566 entries on 498 dates · the books disagree on 143
dates 1–60 of 498 next
May 1969
Tuesday, 6 May 1969
The road to war · From the books
On television, President Helou sets Lebanese sovereignty as the limit of support for the Palestinians.
Lebanon was left without a cabinet for months after 6 May, when President Charles Helou said on television that backing the Palestinian cause must not put Lebanon's sovereignty and security at risk. He and the army had open support only from Christian politicians; no leading Sunni would take office.
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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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November 1969
Monday, 3 November 1969
The road to war · From the books
The Cairo Agreement is signed between the Lebanese army and the PLO.
Only Raymond Eddé and his bloc voted against the agreement, which deputies ratified without seeing its full, secret text. Concluded in Cairo through Egyptian mediation by Yasir Arafat and army commander General Emile Bustani, it affirmed Lebanese sovereignty but let guerrillas keep armed units in the camps and observation posts near the border and move to and from the Arqoub.
Sources differ: Three dates: 3 November (de Clerck & Malsagne, Traboulsi's chronology; Hanf's negotiation of 1-3 November ends that day), 8 November (Traboulsi's chapter 9) and 13 November (Picard). 3 November has the most, and mutually independent, support; Traboulsi contradicts himself.
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Wednesday, 26 November 1969
The road to war · From the books
Karami's national unity cabinet gives Kamal Jumblatt the Interior Ministry.
Kamal Jumblatt became interior minister, in charge of carrying out the Cairo Agreement, in the government of national union Rashid Karami formed once the Syrian border reopened, ending a cabinet vacancy of over seven months.
Sources differ: 26 November (Traboulsi, twice) or 25 November (de Clerck & Malsagne).
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 25 November 1969
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May 1970
May 1970: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Israeli forces invade the south after the shelling of Kiryat Shmona.
Lebanese troops suffered heavy losses when Israel sent forces across the border to retaliate for the Palestinian shelling of Kiryat Shmona. Hanf links the rise in guerrilla raids after the Cairo Agreement to more reprisals and a new wave of villagers fleeing north.
The road to war · From the books
New government rules bar PLO rocket fire, minelaying and weapons in towns.
The Popular Front rejected, and Fatah and Saiqa accepted, the rules set by the government in May: no rocket fire from Lebanese soil, no minelaying, no carrying of arms in towns and villages. Jumblatt, as interior minister, had also sought to keep PLO bases at least a kilometre from any town or village and training out of the camps. It did not last.
The road to war · From the books
The government recognises the Shi'i council and releases aid after a national day for the south.
The government recognised the new Higher Shi'i Council and released ten million dollars of aid for the south, steps taken after an official solidarity day for the region.
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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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November 1970
November 1970: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Hafez al-Assad takes power in Syria.
Hafez al-Assad seized power in Damascus in a bloodless coup, his 'corrective movement'. Picard sees the Baath, above all after this, as an unofficial tool of Syrian intervention in Lebanon.
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May 1971
Tuesday, 25 May 1971
The road to war · From the books day (planned strike)
A general strike set for 25 May is put off after a 5 per cent wage rise.
The General Workers' Union set a general strike for 25 May 1971 but deferred it when a 5 per cent wage rise was decreed. It sought 11 per cent more pay, lower rents, state imports of medicines and basic foods, a law for farm labourers and no more arbitrary dismissals.
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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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May 1972
late May 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
After the Lod airport attack, Israel holds Lebanon responsible and strikes the south.
Israeli attacks by land, sea and air on the Rashidieh camp, Hasbaya, Dayr Ashayer and Tibnin killed about 150 people after Japanese Red Army gunmen killed 24 at Lod airport, an operation the PLO had prepared for them in Beirut. Israel now declared Lebanon's government answerable for every PLO action.
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November 1972
Friday, 3 November 1972
The road to war · From the books
Workers at the Ghandour factories begin an open-ended strike.
