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111101 entriesfrom the booksonly where the books disagree
chronologiesallThe road to war 1968–1974The Lebanese war 1975–1990After the war 1991–2005July 2006, as the books tell it 2006Since 2005 2005–2025
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62 entries on 55 dates · the books disagree on 16

January 1969

early 1969 (after the airport raid): day not established

The road to war · From the books

Prime Minister Yafi resigns; Rashid Karami forms a new government.
Rashid Karami, who pledged to consult and coordinate with the Palestinians, was President Helou's choice to replace Abdallah al-Yafi; the army command took charge of internal security. Yafi had quit under fire from two sides: public fury at the undefended airport, and Tripartite Alliance charges of tolerating armed Palestinians.

\_this day in full

March 1969

spring 1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Army and Palestinian guerrillas clash almost daily in the south.
Jumblatt led mass protests in Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli and Beirut, Saiqa units came in from Syria and the Palestinian groups drove the Lebanese police out of the camps, all as the guerrillas resisted an army drive to clear them from the border zone and deny Israel a pretext for further raids.

\_this day in full

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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

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.

\_this day in full

October 1969

mid-October 1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Syria shuts the border as the army moves on guerrilla supply routes.
Acting alone, the army command moved to cut the guerrillas' supply routes from Syria. Damascus responded by massing troops at the frontier, closing the border and imposing economic sanctions; Saiqa and PLO fighters attacked Bekaa border posts; Palestine Liberation Army units occupied Bekaa villages and assaulted Rashaya; the Beirut–Tripoli road was blocked.

Sources differ: Traboulsi dates the army's last attempt to the end of September; Hanf and Picard to October (Hanf: mid-October).

\_this day in full

late October 1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Faruq al-Muqaddam's '24 October Movement' takes over Tripoli's citadel and several police stations.
As Palestinian groups opened other fronts to ease army pressure on their fighters cut off in the Arqoub, Karami's populist rival Faruq al-Muqaddam led his '24 October Movement' in taking Tripoli's citadel and several police stations.

\_this day in full

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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

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

\_this day in full \_on this day

1969

1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Sadiq al-'Azm's 'Critique of Religious Thought' is published in Beirut.
Dar al-Tali'a, a Marxist publisher in Beirut, issued the Syrian philosopher Sadiq Jalal al-'Azm's 'Naqd al-fikr al-dini' in 1969. It angered the Mufti of Beirut and led to his prosecution; Kamal Jumblatt, the interior minister, left him alone, and Democratic Front activists got him into Syria.
Art and memory
  • book Picard cites Sadiq al-'Azm's 'Naqd al-fikr al-dini' (Critique of Religious Thought), published by Beirut's Dar al-Tali'a in 1969, as evidence of lasting ties between Syrian and Lebanese elites; he was called a 'child of the two cities'.

The road to war · From the books

Teachers and students strike three times in one year.
In 1969 teachers and students of state and private schools came out three times, without result, for pay rises and mutual aid funds. The Lebanese University strike resumed that year; police intervention and dismissals of teachers ended it.

The road to war · From the books

The Higher Islamic Shi'i Council is set up, with Musa al-Sadr as president.
In 1969 Imam Musa al-Sadr became president of the new Higher Islamic Shi'i Council, the body that a law of December 1967 had provided to speak for the Shi'i community.

Sources differ: Picard dates the council to 1967 (the law); Traboulsi distinguishes the 1967 law from the council's creation in 1969.

The road to war · From the books

Al-Tanzim, a Christian armed organisation, is founded.
Al-Tanzim ('the Organisation'), later one of the minor Christian militias of the war, was founded in 1969.

\_this day in full

January 2000

January 2000: day not established

After the war · From the books

The army crushes an Islamist uprising in Denniyeh.
Special forces moved against Sunni Islamist rebels of Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian origin in deprived Denniyeh, helped by Syrian intelligence and equipment.

\_this day in full

February 2000

Thursday, 10 February 2000

After the war · From the books

A former Lebanese Forces intelligence officer apologises publicly to his victims.
Assaad Shaftari, once Hobeika's fellow LF leader, apologised in al-Nahar to all his victims, 'living or dead'. Haugbolle sees a radical break in ex-leaders' silence; few noticed it at first.
Art and memory
  • book Robert 'Cobra' Hatem's memoir From Israel to Damascus (1999), banned in Lebanon, accused Elie Hobeika and may have set off his political decline.

\_this day in full \_on this day

February 2000: day not established

After the war · From the books

Israeli night raids hit Lebanon again.
The raids came as Hezbollah's pressure on the occupied zone was tied to the stalled Syrian-Israeli talks.

