119 entries on 113 dates · the books disagree on 40
dates 1–60 of 113 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 1989
Tuesday, 10 January 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The extraordinary conference of Arab ministers of Foreign Affairs was held in Tunis without the Lebanese delegation although the conference covered primarily the Lebanese crisis.
What the books addHanf: Syria, isolated among Arab states, reluctantly accepted the Lebanon commission the Arab League's Council of Ministers set up on 12 January under Kuwait's foreign minister. Iraq launched it to check Syria.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 12 January 1989
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Friday, 20 January 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The chief of the National Liberal Party, Dany Chamoun, met with Walid Joumblatt, chief of the Progressive Socialist Party, in Deir el Kamar. Moreover, Beiteddine was busy organizing the return of the refugees.
What the books addIn January 1989 Walid Jumblatt made his strongest appeal yet for displaced Christians to return to the Chouf and Aley. Dany Chamoun attended the conference Jumblatt held; Samir Geagea did not. According to Hanf, few displaced people returned.
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Monday, 30 January 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Following negotiations conducted in Damascus, the pro-Syrian Amal movement and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah sign an agreement putting an end to their armed conflict that cost the life of 400 persons in 10 months.
What the books addThe dates differ: Hanf says Amal and Hezbollah suspended their war on 25 January, and also writes that the Syrian-Iranian ceasefire took until the spring. De Clerck and Malsagne date the ceasefire to February 1989. Picard names Syria and Iran as sponsors. Death tolls depend on the source and the period: some sources put civilian deaths at about 2,000 for 1988-1990 (de Clerck and Malsagne); an al-Nahar-based count gives 635 dead across 147 incidents between 1985 and 1991; Georges Corm estimated 2,000 dead for 1988-1989.
Other date in the books: Wednesday, 25 January 1989
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February 1989
Wednesday, 1 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Presidents Hoss, Husseini, and General Aoun did not come up with an agreement in Tunis.
What the books addHanf: Aoun told the Tunis meeting he could settle Lebanese differences himself once Syria withdrew; Hoss and Husseini put reform first.
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Thursday, 9 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Anouar Fatayri, high official of the Progressive Socialist Party and his bodyguard Mohammed Saïd Abou Mehdi are assassinated in an ambush at the entry of the Jahlieh village in the Chouf.
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Friday, 10 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Confrontations are taking place between the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Forces in Jdeideh.
What the books addHanf cites estimates of 15,000 troops under Aoun and 10,000 militiamen, both sides heavily armed by Iraq, and dates the outbreak of heavy army-Lebanese Forces fighting to 10 February, Aoun accusing the militia of plotting a coup. De Clerck and Malsagne date the first clash to 14 February.
Art and memory- artwork A strip of the cartoon 'Beyrouth Déroute' (Standjofski), printed in L'Orient-Le Jour in early 1989, mocks the shrinking and disputed limits of 'Greater Beirut'.
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Tuesday, 14 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
New confrontations between the army and the L.F. were taking place in Monteverde and next to the Justice Palace in Beirut, which created a general mobilization on both sides.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the first army-LF clash to 14 February: after 18 hours of fighting the army had the upper hand. Hanf dates the start to 10 February.
Other date in the books: Friday, 10 February 1989
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Thursday, 16 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
An agreement on military disengagement is concluded between the Army and the L.F., within in a four-party committee.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne have a truce under the Maronite Patriarch's patronage from 17 February. Hanf says Aoun accepted a ceasefire once the militia agreed to hand over Dock Five of the port and the Bourbara checkpoint.
Other date in the books: Friday, 17 February 1989
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Monday, 20 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
A meeting between General Aoun, Chief Commander of the Army, and Samir Geagea Chief of the L.F., takes place in Baabda. The goal of this meeting is to eliminate the differences between them.
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Thursday, 23 February 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The fifth basin of Beirut harbor, controlled by the L.F. is closed and the tax checkpoints of Berbara are dismantled.
What the books addHanf reports that within a week the dollar dropped from LL502 to LL450 and that state customs income rose quickly, though the Lebanese Forces honoured their February 1989 undertaking only in part. The army received Dock Five, the country's main customs post, and the Barbara checkpoint (Hanf spells it 'Bourbara').
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March 1989
Friday, 3 March 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
General Aoun orders a naval blockade of the militia ports of Khalde, Jiyeh and Ouzai.
Aoun had the navy and helicopter units close Khalde, Jiyeh and Ouzai, ports the PSP and Amal had kept, though Syria had officially warned him off militias beyond his own area. Frangieh's Marada had given Selaata port to the army.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date the closure order to 6 March (see entry 1129).
