141 entries on 131 dates · the books disagree on 21
dates 1–60 of 131 next
December 1968
Saturday, 28 December 1968
The road to war · From the books
Israeli commandos destroy Lebanon's civil airliners at Beirut airport.
In retaliation for a Palestinian attack on an El Al airliner at Athens, Israeli commandos landed by helicopter at Beirut International Airport and destroyed thirteen or fourteen Lebanese passenger planes on the ground, most of them belonging to Middle East Airlines. The army failed to respond. Abroad the raid was widely condemned; at home it fed anger at the state and sympathy for the Palestinians.
Sources differ: Number of aircraft: 13 (Traboulsi, Hanf, Picard, Fisk) or 14 belonging to three Lebanese companies, 8 of them MEA (de Clerck & Malsagne). Traboulsi and Hanf speak of MEA planes only; Fisk and de Clerck & Malsagne of MEA and other companies. Picard says the Israeli air force blew up the planes; Hanf, Fisk and de Clerck & Malsagne describe a heliborne or landed commando. Picard places the Athens attack 'two months earlier'; Hanf and de Clerck & Malsagne date it 26 December 1968. Traboulsi and Hanf call it a hijacking, de Clerck & Malsagne and Fisk an attack.
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January 1987
Friday, 2 January 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Minister of Labor Selim El Hoss signed a decree raising the minimum wage to 3,200 LBP. This decision was a timid ray of light in the heavy economic sky.
What the books addHistorians describe the collapse of real wages behind such decrees: against 1974, the statutory minimum wage kept 13 percent of its buying power at the end of 1986 (Hanf, after Abou Rjaily and Labaki).
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Monday, 5 January 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While the Camps War raged between Amal and the Popular Palestinian Liberation Front, the Salam mission, aiming at reconciling Presidents Assad and Gemayel, was resumed.
What the books addThe third 'war of the camps' had begun in the south at the end of September 1986; fighting resumed in the Beirut camps in December. By early January 1987 it had cost over 500 dead and 2,000 wounded, by a French diplomatic estimate. The books describe Amal's adversaries as PLO fighters, mostly loyal to Arafat.
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Wednesday, 7 January 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
President Camille Chamoun escaped by miracle from a killing attempt. A car bomb exploded on the River cornice when his convoy was passing by. 4 persons were killed and 37 others were wounded. The President was injured in his arm.
What the books addHanf mentions the failed attempt on Chamoun's life early in 1987 and notes that he died in August of that year.
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Tuesday, 13 January 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The kidnapping, in West Beirut, of Roger Auque, a French journalist, raised the number of French nationals who disappeared in Lebanon to 18.
What the books addCounts differ: Hanf, after Abou Rjaily and Labaki (figures to late 1987), counts about fifty foreigners kidnapped in Lebanon, including twenty Americans and nine Frenchmen. The figure of 18 French nationals may include people who were not kidnapped; its basis is not known.
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Saturday, 24 January 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
While there were still no news about West German nationals Cordes and Schmidt, three Americans and one Indian holding a US passport were kidnapped at the Beirut University College campus, in Koraytem in Ras Beirut.
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Wednesday, 28 January 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Assad and Gemayel met for 55 minutes in Kuwait during a pan-Islamic conference to put an end to a disagreement that lasted one year. Besides, Washington decided to prohibit US nationals from travelling to Lebanon.
What the books addTraboulsi dates the break between the two presidents to their meeting of 13-14 January 1986, when Gemayel rejected the Syrian-sponsored Tripartite Accord.
Other date in the books: Monday, 13 January 1986
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January 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy, disappears in Beirut.
In January 1987 Terry Waite, who had negotiated for the Western hostages, was taken hostage himself. He had returned to Beirut without an invitation from Islamic Jihad and asked to meet it again; Fisk says he wanted to show he had no part in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages affair.
