34 entries on 32 dates · the books disagree on 7
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.
\_this day in full
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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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.
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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.
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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.
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January 2015
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Since 2005 · From the books
Israeli strike near Quneitra kills Hezbollah fighters, including Jihad Mughniyeh.
An Israeli helicopter strike near Quneitra, on the Syrian-held Golan, killed six Hezbollah men, including local military chief Jihad Mughniyeh, and Iranian military personnel; Hezbollah hit back at an Israeli convoy in the Shebaa enclave.
\_this day in full \_on this day
Friday, 30 January 2015
Since 2005 · From the books
Nasrallah declares that Hezbollah no longer recognises separate battlefields.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah reserved the right to confront the aggressor whenever, wherever and by whatever means it chose.
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May 2015
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Since 2005 · From the books
On the anniversary of Israel's 2000 withdrawal, Nasrallah says Hezbollah will fight wherever needed in Syria.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah would be wherever in Syria the battle required, speaking on the fifteenth anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from the South.
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July 2015
Friday, 17 July 2015
Since 2005 · From the books
Rubbish collection stops in Beirut: the garbage crisis begins.
Sukleen's collection contract expired on 17 July and the post-war dump, meant to last five or six years, was overflowing; with politicians unable to agree on a new site, rubbish piled up.
\_this day in full \_on this day
summer 2015: day not established
Since 2005 · From the books
The heights between Qaa and Ras Baalbek become a front of the Syrian war.
Pushed out of the Qalamoun, groups claiming al-Nusra, FSA or, later, Islamic State allegiance used Sunni villages of the eastern Bekaa as rear bases.
\_this day in full
August 2015
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Since 2005 · From the books range
'You Stink' protests fill central Beirut (22-23 August).
Protests called by the citizens' collective 'You Stink' denounced government incompetence; clashes between more than ten thousand people and police left dozens injured. Reder says the movement helped bring about the Beirut Madinati list.
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November 2015
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Since 2005 · From the books
Double suicide bombing in Burj al-Barajneh, the deadliest since the civil war.
Two suicide bombers struck in quick succession beside a community centre and a bakery in Burj al-Barajneh, in the Shi'i southern suburb; the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Parliament had sat that day for the first time in months.
Sources differ: Dead: 43 in de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology, 44 in their epilogue and Quéméner's calendar, 50 in his narrative, which also places the attack in 'Dbaiyeh', evidently a slip, since the calendar says Burj al-Barajneh.
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March 2016
Saturday, 19 March 2016
Since 2005 · From the books
Beirut's rubbish is finally collected and taken to new landfills.
Quéméner notes that one of the two new landfills had been sited too near Beirut's international airport.
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April 2016
April 2016: day not established
Since 2005 · From the books
Refugee pressure: the labour minister asks for help; Hollande pledges aid.
In April 2016 Labour Minister Sejaan Azzi, citing 25 per cent unemployment and 1.5 million Syrians, asked the US ambassador to take the refugee burden off Lebanon. Visiting Beirut that month, François Hollande announced 50 million euros a year in refugee aid for 2016-2018.
\_this day in full
May 2016
Sunday, 8 May 2016
Since 2005 · From the books
Beirut municipal elections: Hariri's list beats the civil-society list Beirut Madinati.
Saad Hariri's list won Beirut's council over Beirut Madinati ('Beirut, my city'), a civil-society slate that proposed deliberative urban planning and fielded engineers, architects, artists and researchers; Reder links it to the 2015 'You Stink' protests. Some 80 per cent of voters abstained.
Art and memory- artwork A 111101 project presents the 2016 Beirut municipal vote interactively, from the results and the electoral rolls (/Projects/Municipalities/results-beirut.php and voters-beirut.php).
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July 2016
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
Since 2005 · From the books
A Syrian refugee camp is burned in Akkar.
A small Syrian refugee camp in Akkar, a poor Sunni region, was set on fire on the night of 5-6 July.
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summer 2016: day not established
Since 2005 · From the books
Beit Beirut, the memory museum in the Barakat building, is inaugurated but stays closed.
The municipality inaugurated Beit Beirut, the old snipers' building on the demarcation line, but kept it shut; its 2008-2016 restoration saw repeated quarrels among the municipality, architect and scientific committee. Paris's mayor visited in September.
Art and memory- memorial Beit Beirut, the old Barakat building on the demarcation line, was the municipality's planned museum of the city's memory. Reder finds that in 2016-2019 artists and NGOs, not the municipality, kept it alive.
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October 2016
Monday, 31 October 2016
Since 2005 · From the books
Michel Aoun is elected President after twenty-nine months of vacancy.
Aoun, 81, ended a vacancy of over two years. A surplus envelope voided the last two of three rounds held before his election, Quéméner notes.
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November 2016
Thursday, 3 November 2016
Since 2005 · From the books
Saad Hariri is designated Prime Minister.
Hariri was named three days after Aoun's election.
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