134 entries on 126 dates · the books disagree on 45
dates 1–60 of 126 next
February 1972
February 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
The Israeli army invades the south as far as the Litani.
Picard counts over 100 dead and over 150 houses destroyed as Israeli troops, aiming to disable the fedayeen and their Lebanese backers, drove south to several points on the Litani.
Sources differ: Picard gives one toll, 'on each occasion', for this and the September 1972 invasion alike.
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March 1972
March–April 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Lebanese University students launch a mass strike; private universities join.
In spring 1972 AUB, Saint-Joseph and Beirut Arab University students backed a mass strike called by NULUS, the Lebanese University students' union, now run by the left (PSP, Communists, OCA).
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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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July 1972
Saturday, 8 July 1972
The road to war · From the books
Ghassan Kanafani is killed by a car bomb in Beirut.
Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and PFLP official, died when his car was blown up; de Clerck and Malsagne blame Mossad.
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July 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Kamel al-As'ad founds his Democratic Socialist Party.
In July 1972 Speaker Kamel al-As'ad, Sadr's rival for Shi'i leadership, set up a Democratic Socialist Party, partly to curb Communists and Baathists in the south.
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September 1972
Saturday, 16 September 1972
The road to war · From the books
After Munich, Israel invades South Lebanon for three days.
Israeli forces entered the south in reprisal for the Munich Olympics attack on Israeli athletes, striking Nahr al-Bared camp and southern and Bekaa villages. The Lebanese army held them up for two days; they left after three, destroying bridges and houses on the way out. De Clerck & Malsagne count 118 dead.
Sources differ: Death toll 118 (de Clerck & Malsagne) or more than 100 (Picard). Only de Clerck & Malsagne give the day.
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autumn 1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
Habash and Jibril reject the 'freeze' Arafat accepts.
Urged by the government to hold back, Arafat agreed to suspend operations; Habash and Jibril said their groups were not bound. Hanf notes that southern Shi'is, at first wary of the guerrillas, came to blame government inaction for Israel's blows.
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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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December 1972
Friday, 15 December 1972
The road to war · From the books
Ghandour locks out and dismisses its workers.
Talks failed; the company locked out and sacked its whole workforce. Traboulsi says it reopened after a week, taking back all but 100 it saw as ringleaders; Tufaro describes a six-month lockout that fresh protests ended, with the demands unmet.
Sources differ: Length of the lockout: one week (Traboulsi) against a declared six months (Tufaro).
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Tuesday, 26 December 1972
The road to war · From the books
The left demonstrates against the Ghandour dismissals.
On 26 December the Left protested again at the Ghandour sackings. Tufaro: workers left the dispute resentful of state and CGTL alike.
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1972
1972: day not established
The road to war · From the books
The Arab Front for Participation in the Resistance is founded.
Some twelve progressive parties and organisations made up the Arab Front for Participation in the Resistance, set up in 1972 with the Lebanese National Movement among its founders.
The road to war · From the books
The 'Ring' expressway links Ashrafieh to Hamra.
From 1972 traffic between Christian Ashrafieh and Hamra, Beirut's second hub, could avoid the crowded centre on the Ring expressway. In the war it symbolised the split city.
Art and memory- place Linking Ashrafieh and Hamra since 1972, the Ring became a wartime emblem of the divided city; snipers fired on it from rooftops including the unfinished Murr tower.
The road to war · From the books
Sixteen thousand public school teachers strike for two months.
In 1972 the ministry broke a two-month nationwide public school teachers' strike by suspending salaries. They wanted higher pay, union rights and a pension after 25 years' service.
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1972 (month not given): day not established
The road to war · From the books
The last parliamentary elections before the war.
After the 1972 general elections there were none for twenty years; the parliament they chose sat through the whole war. Hanf rates them Lebanon's cleanest and freest; Traboulsi stresses how little they let new forces in.
Sources differ: Hanf: Lebanon's freest elections; Traboulsi, citing Le Monde: a chamber hardly representing public opinion.
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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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dates 1–60 of 126 next