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February 1987
Sunday, 1 February 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The MEA suspended its flights therefore causing a de facto closing of the Beirut International Airport, while the few companies that were still flying into the airport (Soviet, Czech, and Bulgarian) decided to cancel their flights.
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Friday, 6 February 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Lebanese Pound recorded a historic decline compared to the dollar which had almost reached the 100 LBP threshold. This fall worried the population.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne call 1987's currency crisis the gravest since independence, the pound losing up to 90 percent of its value; on Banque du Liban figures (Hanf), it fell from about 35 to the dollar in 1986 to some 520.
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Saturday, 7 February 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The confrontations intensified around the Palestinian camps of Chatila and Bourj Brajneh. The risk of escalation intensified.
What the books addBy late 1986, say de Clerck and Malsagne, Chatila was 90 percent destroyed, yet 500 to 1,000 Palestinians held out inside. In the winter of 1987, Picard writes, many Palestinians in the besieged Beirut camps died of hunger.
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Sunday, 15 February 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A vast military confrontation between Amal and the PSP erupted in West Beirut. It was a prelude to the entrance of 12,000 Syrian soldiers in this region. However, they didn't deploy in the Southern suburbs.
What the books addHanf has the PSP and its leftist allies overrunning Amal's Murr Tower headquarters and taking Hamra after five days of what he calls West Beirut's worst fighting, its destruction on the scale of the 1982 siege. The size of the Syrian force differs by source: 12,000 soldiers plus Special Forces (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8,000 (Quéméner), two brigades (Hanf), the re-formed 85th Brigade (Fisk). The troops entered on 22 February according to most sources (see addition 1987-02-22).
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Tuesday, 17 February 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Communist thinker Hussein Mroue is assassinated.
Hussein Mroue, a prominent Marxist thinker of the Lebanese Communist Party, was murdered, one of several party officials and intellectuals killed in 1986-87 amid the rift between Hezbollah and the Communists.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne link the killings to the break between Hezbollah and the Communist Party; Hanf attributes the murders of Communist intellectuals in early 1987 to Amal supporters. Neither names the killers of Mroue specifically.
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Sunday, 22 February 1987
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Syrian army returns to West Beirut.
Much of the population welcomed the Syrian troops who entered West Beirut at Muslim leaders' invitation after a week of fighting between Amal and the PSP and its leftist allies. Militiamen were banned from carrying arms in the streets; Amal fell back to the southern suburbs, which the Syrians left alone. Gemayel protested.
Sources differ: Date: 22 February (Hanf; de Clerck and Malsagne, twice), 20 February (Picard), 28 February (Traboulsi). 22 February has the most support and is also the date given in original entry 988. Size of force: two brigades (Hanf), 12,000 soldiers plus Special Forces (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8,000 (Quéméner).
Other dates in the books: Friday, 20 February 1987, Saturday, 28 February 1987
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February 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Gunmen loot the Commodore Hotel, the journalists' base in West Beirut, which closes.
Days after Druze and Palestinian gunmen looted the Commodore, taking its staff's money and passports, the owner, Yussef Nazzal, shut the hotel and laid off nearly all the employees.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syrian troops kill some twenty Hezbollah members in Beirut.
About twenty Hezbollah fighters were killed when Syrian troops enforcing the arms ban stormed a Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. Fisk wrote that month of killings of prisoners held by Syria in Beirut.
Sources differ: Hanf places the killing of 23 Hezbollah fighters right after the Syrian entry of 22 February, and Fisk writes of Syrian killings of prisoners in Beirut in February 1987; de Clerck and Malsagne date the storming of Hezbollah's headquarters and the killing of about twenty members to the end of 1987. The Confluences article is by the same two authors, so it is not independent confirmation. February has the better support.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Communist Party's radio, Voice of the People, goes on air.
The Lebanese Communist Party started its own radio, the 'Voice of the People'. Like the militias' stations, it read out the dollar exchange rate at regular intervals.