On 3 November 1972 an indefinite strike began at the Ghandour confectionery group, Lebanon's largest non-unionised industrial workforce. Workers wanted their factory committee recognised, the right to unionise, equal wages for women and higher pay.
Sources differ: Workforce: 1,200 in Shiyah (Traboulsi) or about 1,250 in Choueifat plus 350 in Chiyah (Tufaro).
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Saturday, 11 November 1972
The road to war · From the books
Police fire on Ghandour strikers, killing two.
Two workers died on 11 November 1972 when security forces opened fire outside Ghandour's Chiyah plant: Fatima al-Khawaja of the Communist Party and Yusuf al-Attar of the OCA's workers' committees. Others were wounded. De Clerck & Malsagne call it the first workers' protest since independence put down with deadly force.
Sources differ: Wounded: 14 (Traboulsi) or 19, including 13 policemen (de Clerck & Malsagne).
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mid-November 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
A general strike and mass rallies protest the Ghandour killings.
Protests broke out nationwide for three days. Under pressure from its members, the labour confederation called a one-day general strike, and Kamal Jumblatt led some 20,000 marchers to parliament, where the crowd shouted '99 thieves and 17 ruffians'. Salam's government refused any inquiry and made demonstrations subject to permits.
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May 1973
Tuesday, 1 May 1973
The road to war · From the books
Palestinian guerrillas abduct three Lebanese soldiers.
The May 1973 crisis began when members of the Popular and Democratic Fronts abducted three Lebanese soldiers as hostages for the release of detained Palestinians.
Sources differ: Kidnappers: PFLP and DFLP (Hanf) or DFLP (de Clerck & Malsagne).
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Wednesday, 2 May 1973
The road to war · From the books
Heavy fighting as the army rings Beirut's Palestinian camps.
More than 100 Lebanese and Palestinians were killed in two weeks of fighting that began on 2 May, when the army deployed around Beirut's largest Palestinian camps; the CIA called these the worst clashes since 1969. Uprisings broke out in Sidon and Tripoli, and Beirut's Muslim neighbourhoods filled with demonstrators.
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Thursday, 3 May 1973
The road to war · From the books day (disputed)
The Lebanese air force bombs Palestinian camps in Beirut.
The Lebanese air force was used against the camps: Hanf writes that it bombed Burj al-Barajneh in response to rockets launched at the airport from inside the camp.
Sources differ: 3 May and Burj al-Barajneh (Traboulsi) against 2 May and the Sabra-Shatila area (de Clerck & Malsagne); Hanf gives Burj al-Barajneh without a day. They may be separate raids.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 2 May 1973
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Monday, 14 May 1973
The road to war · From the books day (doubtful)
Guerrillas blow up oil tanks at the Zahrani refinery.
Hanf lists the bombing of oil tanks at the Zahrani refinery, near Sidon, by Popular Front members among the provocations of the May 1973 crisis.
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Thursday, 17 May 1973
The road to war · From the books
The Melkart protocol ends the army-PLO fighting.
On 17 May, after Frangieh bowed to Arab pressure and halted the army, a West Beirut hotel hosted the Melkart signing: no more Palestinian raids into Israel, and a joint army-Palestinian commission. Hanf says it reaffirmed Cairo and proved as ineffective.
Sources differ: 17 May (de Clerck & Malsagne, Picard) or end of fighting on 18 May followed by the agreement (Hanf). De Clerck & Malsagne say it amended the Cairo Agreement; Hanf that it reaffirmed it.
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May 1973: day not established
The road to war · From the books
First congress of Bekaa peasants campaigns against fertiliser prices.
Rising fertiliser and pesticide costs were the target of a campaign launched in May 1973 by the first congress of Bekaa peasants and farmers, which also sought a new tenancy law and farmers' social security.
The road to war · From the books
Syria closes its border and sends Saiqa and the PLA into the Bekaa.
Saiqa and Palestine Liberation Army units crossed into the southern Bekaa, and Damascus shut the border to passengers and goods, threatened to close its airspace and accused Lebanon of joining an international scheme to crush the Palestinian resistance. Picard dates Syria's systematic armed intervention in Lebanon from here.