\_this day in full

March 2000

Sunday, 5 March 2000

After the war · From the books

Israel's cabinet decides on a unilateral withdrawal from the south.
Barak's plan set 7 July 2000 for leaving the 'security zone'. Beirut, deferring to a stalled Damascus, prepared nothing.

Sources differ: Cabinet decision on 5 March (Abirached); Picard places Barak's announcement in April.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Thursday, 23 March 2000

After the war · From the books

Gebran Tueni's open letter asks Bashar al-Assad to withdraw Syria's troops.
Gebran Tueni printed it on al-Nahar's front page, demanding a withdrawal timetable; Haugbolle links it to a new openness in criticising Syria's presence.

\_this day in full \_on this day

March 2000: day not established

After the war · From the books

The Clinton-Assad summit in Geneva fails.
After the Geneva summit failed, Barak announced that Israel would leave the south entirely, with or without an agreement. Mermier sees the Syrian–Lebanese track of talks with Israel ending there; Picard argues that Damascus lost the international latitude it had enjoyed over Lebanon.

Sources differ: February (Picard 2002), March (Picard 2016; 33 jours p. 210) or April 2000 (33 jours p. 176). March has the most support.

\_this day in full

April 2000

Saturday, 29 April 2000

After the war · From the books

A Syrian dissident writes that Lebanon no longer needs Syria's army.
Riyad al-Turk opened a dossier in al-Nahar's supplement with 'Lebanon no longer needs the Syrian presence': the occupation served Israeli intransigence, and the Geneva failure did not justify it.

\_this day in full \_on this day

May 2000

Wednesday, 24 May 2000

After the war · From the books

Israel ends its occupation of southern Lebanon.
Israel pulled out overnight on 23–24 May as the South Lebanon Army, deserting since early May, collapsed. Villagers streamed home, crowds forced open the Khiam jail and several thousand SLA men and relatives left for Israel. The Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshuba hills and Lebanon's part of Ghajar stayed occupied.

Sources differ: 24 May (Abirached, Tarraf; Picard: night of 23–24) or 25 May (de Clerck and Malsagne, book and article). Occupation lasted 18 years (from 1982, de Clerck and Malsagne) or 22 years (from 1978, Abirached).

Other date in the books: Thursday, 25 May 2000

\_this day in full \_on this day

May 2000: day not established

After the war · From the books

Raymond Eddé dies in exile in Paris.
Picard names the National Bloc leader, who died in Paris, among the real opposition chiefs who remained in exile.

\_this day in full

June 2000

Friday, 16 June 2000

After the war · From the books

The UN Secretary-General confirms the Israeli withdrawal.
Kofi Annan confirmed Israel had left; Lebanon rejected the UN's 'Blue Line' where it departed from the 1923 border.

\_this day in full \_on this day

June 2000: day not established

After the war · From the books

Hafez al-Assad dies; his son Bashar succeeds him.
Hafez al-Assad's death in June 2000, a month after Israel quit the south, briefly allowed freer criticism of Syria's presence in Lebanon.

Sources differ: June 2000 (Haugbolle, Picard 2016 ch. IV), May 2000 (Picard 2016 ch. V) or 10 June 2001 (Picard 2002, clearly a misprint for 2000).

\_this day in full

July 2000

Friday, 28 July 2000

After the war · From the books

UN peacekeepers deploy along the Blue Line.
A phone call with Bashar al-Assad reportedly preceded Lahoud's approval of the deployment. The Lebanese army was kept away from the border.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Sunday, 30 July 2000

After the war · From the books

Lahoud says the army's role in the south will be defined 'in due course'.
Lahoud's Army Day speech left the army's role undefined, so no national strategy emerged; the government called Hezbollah's continuing fight a 'national struggle'.

Sources differ: 30 July (Picard 2002) or 29 July (Picard 2016).

Other date in the books: Saturday, 29 July 2000

\_this day in full \_on this day

Monday, 31 July 2000

After the war · From the books

Former president Amine Gemayel returns after eight years in Paris.
Afterwards, with President Lahoud's backing, he secured the Bikfaya seat for his son Pierre. In August he and Walid Jumblatt signed a 'pact of honour', opening the way to Christian-Druze reconciliation.

\_this day in full \_on this day

July 2000: day not established

After the war · From the books

President Lahoud declares all the missing of the war dead.
President Émile Lahoud declared all the missing dead, officially blaming no one; families had pressed for inquiries. That year a commission on the missing identified three Beirut mass graves: Mar Mitr (Ashrafieh), the Martyrs' cemetery (Horsh Beirut) and the British cemetery (Tahwita).