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March 1987
Friday, 6 March 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A decision that appeared anachronistic in a country dominated by insecurity was taken: motorcycles were prohibited in West Beirut. This decision was motivated by the need to strengthen security in the region.
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Saturday, 28 March 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An anti-Syrian assault in Ramlet El Baida constituted the most serious incident since the entry of Syrian troops in West Beirut on February 22nd.
What the books addHanf writes that in June 1987 Walid Jumblatt was forced to surrender to Syria several men of the PSP intelligence branch, his security chief among them, who had joined in hit-and-run attacks on Syrian forces in West Beirut.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 22 February 1987
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March 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
President Gemayel puts forward proposals for political reform.
Gemayel presented reform proposals that Picard counts among the drafts later taken up in the Taif Accord.
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April 1987
Sunday, 5 April 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An agreement was concluded between the National Palestinian Salvation Front and the Amal movement under the aegis of Ghazi Kanaan. This agreement stipulated a global cease-fire and the end of the camps' blockade in Beirut
What the books addUnder the 5 April accord, reached by Amal, the PLO and the pro-Syrian Palestinian National Salvation Front with the Syrian general Ghazi Kanaan present, the blockade was to be lifted, the wounded taken out and the PLO was to leave three villages near Sidon. Food and medicine then reached Chatila and Bourj al-Barajneh, the first since March. Picard dates the end of the siege to an Amal-Palestinian agreement of 11 September 1987; Hanf has Amal lifting the blockade only on 18 January 1988.
Other dates in the books: Friday, 11 September 1987, Monday, 18 January 1988
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Thursday, 23 April 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The CGTL announces a 3-days general strike.
What the books addHanf lists five increasingly political CGTL strikes in 1987 (April, July, August, September, November), mass protests against the war more than ordinary strikes.
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April 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The cabinet meets for the first time in over a year, to face the economic crisis.
Little came of the Karami cabinet's meeting on the fast-worsening economy, its first since the Muslim ministers' boycott began in January 1986. Karami resigned weeks later.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Clerics propose an Islamic republic for Lebanon, with a draft constitution.
Amal's leaders distanced themselves from an Iranian-style draft constitution by Iranian and Lebanese clerics: all laws to follow Islamic law, an all-Shi'i council to design the new order, autonomy for minorities where they were the majority.
Sources differ: Hanf's footnote 220 dates the same Hottinger article to 6 May 1987, his bibliography to 6 April 1987.
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May 1987
Monday, 4 May 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Prime Minister Rachid Karameh announced his resignation but refused to give a written resignation to the Head of State
What the books addBefore resigning, Karami had seen the cabinet reconvene in April to deal with the economic crisis, after months in which the Muslim ministers' boycott of Gemayel had kept it from meeting. Hanf treats his call to open the presidency to every community as the start of the contest for the 1988 presidential election.
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Monday, 18 May 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Minister of Labour Selim Hoss signs the decree for the reajustment of salaries. The minimum salary is fixed at 4500 LBP.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Marxist thinker Mahdi Amel (Hassan Hamdan) is assassinated.
Hassan Hamdan, known as Mahdi Amel, a philosopher and leading theorist of the Lebanese Communist Party, was assassinated. Hanf says his Shi'i background made him especially hated, branded an 'atheist traitor'.
Sources differ: Responsibility: Hanf names Amal supporters; de Clerck and Malsagne place the killing in the context of the Hezbollah-Communist break without naming the killers.
Art and memory- book Hanf's annotated list of Arabic writing on the war includes Mahdi Amel's 1979 work on the causes of the civil war, Theory in Political Practice, and describes its author as a Shi'i philosophy professor and Communist Party member.
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Thursday, 21 May 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The abrogation by the Parliament of the Cairo Agreement was voted unanimously by the attending 45 deputies. Moreover, the abolition of May 17th Israeli-Arab Agreement was confirmed.