The road to war · From the books
Zahle schoolchildren march for the army; Ta'labaya answers with roadblocks.
The battle of the camps split the Zahle area: pupils in the town demonstrated for the army, while in nearby Ta'labaya Muslim residents blocked roads and set tyres alight. Bishop Bassul then gathered Christian and Muslim clerics, who declared their loyalty to the state.
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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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May 1974
Friday, 31 May 1974
The road to war · From the books
Syria and Israel sign the Golan disengagement agreement.
When the Golan disengagement took effect, UN troops stood between the Syrian and Israeli armies. Hanf concludes that Lebanon's border was now the only front open to Palestinian armed action, and that Lebanon, main arena of the conflict since 1970, bore it alone.
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May 1974: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Over 50,000 armed Shi'is take an oath with Musa al-Sadr at Tyre.
At a Tyre rally Imam Musa al-Sadr took an oath from more than 50,000 heavily armed Shi'i followers, who pledged to fight on for their own cause and for the deprived at large. Picard mentions mass gatherings in Tyre, Sidon and Baalbek, at which Sadr drew on Shi'i history.
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May 1975
Friday, 16 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Solh Cabinet resigned due to pressures against its members.
What the books addIn a heated sitting of parliament Rashid al-Solh resigned, blaming the Kataeb for the fighting. His refusal to deploy the army had led the Kataeb ministers to leave the cabinet, and other Christian ministers had followed them.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A cease-fire ends the first round of fighting.
De Clerck and Malsagne date the ceasefire that closed this first round to 16 May; an earlier Syrian mediation had not stopped the fighting. The Solh cabinet resigned the same day (existing entry 15).
Sources differ: The existing entry 13 records a cease-fire on 15 April.
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Tuesday, 20 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Five people were killed and 24 were wounded in Dekwaneh
Violent confrontations opposed Palestinians from the Tell El Zaatar camp and Phalange Party members. Businesses were closed in protest against the lack of security.
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Friday, 23 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Following the resignation of the Government of Rachid El Solh, Sleiman Frangieh, President of the Republic, put together a military government.
The new government was headed by Noureddine Rifai, a retired Corporal, and included only one civilian, Lucien Dahdah. This Government was in charge of reestablishing the peace in the country caused by bloody clashes between the Phalange Party and the Resistance. These clashes were still going on in Beirut and its surroundings.
What the books addNureddine al-Rifai was a retired Sunni officer: a general according to Hanf, a brigadier-general according to Traboulsi, an officer of the gendarmerie according to de Clerck and Malsagne.
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Saturday, 24 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Musa al-Sadr disowns the 'Fityan Ali' gang.
Imam Musa al-Sadr declared that Harakat Fityan Ali, a Shiite gang led by Ahmad Safwan from Nabaa and Bourj Hammoud, was not part of his Movement of the Deprived. Six days later the gang was accused of the Black Thursday killings of Christians.
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Monday, 26 May 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The military Cabinet resigned
Islamic and leftist leaders rejected this Cabinet. The Lebanese considered it as a challenge. Karameh presented his candidature to form a new Government, in a climate of terror imposed by militias. Lootings, killings, and kidnappings continued.
What the books addThe National Movement's call for a general strike, supported by the leading Sunni politicians, Mufti Hassan Khaled, Musa al-Sadr and Raymond Edde, brought down the military cabinet on 26 May; on 28 May Frangieh appointed Rashid Karami Prime Minister.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 28 May 1975
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Wednesday, 28 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Rashid Karami is named Prime Minister.
On 28 May, after the military cabinet fell, Frangieh named Rashid Karami Prime Minister. Forming a government took him a month, since most Christian politicians would not sit without the Kataeb and Jumblatt vetoed the party.
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Friday, 30 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
'Black Thursday': sectarian kidnappings and killings in Beirut.
