanded the removal of the army commander, General Iskandar Ghanem, Frangieh refused and Salam resigned. Huge crowds mourned the three leaders; Traboulsi says they were angry at an army used against Lebanese, not for defence.
Sources differ: Crowd size: a quarter of a million (Traboulsi) or nearly 100,000 (de Clerck & Malsagne).
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April 1973: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Amin al-Hafiz forms a new government.
The army's assault on the Palestinian camps overshadowed the brief premiership of Amin al-Hafiz, a Tripoli MP on good terms with the PLO, who had presented his cabinet as a revised 'youth' government.
The road to war · From the books
The Unified Syndicate of Tobacco Farmers is founded.
Tobacco growers set up their own Unified Syndicate of Tobacco Farmers.
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June 1973
Thursday, 14 June 1973
The road to war · From the books
Amin al-Hafiz resigns; Taqi al-Din al-Sulh succeeds him.
On 14 June 1973, a month after Melkart, Amin al-Hafiz resigned. Chamoun, Gemayel and Frangieh kept Jumblatt from the interior ministry under Taqi al-Din al-Sulh, chosen chiefly for his Iraqi leanings.
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June 1973: day not established
The road to war · From the books
The future Lebanese National Movement is launched at the Byblos Cinema.
In June 1973 opponents of a draft law curbing political parties met in force at the Byblos Cinema and founded the Rally of National and Democratic Parties and Personalities, later the Lebanese National Movement.
Sources differ: De Clerck & Malsagne date Jumblatt's leadership of the National Movement from 1969; Traboulsi dates the launch of the Rally that became the LNM to June 1973. The two may refer to different stages.
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after May 1973: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Christian parties buy arms abroad; officers train the militias.
After May 1973 the Christian militias bought arms in Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Bulgaria, had Jordanian and Saudi aid, paid for weapons the army imported and were trained by Christian officers; Hanf traces this to their leaders' view that state and army could no longer defend Lebanese sovereignty. Fatah armed and trained Musa al-Sadr's new militia.
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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.
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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.
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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.
\_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'.
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April 1974
Tuesday, 2 April 1974
The road to war · From the books
Left-wing union federations call their own general strike.
The leftist federations called a general strike on their own, after a big demonstration against inflation. Tufaro says it opened the way to the first real gains: peasants entered the social security fund, and Article 50 of the Labour Law, which let employers sack workers at will, was partly reformed.
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April 1974: day not established
The road to war · From the books
A Palestinian commando attacks Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.
A Palestinian commando attacked Kiryat Shmona. Its first anniversary was celebrated in West Beirut on 13 April 1975; the bus fired on in Ain al-Rummaneh that day was carrying people back from that commemoration.
Art and memory- memorial On 13 April 1975 the passengers of the bus attacked in Ain al-Rummaneh were returning from a West Beirut ceremony marking the first anniversary of this attack, so the start of the war is tied to its commemoration.
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June 1974
Saturday, 1 June 1974
The road to war · From the books
Compulsory military service is decreed, but not applied.
Lebanon's first conscription decree, of 1 June 1974, was put into effect only in 1983.
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June 1974 (disputed): day not established
The road to war · From the books
The PLO will accept a Palestinian authority on any freed territory.
Fatah dropped its aim of a secular state for all Palestine. Ready now for a peace conference and a national authority on any liberated land, it faced a Rejectionist Front formed by opponents including the Popular Front; both, Hanf writes, fought mainly from Lebanon thereafter.
Sources differ: June 1974 (Hanf) or July 1974 (Picard).
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range: 1968–1974 (counts): day not established
The road to war · From the books
The army counts thousands of Israeli violations since 1968.
Picard and de Clerck & Malsagne both draw on Lebanese army figures for Israeli violations of Lebanese territory. Picard gives over 30,000 from June 1968 to June 1974; de Clerck & Malsagne count 3,000 in 1968-74 (1.4 a day, with close to 800 Lebanese and Palestinian casualties) and 7 a day in 1974-75. Palestinian raids into Israel from Lebanon numbered 29 in 1968, 150 in 1969, 345 in 1971 and 442 in 1972.
Sources differ: 3,000 (de Clerck & Malsagne) against 30,000 (Picard), both attributed to the Lebanese army. De Clerck & Malsagne's rate of 1.4 a day matches about 3,000 over six years; Picard's may include the patrols and observation posts he lists.
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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.
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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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April 1975
Saturday, 12 April 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The government cancels the Protein fishing project.
The cabinet's decision to scrap the Protein scheme and compensate Sidon's fishermen came a month after its first concessions, and a day before Ain al-Rummaneh.
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Sunday, 13 April 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A serious incident opposed the Phalange (Kataeb) Party to the Resistance in Ain El Remmaneh causing 31 deaths.
These people were on board of a bus bringing back from Tell El Zaatar members of Palestinian Organizations who had just participated in a Resistance meeting. Because of the incident, tension rose in the Palestinian camp and in many surrounding towns. Authorities and mediators were trying to calm the waters and ask the Phalange Party leader, Pierre Gemayel, to hand over those responsible of the incident to the Lebanese Justice.
What the books addThe day began with shootings near the church in Ain al-Rummaneh, where Pierre Gemayel was attending a consecration; his bodyguard Joseph Bou Assi was killed. In the early afternoon Kataeb militiamen fired on a bus returning to Tal al-Za'tar from a rally of the Arab Liberation Front. Most historians count 27 dead (Hanf, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne: 27 of 35 passengers); Traboulsi gives 21 and Ménargues 31. According to de Clerck and Malsagne the bus carried Palestinians and Lebanese in equal numbers, all men. Fighting spread that evening across the suburbs of Beirut.