What the books addThe vote annulled both the 1969 Cairo Agreement on the Palestinian armed presence and parliament's earlier approval of the agreement of 17 May 1983 with Israel. For Hanf it was the period's most symbolic decision, and its most desperate.
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May 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The last fighting along the Green Line.
Hanf observes that by then the old civil-war camps had almost stopped fighting each other: the Beirut demarcation line last saw combat in May 1987, and the wars of 1986-88 were waged within each camp.
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June 1987
Monday, 1 June 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Prime Minister Rachid Karameh was assassinated, torn to shreds by the explosion on the helicopter that was supposed to take him from Tripoli to West-Beirut. However, his post as Chief of the Cabinet did not remain vacant: Selim Hoss was designated by presidential decree as the interim Chief of Government.
What the books addKarami had announced his resignation on 4 May. Who was responsible is disputed: Hanf (1993) writes that it was never established who planted the bomb in the army helicopter; de Clerck and Malsagne report that it was attributed to Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces, and Picard notes that Geagea was later tried for it. Selim al-Hoss, Minister of Education, became acting prime minister; the cabinet never met again and governed by circulated decrees.
Art and memory- testimony Hamra Street vendors were still selling cassettes of Rashid Karami's speeches on national unity and Lebanon's Arab identity over two years after his assassination, Fisk notes.
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Friday, 5 June 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The President of the National Assembly, Hussein Husseini, announces his resignation, thus increasing the institutional gap.
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A general strike paralyses the country for five days.
A general strike, part of the CGTL's drive for peace and an economic rescue plan, shut the country down for close to five days.
Sources differ: Hanf lists CGTL political strikes in 1987 for April, July, August, September and November, but none in June. The strike began four days after Karami's assassination, on the day Husseini resigned (original entry 1003).
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Wednesday, 17 June 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Walid Joumblatt, leader of the PSP, and Nabih Berri, leader of the Amal militia, become reconciled under the aegis of the Syrian Vice-President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, and publish an agreement for fighting in 7 points.
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Friday, 19 June 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The price of fuel goes up from 190 LBP to 290 LBP for 20 litres while the gas demijohn goes up from 110 LBP to 155 LBP. The index of livelihood cost has increased by 82,8 % since January.
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June 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Walid Jumblatt hands over to Syria PSP men accused of attacking Syrian troops.
Jumblatt had to surrender several PSP intelligence men, his security chief included, to the Syrians after they had taken part in hit-and-run attacks on Syrian soldiers in West Beirut.
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July 1987
Monday, 6 July 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The high depreciation of the Lebanese Pound breks, in the beginning of the week, all historical drop records and provokes panic on the exchange market. The national currency breaks the plateau of 162 LBP for 1 American Dollar.
What the books addPicard records an eightfold price rise and a thirtyfold fall of the pound against the dollar from summer 1984 to summer 1987.
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Saturday, 11 July 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Walid Joumblatt, Minister of Tourism and Leader of the Progressist Socialist Party, presides this evening, the opening ceremony of the Emir Amin's Palace. Closed down since the first years of the war, this edifice, that used to belong to the Intercontinental chain of hotels, resumes its vocation as a prestigious palace.
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Friday, 17 July 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Minister of Finance, President Camille Chamoun, publishes a decision ordering the Governor of the Central Bank, Edmond Naïm, not to intervene to stabilize the exchange market before contacting him..
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Friday, 24 July 1987
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A Lebanese, Ali Mohamad Hariri, hijacks an Air Africa plane in Geneva and demands the release of the hamade brothers held captive in the German Federal Republic. The operation ends with the arrest of the hijacker, killing 1 person and injuring 31.
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mid July 1987: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The French ambassador, Paul Blanc, escapes an assassination attempt.
On 17 July 1987 France severed relations with Iran and sent naval vessels to protect French oil tankers in the Gulf. In the same period Paul Blanc, France's ambassador in Beirut, came through a first attack.
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dates 1–60 of 131 next