Sectarian abductions rose sharply on either side of the demarcation line after a Palestinian was killed and frightening rumours spread through Beirut. The worst came at Bashura, where Christians walking between Basta and the cemetery were abducted and some of them killed or mutilated. The Shiite gang Fityan Ali was blamed. De Clerck and Malsagne stress that this happened months before Black Saturday, often wrongly called the war's first massacre.
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Saturday, 31 May 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Zahleh's young militia takes position above the town.
Tajammu fighters, from a Zahleh group of intellectuals and young men whose first leaflet appeared on 24 May, took the Virgin statue hill at the town's northern entrance, a front-line post watching the Saadnayel road.
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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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November 1975
Sunday, 2 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Chuchu, the famous actor died from a hart attack. His real name was Hassan Alaeddine, the friend of younger and older kids was the most popular comedian on stage and on TV.
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Monday, 10 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An emissary of Pope Paul VI arrived to Beirut holding a papal message
Cardinal Bertoli called all leaders to start working for the restoration of peace.
What the books addCardinal Paolo Bertoli's mission lasted from 9 to 14 November 1975 (de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology). Like the French envoy Couve de Murville, he backed a limited revision of the National Pact.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 9 November 1975
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Sunday, 16 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Sleiman Frangieh and Prime Minister Rachid Karameh studied the political reform and the secularization of public service.
The Prime Minister presented a plan to redress the economy and curb unemployment. He claimed religious equity in the parliamentary representation and a complete secularization of public service. The government decided to create a shock squad in charge of reestablishing security in the country.
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Wednesday, 19 November 1975
The Lebanese war · Added from the books range
French envoy Maurice Couve de Murville begins a mediation mission.
Giscard d'Estaing's envoy Maurice Couve de Murville was in Beirut on 19-30 November, then Damascus until 2 December. Paris did not call it a mediation (Picard: a fact-finding mission); de Clerck and Malsagne find it made no headway.
Sources differ: Picard calls the mission successful; de Clerck and Malsagne say it achieved nothing notable.
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Wednesday, 26 November 1975
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Kurt Waldheim, the Secretary General of the United Nations, visited Lebanon for a few hours. He declared that the Lebanese themselves held the solution to the Lebanese crisis.
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November 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Karami suspends government work over an arms shipment at Jounieh.
In November 1975 the Kataeb, aided by Interior Minister Chamoun's hostility to Karami, kept the army from impounding arms landed at Jounieh for the Christian militias. Karami, premier and defence minister, had ordered it; he suspended cabinet work in protest.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Peace demonstrations in Beirut.
Gunmen held their fire until the crowd dispersed: tens of thousands from East and West Beirut had answered an appeal against the fighting by the television announcer Sharif Akhawi. Haugbolle also notes widespread protests on National Day.
Sources differ: The existing entry 34 dates Akhawi's demonstration to 25 October.
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late November 1975: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Frangieh and Karami announce an agreement is near.
At the end of November President Frangieh and Prime Minister Karami said a deal on limited National Pact amendments was close; Syria, the Vatican and French mediators supported it.
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May 1976
Saturday, 1 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Despite the Damascus agreement, fights continued violently. The elections were postponed to May 8, the two candidates being Elias Sarkis and Raymond Eddeh.
What the books addAccounts differ. Hanf has Raymond Eddé stand 'on principle', protesting at outside manipulation, and so become the Left's candidate; Traboulsi and de Clerck and Malsagne have him boycott the vote, Traboulsi because it could not be free.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 8 May 1976
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Thursday, 6 May 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Jocelyne Khoueiry and six young women defend a building in Beirut.
Jocelyne Khoueiry and six other young women defended a building against 300 Palestinian fighters.
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Saturday, 8 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Elias Sarkis, the 52 years old Central Bank Governor, was elected President of the Republic at the second ballot by a majority of 66 votes out of 69 attending deputies. The election took place in a tense atmosphere at the villa Esseily-Hussein Mansour, which was turned into a temporary Parliament around which mortar shells were falling. Lebanese leftist parties were opposed to the elections.