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Monday, 6 March 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Yarzeh reactivated 'The Maritime Operations Room:' instructed to watch the navigation movement in the Lebanese waters and to prevent boats from entering the illegal harbours of the country. Sami Khatib (chief commander of the army in the Western sector) closed the access to the port in retort to what was considered a blockade.
What the books addHanf puts Aoun's order to blockade Khalde, Jiyeh and Ouzai, the ports held by the PSP and Amal, on 3 March; de Clerck and Malsagne place the closure of the illegal ports on 6 March. Syria had warned Aoun against acting beyond 'his' area. Beirut and Jounieh harbours and the airport then all shut, Syrian and PSP guns shelling the first two, the army the third.
Other date in the books: Friday, 3 March 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Druze militia of the PSP joins the fighting against the army.
The closure of the ports drew strong protests from Jumblatt, whose militia resumed fighting the army at Souk el-Gharb with Syrian artillery support.
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Tuesday, 14 March 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Fire exchanges in Souk-el-Gharb had to end up in an explosion. Intensive bombardments of the residential areas, the airport, and the port made 32 deaths and 145 injured.
What the books addOn this day Aoun declared a 'war of liberation' against Syria. De Clerck and Malsagne say Syrian shelling of Christian areas and of the Ministry of Defence came first that day. Traboulsi and Picard say Aoun's artillery hit West Beirut and Syrian positions there. Picard's chronology dates the war from 14 March to 22 September.
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Tuesday, 21 March 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
All crossing roads are closed and a blockade is imposed against the East regions.
What the books addHanf: the Cyprus ferry had to stop for a while, since Syrian artillery could reach every Christian port. From 21 March Syria and its militia allies also shut every crossing into Aoun's territory, in Beirut, the mountains and the north.
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Monday, 27 March 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The PSP's first attempt to break the army's line at Souk el-Gharb fails.
De Clerck and Malsagne record a failed first PSP push through the army's lines at Souk el-Gharb; Jumblatt had reportedly been ordered by Damascus to send his own men to the front.
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March – September 1989: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Hundreds of thousands flee the shelling of Beirut.
Estimates differ. De Clerck and Malsagne count 600,000 people fleeing north to Jounieh and Jbeil from East Beirut and its south-eastern suburbs, and 400,000 heading south from West Beirut and the southern suburbs; another chapter gives 250,000 Beirutis going south. Fisk reckons only about 100,000 civilians stayed in Beirut.
Sources differ: The two figures in de Clerck and Malsagne (1,000,000 in all, or 250,000 going south) count different things. Fisk's figure counts the people who remained, not those who left.
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April 1989
Tuesday, 4 April 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
During a moving ceremony in the Lebanese embassy in Paris, 862 French apply for the Lebanese nationality.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne do not mention the ceremony, but they record a rally outside the Lebanese embassy in Paris that day: more than 2,000 people, brought together by Frédérique Deniau under the slogan 'We are all Lebanese', among them Jean d'Ormesson, Françoise Giroud, Abbé Pierre, André Glucksmann and Claude Mauriac.
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Wednesday, 5 April 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Jean-Franois Deniau, emissary of the Quai d'Orsay, arrives in Beirut. He has to meet with General Aoun and President Hoss.
What the books addHanf: when Damascus protested, Paris called envoy Deniau's description of Syria as the aggressor in Lebanon his 'private opinion'.
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Tuesday, 11 April 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The French Secretary of State to the Human Action, Bernard Kouchner, arrives in Beirut in order to prepare and explain the arrival of the hospital ship 'La Rance' and the oil tanker 'Penhors'.
What the books addBadly wounded people from East and West Beirut were evacuated on French ships. Hanf says France sent its hospital ship and petrol tanker to back Aoun, then, after Syrian threats, called them humanitarian aid for all Lebanese.
Other date in the books: Saturday, 22 April 1989
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Thursday, 13 April 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Some 10,000 shells and rockets hit the Christian enclave on the war's anniversary.
Aoun's artillery fired back at Syrian targets from Beirut to Baalbek. In the enclave electricity failed entirely, hospitals and grain silos burned, and petrol and food ran short. Hanf calls it the heaviest bombardment since Israel's 1982 siege of West Beirut.
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Sunday, 16 April 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Spanish Ambassador in Lebanon, Don Pedro Manuel de Aristegui, dies in his Hadeth residence hit by a 240 mm shell. His father in law, the great Lebanese writer Toufic Aouad, as well as his sister in law are among the victims.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne list the Spanish ambassador among the ambassadors killed during the war. They date his death to 16 April 1989 and attribute it to Syrian shelling.
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Thursday, 27 April 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Arab ministers meeting in Tunis wish to see a cease-fire and a deployment of Arab observers.
What the books addHanf reads Aoun's acceptance of the Tunis appeal as dropping the steps against illegal militia ports that had set off the confrontation.