\_this day in full

August 2000

Wednesday, 9 August 2000

After the war · From the books

A thousand soldiers and police enter the former occupied zone.
International pressure, tying reconstruction aid to the state's presence, brought five hundred troops and five hundred internal security men. Hezbollah remained the real authority in the area.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Sunday, 27 August 2000

After the war · From the books range

Parliamentary elections bring Hariri back in triumph.
The electoral law, imposed by Syria's Ghazi Kanaan, favoured his ally Hariri, whose lists swept Beirut's nineteen seats; Amal and Hezbollah took all twenty-three in the south. Government-backed candidates faced unexpectedly strong pro-independence rivals.

\_this day in full \_on this day

October 2000

Sunday, 1 October 2000

After the war · From the books

Bashar al-Assad declares the Shebaa Farms Lebanese.
Bashar al-Assad's declaration at the Arab League in Cairo that the farms were Lebanese legitimised continued resistance to Israel; Syria never confirmed it in writing to Lebanon or the UN.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Thursday, 26 October 2000

After the war · From the books

Rafiq Hariri forms a new thirty-member cabinet.
Hariri regained the premiership after the 2000 elections, but the hopes that had greeted him in 1992 were gone.

Sources differ: September 2000 (Quéméner) against October (Picard, Abirached).

\_this day in full \_on this day

October 2000: day not established

After the war · From the books

Waves of arrests hit anti-Syrian Christian activists.
An SSNP deputy made pointed threats against Walid Jumblatt, who had spoken of a 'readjustment' in ties with Syria, and soldiers detained dozens of militants in successive waves: the state's answer around the confidence vote for Hariri's new cabinet.

After the war · From the books

The Maronite bishops openly criticise Syria.
The bishops' open criticism of Syria echoed protests by Aoun's followers and ex-Lebanese Forces members; Picard sees clergy now contesting Syria's armed presence.

Sources differ: Picard dates the bishops' communiqué to October 2000.

After the war · From the books

Hezbollah captures three Israeli soldiers near the Shebaa Farms.
Citing Shebaa, Hezbollah kept up sporadic attacks; Israel replied with artillery and bombing.

\_this day in full

November 2000

Tuesday, 14 November 2000

After the war · From the books

The UN Security Council asks Lebanon to take control of the evacuated south.

\_this day in full \_on this day

February 2003

Friday, 28 February 2003

After the war · From the books

Israel bombs the south and reinforces its positions at Shebaa.

\_this day in full \_on this day

April 2003

Sunday, 13 April 2003

After the war · From the books

'Remember, so as not to return': a campaign for a national day of memory.
In al-Safir leading politicians openly backed remembering the war for the first time. On 13 April hundreds gathered in Martyrs' Square, handing out flowers and collecting signatures for a national memory day and a memorial; earlier, the Association Mémoire pour l'Avenir and the families' Committee had screened war documentaries unseen in Lebanon at Masrah al-Medina.
Art and memory
  • place Architect Mona El-Hallak came upon the Barakat building, above the old demarcation line at Sodeco, in 1996, and from 1997 led APSAD's campaign to save it. In 2003 the municipality expropriated it for $3 million for Beit Beirut.
  • film Films Haugbolle cites on postwar amnesia include Ghassan Salhab's Beyrouth Fantôme (1999) and Terra Incognita (2002); the novel Ya Salam (1999) by Najwa Barakat follows former militiamen in peacetime.

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 8 April 2003

\_this day in full \_on this day

April 2003: day not established

After the war · From the books

A replica of the 1975 bus becomes a memory installation in Beirut.
Hassan Saouli deliberately kept graphic images out: to mark 28 years since 13 April, he parked a bus of the 1975 model on a central Beirut street, with videos and texts on guilt and forgiveness inside.

\_this day in full

May 2003

Tuesday, 27 May 2003

After the war · From the books

Ghassan Tueni answers a Syrian general's threats against the Lebanese.
In al-Nahar Ghassan Tueni addressed Bashar al-Assad as an equal, protesting at threats against the Lebanese by General Bahjat Sleiman, Syria's intelligence chief.

\_this day in full \_on this day

June 2003

June 2003: day not established

After the war · From the books

Nada Sahnaoui's installation 'Atadhakkar' (I remember) opens in Martyrs' Square.
Sahnaoui set readers' memories of prewar downtown on 360 newspaper stacks, leaving a few stacks bare for what had been erased.

Sources differ: Opening in June 2003 (p. 132); the photograph is dated July 2003.

Art and memory
  • artwork Nada Sahnaoui's earlier work 'Statistics' listed war casualty figures from the press; Haugbolle's note points to 111101's Artworks section.

After the war · From the books

A Kataeb memorial in Ashrafieh is pulled down for luxury flats.
A 1986 site for local fighters, it had lost its point once many of their families left in 1989-90, the mukhtar said.

\_this day in full

September 2003

September 2003: day not established

After the war · From the books

Soldiers fire on Hezbollah members in a poster fight at Jiba.
In Jiba, Hezbollah members objected to Amal's pictures of Imam Musa Sadr; in the ensuing brawl the army fired on Hezbollah, a first in over ten years: one dead, two wounded.