Art and memory- film In Ziad Doueiri's West Beyrouth (1998), the teenager Tarek witnesses the Ain al-Rummaneh bus attack, and the next day his family is stopped at a roadblock and asked for identity cards.
- artwork A copy of the Dodge bus attacked in 1975 stood on a street in central Beirut in April 2003, for the 28th anniversary, as the installation '13th of April'.
- book De Clerck and Malsagne take the morning incidents, the bus passengers and the finding that no Kataeb leader ordered the attack from Marwan Chahine's pioneering investigation, Beyrouth, 13 avril 1975. Autopsie d'une étincelle (Belfond, 2024).
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Monday, 14 April 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range
Fighting spreads; Christian enclaves in the southern suburbs are emptied.
On 14 April, the day after Ain al-Rummaneh, armed young men held the streets of Chiyah and Ashrafieh and fedayeen began attacks in the coastal Chouf. Palestinian fighters then overran and looted the Christian enclaves of Haret Hreik and Chiyah, expelling most people; that April some 40,000 people had to leave the Christian pockets of the south-western suburbs.
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Tuesday, 15 April 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A cease-fire was reached
After more than three days of anguish, with 120 deaths and many injuries, two suspects were handed over to the Justice. Beirut and its surroundings have been the theater of violent clashes between the Phalange Party and Palestinian militias. Also, Zghortiotes and Tripolitans fought in Tripoli. A cease-fire was declared at night and all parties reached an agreement, the execution of which was entrusted to the Internal Security Forces.
What the books addAfter several days of fighting (Hanf; four, says Traboulsi), Pierre Gemayel gave up to the police two militiamen implicated in the Ain al-Rummaneh shooting. Early Syrian mediation failed to stop this round, which de Clerck and Malsagne end with a cease-fire on 16 May 1975; no book confirms a truce on 15 April.
Other date in the books: Friday, 16 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Kataeb office in Zahleh is attacked.
Zahleh's Kataeb office on the Boulevard, the main street, was targeted on the evening of 15 April. On the 14th Bishop Yuhanna Bassul had given the Beirut fighting one diary line, as another clash.
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June 1975
Thursday, 5 June 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Suez Canal reopens.
Egypt reopened the Suez Canal. Hanf notes that by then Lebanon was already at war, and links the Egyptian-Israeli rapprochement to the Lebanese crisis.
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Friday, 6 June 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Musa al-Sadr announces the Amal movement.
Musa al-Sadr made the founding of Amal public. He already had armed men, as a blast at a Fatah training camp near Baalbek showed soon afterwards.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date Amal's creation to July 1975 (its public revelation by the explosion of 5 July).
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Tuesday, 24 June 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A third round of fighting begins between Christian militias and Palestinians.
Christian militias and Palestinian fighters began a third round, which took fighting beyond Beirut to Damour, Sidon, Zahleh and Tripoli.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne's own narrative dates the third round to the end of July.
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Saturday, 28 June 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Musa al-Sadr begins a hunger strike against the fighting.
Protesting at the fighting in Chiyah, Imam Musa al-Sadr went on hunger strike, pledging to fast until the violence stopped. Christian and Sunni clergy and Palestinians backed him. Traboulsi says he fasted at the Amiliya school until a national unity government was formed.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's wording places the strike about a month before 6 June; de Clerck and Malsagne and Hanf place it in late June, which fits the formation of the Karami cabinet at the end of June.
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June 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Arafat and Frangieh meet to negotiate a cease-fire.
In June President Frangieh held cease-fire talks with Yasser Arafat. Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia offered mediation, as did the Arab League.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
\_this day in full
April 1976
Friday, 2 April 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A ten-day truce had bee decided, in order to elect a new President of the Republic after the expected departure of Sleiman Frangieh.
What the books addParliament used the truce to amend Article 73 of the constitution so that Frangieh's successor could be elected early: on 9 April according to Hanf, 10 April according to Yara El Khoury. The truce had coincided with the arrival on 31 March of the US envoy Dean Brown.
Other dates in the books: Wednesday, 31 March 1976, Friday, 9 April 1976, Saturday, 10 April 1976
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Monday, 5 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A Zahleh delegation led by its bishop meets Khaddam in Damascus.
Greek Catholic Bishop Yuhanna Bassul led a delegation from Zahleh, besieged since December, to Damascus; there the Syrian vice-president, Abdel Halim Khaddam, promised humanitarian aid.
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Friday, 9 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Parliament amends the constitution to allow an early presidential election.
With Syria enforcing a truce, deputies changed Article 73 of the constitution so that Frangieh's successor could be elected up to six months before his term ended, not two.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 9 April, Yara El Khoury 10 April.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 10 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian forces enter the Bekaa; Saiqa moves to relieve besieged Zahleh.
Syrian army tanks appeared at Anjar, Judaydat Yabus and Bayadir al-Adas, inside Lebanon, while Saiqa fighters came in and began to relieve besieged Zahleh. When Jumblatt asked, Dean Brown said the Syrians were clearing roads.
Sources differ: The original entry 62 dates the Syrian entry into the Bekaa to 10 April.
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Saturday, 10 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Christian fighters clash among themselves in Zahleh.
Three fighters died when members of the Tajammu', Zahleh's Christian militia, fired on one another; the clash, during the manoeuvring before Syrian troops entered the town, split the group.
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Monday, 12 April 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad attacks the National Movement and offers to intervene.
Pierre Gemayel called it a historic speech: in Damascus, President Assad said Syria was ready to send forces into Lebanon to protect any oppressed group, Christian or Muslim, and attacked the PLO and National Movement leaders.
Sources differ: Traboulsi's chronology lists 'al-Asad's speech attacking LNM' under '13 March', apparently a misprint for 12 April.
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dates 1–60 of 648 next