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April 1989: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
23 Christian deputies urge a ceasefire at Bkerke; thousands of young people protest at them and the Patriarch.
Young people in their thousands protested against both the deputies and the Patriarch, which Hanf says Christian Lebanon had never seen. The deputies had offered to meet all parties concerned to restore peace; the Patriarch had said liberation must come through reason and dialogue.
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May 1989
Tuesday, 2 May 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Aoun recasts his 'war of liberation' as a diplomatic campaign; Syrian shelling starts again.
Within a week Syrian shelling of the enclave was back at full intensity; Hanf says Syria and its allies kept the Arab League ceasefire only a few days. Aoun, having accepted it, recast his war as a diplomatic struggle.
Sources differ: Hanf gives 2 May both for Aoun's statement and for the renewed shelling; the shelling date may be a misprint.
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Wednesday, 3 May 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Lakhdar Ibrahimi, General Secretary of the Arab League, arrives in Beirut looking to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
What the books addLakhdar Brahimi was Deputy (assistant) Secretary-General of the Arab League, not its Secretary-General. After the Casablanca summit he headed the troika's secretariat in Jeddah.
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 23 May 1989
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Tuesday, 16 May 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Hassan Khaled was killed during an attack that killed 10 and injured 76 in Ayche Bakkar, in West Beirut.
What the books addHanf notes that since the 1988 presidential election failed, the Mufti had acted as a go-between for the Aoun and Hoss cabinets; his killing was taken as a warning to anyone dealing with Aoun.
Art and memory- memorial As Achrafieh did for Bashir Gemayel, Basta and Bashura in Beirut redressed their streets each year for the anniversary of Mufti Hassan Khaled's killing, Haugbolle notes.
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Tuesday, 23 May 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Arab summit opens in Casablanca and names a committee of three heads of state on Lebanon.
The Casablanca summit's resolution did not name Syria. It gave King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, King Hassan II of Morocco and President Chadli Bendjedid of Algeria six months to convene the Lebanese parliament, which was to adopt reforms, elect a president and restore Lebanon's sovereignty.
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late May 1989: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Arab troika asks Lebanon's deputies to convene abroad.
Damascus renewed its shelling of the Christian enclave and tightened the blockade after the three leaders, to speed things up, invited Lebanon's parliament to meet abroad and draft a national reconciliation text.
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June 1989
Monday, 12 June 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The EEC gives its full support to the committee composed by the three Chiefs of State (Algerian, Saudi Arabian, and Moroccan) constituted during the Casablanca Summit in order to find a solution to the Lebanese crisis.
What the books addThe committee was set up at the Arab summit in Casablanca, which opened on 23 May 1989 (Hanf).
Other date in the books: Tuesday, 23 May 1989
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Thursday, 15 June 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
Electricity, fuel, and flour are the daily preoccupation of Lebanese. Once again, the power plant of Zouk announces that it cannot supply power more than 2 hours a day.
Art and memory- novel How the war disrupted everyday life is a central theme of Tiqaniyat al-bu's ('Techniques of Misery'), a 1989 novel by Rashid al-Daif.
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after late May (no date in source) June 1989: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syria sends warships to blockade the Christian enclave from the sea.
A Maltese tanker was sunk, Hanf says, when Syrian warships, some carrying new radar-guided missiles, patrolled the coast for the first time to stop the enclave's shipping.
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July 1989
Wednesday, 5 July 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
In a joint declaration from Paris, Presidents Mitterand and Gorbatchev call for an immediate cease-fire.
What the books addHanf dates a joint declaration by Presidents Gorbachev and Mitterrand on Lebanon, welcoming the Arab troika's efforts, to 5 June 1989.
Other date in the books: Monday, 5 June 1989
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Saturday, 15 July 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The UN Security Council calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon and backs the Arab troika.
With Soviet backing, France brought the matter before the Security Council, which called for a ceasefire and endorsed the Arab committee's mediation.
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Wednesday, 19 July 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
France dispatches a carrier, a frigate and a landing-craft transport towards Lebanon.
Mitterrand presented the deployment as humanitarian rather than military, while declaring that Lebanon's threatened independence must be defended. The sources Hanf cites disagree on whether it deterred Syria. The carrier was the Foch.
Sources differ: Fisk: France kept sending warships towards the coast and recalling them before they came into view (pdf:542).
Other date in the books: Saturday, 15 July 1989
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Friday, 28 July 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Israeli commandos abduct Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid from Jibchit.
William Higgins's Lebanese kidnappers claimed they had hanged the American UN officer to avenge Israel's abduction of Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid, imam of Jibchit, whom Fisk regarded as a hostage held in Israel.
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Monday, 31 July 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
A video of the hanging of US Lt-Col. William Higgins, a UN observer kidnapped in 1988, is broadcast.