After the war · From the books

A by-election sets off a poster war in Gemmayzeh.
In Jummayza's September 2003 by-election, posters of Aoun's Hikmat Dib, the jailed Geagea and Bashir Gemayel were torn or mocked daily: Christian memory, divided.

\_this day in full

October 2003

Monday, 27 October 2003

After the war · From the books

Hezbollah attacks Israeli positions at Shebaa; Israel raids near villages.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 2003

November 2003: day not established

After the war · From the books

A public hearing on 'understanding the war' turns into a shouting match.
Two women broke into the Association Mémoire pour l'Avenir's hearing for students and war witnesses: one abused Samir Kassir for attacking Syria; a mother blamed a former Kataeb editor for her son's killing.

\_this day in full

December 2003

December 2003: day not established

After the war · From the books

The US Congress passes the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act.
It demanded a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and allowed for sanctions, partly applied from spring 2004.

Sources differ: Passed in November (Haugbolle) or December 2003 (Picard, 33 jours); sanctions from April (Picard) or May 2004 (33 jours).

\_this day in full

January 2011

January 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Hariri's government collapses as Hezbollah's ministers resign.
Hezbollah's ministers and their allies resigned, toppling the cabinet during the dispute over the UN tribunal's Hariri inquiry.

\_this day in full

February 2011

February-March 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Weekly demonstrations call for abolishing the sectarian system.
Weekly marches against the sectarian system drew secular and leftist activists inspired by the Arab Spring; Lebanon, they said, had some twenty dictators, not one.

\_this day in full

March 2011

March 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

The Syrian uprising begins and immediately plays out in Lebanon.
Lebanese took sides from the revolt's first month; dozens of young Lebanese and Palestinians crossed from Akkar and Hermel to join the rebels around Homs.

\_this day in full

June 2011

June 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Najib Mikati forms a government dominated by Hezbollah's allies.
Hezbollah's allies took many cabinet seats; Picard calls it an '8 March' government.

\_this day in full

September 2011

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Since 2005 · From the books

Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals renew their 2006 declaration.
Nine months into the Syrian uprising, the signatories reissued their 2006 appeal, 'For the sake of the Lebanese-Syrian future'.

\_this day in full \_on this day

September 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai backs Bashar al-Assad.
Patriarch Bechara Rai sided with Assad, fearing Islamists would win, though his community was hostile to the Syrian regime.

\_this day in full

February 2012

February 2012: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Fighting in Tripoli between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen (February-December 2012).
From February to December, Tripoli's pro-regime Alawite quarter of Jabal Mohsen and its Sunni quarter of Bab al-Tebbaneh, which backed the Syrian opposition, clashed.

\_this day in full

June 2012

Monday, 11 June 2012

Since 2005 · From the books

The Baabda Declaration commits Lebanon to 'dissociation' from regional conflicts.
The declaration, agreed at President Sleiman's National Dialogue, pledged 'dissociation' from regional conflicts and border control, mainly towards Syria; Picard considers the promise empty from the outset.

\_this day in full \_on this day

October 2012

Friday, 19 October 2012

Since 2005 · From the books

Intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan is assassinated.
Seven people died along with Wissam al-Hassan, head of ISF intelligence and an investigator of Hariri's assassination, in a Beirut car bombing.

\_this day in full \_on this day

2012

2012: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Former minister Michel Samaha is arrested.
Picard treats the arrest as evidence that Syrian-paid agents took part in the unrest after the 2005 withdrawal.

\_this day in full

February 2017

February 2017: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

President Aoun tells the UN refugee chief that Syrians cannot stay in Lebanon for good.
Aoun told UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi the refugees could not stay permanently and the world must help them home, but Lebanon would force no one back while Syria was unsafe.

\_this day in full

August 2017

Saturday, 19 August 2017

Since 2005 · From the books

The army launches operation 'Fajr al-Jurud' against the Islamic State on the eastern border.
On President Aoun's orders the army moved against Islamic State and al-Nusra fighters holding the arid hills of Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa, while Hezbollah attacked al-Nusra from the Syrian side, a rare tacit cooperation. The jihadists held out for several days before surrendering, and a truce let the survivors and their families go to eastern Syria.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 2017

Saturday, 4 November 2017

Since 2005 · From the books

Saad Hariri announces his resignation from Riyadh.
President Aoun refused the resignation Saad al-Hariri announced live from Riyadh; in the view of some Lebanese officials he was acting under Saudi duress and being held there against his will.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Tuesday, 21 November 2017

Since 2005 · From the books

Hariri returns to Beirut and soon withdraws his resignation.
His return followed intense international mediation, especially by France.

\_this day in full \_on this day