What the books addHanf and Ménargues count 66 votes for Sarkis out of 69 cast; de Clerck and Malsagne give 70. National Movement and PLO mortars fired as deputies, escorted by Saiqa, PLA or Syrian troops, met at the Villa Mansour on the demarcation line. Votes were reportedly bought, by Syria (de Clerck and Malsagne) or with Saudi and CIA money (Traboulsi). Sarkis was sworn in only on 23 September.
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Sunday, 16 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese press was in mourning. A sniper's bullet killed Edouard Saab, the chief editor of L'Orient-Le-Jour.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne note that Edouard Saab was Le Monde's correspondent too; a sniper shot him dead while he crossed the demarcation line.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The first secretary of the Turkish embassy is assassinated in Hamra.
The Armenian armed group ASALA, founded in Beirut in 1975, killed the Turkish embassy's first secretary in Hamra, West Beirut.
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Saturday, 22 May 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
First statement signed by the 'Lebanese Front'.
A 'Lebanese Front' had been forming gradually out of the Kfour meetings between President Frangieh and Camille Chamoun, Pierre Gemayel and Father Charbel Qassis. Its name first appeared in al-Nahar, under a reply to Kamal Jumblatt; next day a second statement named those three.
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Tuesday, 25 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Raymond Eddeh fell into an ambush between Nahr Ibrahim and Antelias. The Amid's car was riddled with over a hundred projectiles but he got away with only an injured leg.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne record three attempts on Raymond Eddé's life, one outside his home, before his voluntary exile in Paris from January 1977; Picard dates the exile to December 1976.
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Thursday, 27 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Linda Joumblatt, Kamal Joumblatt's 55 years old sister, was cowardly assassinated in her home in Beirut. A group of armed men broke into her apartment and opened fire on her. She was killed while her daughters Nouha, 28 years old, and Samar, 18 years old were injured.
What the books addOn 2 June Bashir Gemayel, having asked for a secret meeting with Kamal Jumblatt, offered him condolences and information on who had killed her. Traboulsi names her Linda al-Atrash and puts her apartment in East Beirut.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 2 June 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Lebanese Arab Army attacks Qubayat and Andaqit in Akkar.
Qubayat and Andaqit, Maronite villages in Akkar under siege and bombardment since January, were attacked by Lebanese Arab Army units. Syria cited the attack to justify intervening.
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Saturday, 29 May 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Akkar's deputy asks Assad to intervene.
Assad received two same-day appeals to intervene and stop the bloodshed at Qubayat and Andaqit: a telephone call from Mikhael Daher, the area's Christian deputy, and a message from a 'gathering of the inhabitants of Kobeyat'.
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Sunday, 30 May 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An avalanche of missiles and shells hit Beirut while combats continued on all fronts. The bombings reached the airport, imposing the closure of runways to air traffic at night.
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mid-May 1976: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Assad again urges Jumblatt not to defeat the Christian camp.
Meeting Kamal Jumblatt at length in mid-May 1976, Assad refused to let the Christian camp be beaten, hoping to win the Maronites' trust and draw them from the West to Syria.
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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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Tuesday, 17 August 1976
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Upper-Metn battle started. Over 600 shells fell on Faraya-Oyoune El Simane while Palestinians and Progressive forces continued their insane bombing of the capital.
What the books addHanf has the Syrian army moving again only once Tal al-Za'tar had fallen, increasing pressure on the encircled Palestinian and leftist forces in the Upper Metn; these were expelled at the end of September.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 August 1976
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Amine Gemayel lists atrocities attributed to the defenders of Tal al-Za'tar.
Days after Tal al-Za'tar fell, Amine Gemayel told a press conference the camp's Palestinian fighters and allies had committed some twenty atrocities. De Clerck and Malsagne cite this as leaders inventing or inflating enemy crimes to justify operations.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 August 1976
\_this day in full \_on this day
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