Higgins, an officer of the UN Truce Supervision Organization, had been abducted near Tyre on 17 February 1988. His captors said they had killed him in revenge for Israel's abduction of Sheikh Obeid.
Other date in the books: Friday, 28 July 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Arab troika declares its mediation a failure and blames Damascus.
Syria shelled Beirut for thirty-six hours, and its foreign minister said Syrian forces would remain in Lebanon, in answer to the troika's report. It had blamed Syria in part for the continuing sea blockade and violence and for rejecting a pull-back of its troops to the Bekaa, while finding broad Lebanese agreement on reform.
Sources differ: Picard dates the commission's criticism of Syria to June 1989, Hanf the troika's report to 31 July.
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August 1989
Sunday, 13 August 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The army repels an offensive by the PSP and its allies, backed by Syrian troops, on Souk el-Gharb.
The army held its lines at Souk el-Gharb after about five hours of close combat, repelling Druze and Palestinian fighters backed by Syrian troops whose apparent target was the presidential palace in Baabda. De Clerck and Malsagne say Jumblatt lost about a hundred fighters.
Sources differ: The book's chronology calls it an attempt by the Syrian army and allied militias to enter East Beirut; its narrative and Hanf describe a PSP-led attack with Syrian support.
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Tuesday, 15 August 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Pope John Paul II publicly condemns Syria as an occupying power in Lebanon.
Pope John Paul II dropped the Vatican's neutrality: urging international intervention and Syria's withdrawal, he named Syria, with Israel, an occupying power. His widely reported statement came on 15 August 1989, the Assumption, two days after Souk el-Gharb.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 13 August 1989
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Friday, 18 August 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Delegate Minister in charge of Francophony, Alain Decaux, arrives in Beirut and meets with General Aoun, Maronite Patriarch Sfeir, Walid Joumblatt as well as many other diplomats.
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early August 1989: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
Syria steps up its shelling of the Christian enclave; Beirut empties.
In early August, according to de Clerck and Malsagne, Syria responded to Arab pressure by intensifying its shelling. French diplomats reported that during August no car, armoured or otherwise, could circulate. Some 100,000 civilians, about a tenth of the population, were still in Beirut, Fisk writes.
Art and memory- testimony Robert Fisk's chapter on West Beirut in summer 1989 covers the Syrian army living in the ruined Commodore Hotel, the deserted Corniche, the fire at Barbir hospital and the shelling around his own home.
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late August 1989: day not established
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The 'war of liberation' leaves about a thousand dead in four and a half months.
Hundreds of thousands had left both halves of Beirut by late August, says Hanf, who counts 1,000 killed, many more hurt, 120 factories wrecked and 400 damaged. Fisk also gives at least a thousand dead.
Sources differ: For the whole war against Syria, Hanf elsewhere estimates 1,000 killed and 3,500 injured (pdf:620); for all of Aoun's wars together, Traboulsi gives 1,500 dead and 3,500 wounded (Postscript).
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September 1989
Wednesday, 6 September 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
2000 angry demonstrators have besieged the American Embassy. Twenty-four hours later, 30 American diplomats, including the Ambassador John Mc Carthy, leave Lebanon.
What the books addAccording to Hanf and Fisk, the embassy closed after demonstrations by Aoun's supporters. A first youth protest at the embassy, against Western 'silence', took place in April 1989.
Other date in the books: Thursday, 16 November 1989
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Thursday, 7 September 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The Arab troika resumes its mediation.
Hanf links the turn to Syria's isolation, made plain by international protest, and to the Soviet ambassador in Damascus speaking of reduced military aid. The committee cited Lebanese, Arab and international appeals.
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Wednesday, 13 September 1989
The Lebanese war · Added from the books
The troika proposes an immediate ceasefire, an end to the blockade and a meeting of parliament in Saudi Arabia on 30 September.
Hanf judges the new plan largely favourable to Syria. A committee would search ships for arms bound for Aoun; land routes would go unpatrolled. Syria, asked in the troika's first draft to pull back in part within six months, now had two years, then positions in the Bekaa and the mountains.
Sources differ: De Clerck and Malsagne date the plan to 17 September.
Other date in the books: Sunday, 17 September 1989
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Thursday, 21 September 1989
The Lebanese war · 111101 entry in the original chronology
The Sunnite Deputy of the West Bekaa and former Minister, Nazem Kadri (74 years old), is killed in Verdun.
What the books addHanf says Kadri had lobbied deputies to press for Syria's withdrawal from the Bekaa before Taif. He groups the killing with those of Bashir Gemayel, Kamal Jumblatt, Hassan Khaled and Mohammed Shukair, all of which, in his view, plainly benefited Syria.
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dates 1–60 of 113 next
