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chronologiesallThe road to war 1968–1974 The Lebanese war 1975–1990 After the war 1991–2005 July 2006, as the books tell it 2006 Since 2005 2005–2025

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195 entries on 124 dates · the books disagree on 50

dates 1–60 of 124 next

January 1973

Monday, 22 January 1973

The road to war · From the books

Thousands of tobacco growers occupy the Régie offices in Nabatieh.
On 22 January 1973 thousands of tobacco growers seeking 20 per cent more for their leaf marched in Nabatieh and occupied the offices of the Régie, the tobacco monopoly, after years without results.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Tuesday, 23 January 1973

The road to war · From the books

The army fires on tobacco growers, killing two.
Two peasants died on 23 January 1973 when soldiers fired on protesting tobacco growers. About 20,000 rallied in Beirut in support, and clashes spread across Lebanon.

Sources differ: Place: Nabatieh (Traboulsi) or Kfar Remmaneh-Nabatieh (Tufaro). Aftermath: 20,000 in Beirut 'a few days later' (Traboulsi) or a march from the South to Beirut the next day (Tufaro); possibly the same event.

\_this day in full \_on this day

January 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

324 striking teachers are dismissed as 'agitators'.
From January to July 1973 state school teachers were on strike again, and movements nationwide rallied to their sit-ins and hunger strikes. Saeb Salam's government sacked 324 of them as agitators; the Maronite Church's call for their reinstatement went unheeded.

\_this day in full

February 1973

early 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Israeli paratroopers raid two Palestinian camps near Tripoli.
In one of Israel's mounting strikes of early 1973, helicopter-landed paratroopers and marines attacked two Palestinian camps near Tripoli.

\_this day in full

March 1973

March 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

First congress of the National Union of Agricultural Workers.
Delegates from 163 villages nationwide attended the National Union of Agricultural Workers' first congress.

\_this day in full

April 1973

Tuesday, 10 April 1973

The road to war · From the books

Israeli commandos kill three PLO leaders in rue Verdun, Beirut.
During the night of 9 to 10 April, Israeli commandos came ashore and drove into West Beirut in hired cars. Fatah's Abu Yusuf al-Najjar and Kamal Adwan and the poet Kamal Nasser, PLO spokesman, were killed at home, within about a hundred metres of a police barracks; commandos also landed at Sidon. By the time the army was alerted, the raiders had left.

Sources differ: Operation name: 'Verdun' (de Clerck & Malsagne chronology), 'Wrath of God' (de Clerck & Malsagne, p. 50) or 'Aviv Ne'urim' (Ménargues). Fisk adds that the wife of one leader was killed; de Clerck & Malsagne mention civilian collateral victims. Hanf alone mentions targets in Sidon.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Monday, 30 April 1973

The road to war · From the books

Fatah members with explosives are arrested at Beirut airport.
Four Fatah members with explosives in their luggage were stopped at the airport before a flight to Europe; a day later, near the US embassy, five Democratic Front guerrillas were held.

\_this day in full \_on this day

mid-April 1973 (days after 10 April): day not established

The road to war · From the books

Huge funerals for the PLO leaders; Prime Minister Salam resigns.
When Saeb Salam demanded the removal of the army commander, General Iskandar Ghanem, Frangieh refused and Salam resigned. Huge crowds mourned the three leaders; Traboulsi says they were angry at an army used against Lebanese, not for defence.

Sources differ: Crowd size: a quarter of a million (Traboulsi) or nearly 100,000 (de Clerck & Malsagne).

\_this day in full

April 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Amin al-Hafiz forms a new government.
The army's assault on the Palestinian camps overshadowed the brief premiership of Amin al-Hafiz, a Tripoli MP on good terms with the PLO, who had presented his cabinet as a revised 'youth' government.

The road to war · From the books

The Unified Syndicate of Tobacco Farmers is founded.
Tobacco growers set up their own Unified Syndicate of Tobacco Farmers.

\_this day in full

May 1973

Tuesday, 1 May 1973

The road to war · From the books

Palestinian guerrillas abduct three Lebanese soldiers.
The May 1973 crisis began when members of the Popular and Democratic Fronts abducted three Lebanese soldiers as hostages for the release of detained Palestinians.

Sources differ: Kidnappers: PFLP and DFLP (Hanf) or DFLP (de Clerck & Malsagne).

\_this day in full \_on this day

Wednesday, 2 May 1973

The road to war · From the books

Heavy fighting as the army rings Beirut's Palestinian camps.
More than 100 Lebanese and Palestinians were killed in two weeks of fighting that began on 2 May, when the army deployed around Beirut's largest Palestinian camps; the CIA called these the worst clashes since 1969. Uprisings broke out in Sidon and Tripoli, and Beirut's Muslim neighbourhoods filled with demonstrators.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Thursday, 3 May 1973

The road to war · From the books day (disputed)

The Lebanese air force bombs Palestinian camps in Beirut.
The Lebanese air force was used against the camps: Hanf writes that it bombed Burj al-Barajneh in response to rockets launched at the airport from inside the camp.

Sources differ: 3 May and Burj al-Barajneh (Traboulsi) against 2 May and the Sabra-Shatila area (de Clerck & Malsagne); Hanf gives Burj al-Barajneh without a day. They may be separate raids.

Other date in the books: Wednesday, 2 May 1973

\_this day in full \_on this day

Monday, 14 May 1973

The road to war · From the books day (doubtful)

Guerrillas blow up oil tanks at the Zahrani refinery.
Hanf lists the bombing of oil tanks at the Zahrani refinery, near Sidon, by Popular Front members among the provocations of the May 1973 crisis.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Thursday, 17 May 1973

The road to war · From the books

The Melkart protocol ends the army-PLO fighting.
On 17 May, after Frangieh bowed to Arab pressure and halted the army, a West Beirut hotel hosted the Melkart signing: no more Palestinian raids into Israel, and a joint army-Palestinian commission. Hanf says it reaffirmed Cairo and proved as ineffective.

Sources differ: 17 May (de Clerck & Malsagne, Picard) or end of fighting on 18 May followed by the agreement (Hanf). De Clerck & Malsagne say it amended the Cairo Agreement; Hanf that it reaffirmed it.

\_this day in full \_on this day

May 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

First congress of Bekaa peasants campaigns against fertiliser prices.
Rising fertiliser and pesticide costs were the target of a campaign launched in May 1973 by the first congress of Bekaa peasants and farmers, which also sought a new tenancy law and farmers' social security.

The road to war · From the books

Syria closes its border and sends Saiqa and the PLA into the Bekaa.
Saiqa and Palestine Liberation Army units crossed into the southern Bekaa, and Damascus shut the border to passengers and goods, threatened to close its airspace and accused Lebanon of joining an international scheme to crush the Palestinian resistance. Picard dates Syria's systematic armed intervention in Lebanon from here.

The road to war · From the books

Zahle schoolchildren march for the army; Ta'labaya answers with roadblocks.
The battle of the camps split the Zahle area: pupils in the town demonstrated for the army, while in nearby Ta'labaya Muslim residents blocked roads and set tyres alight. Bishop Bassul then gathered Christian and Muslim clerics, who declared their loyalty to the state.

\_this day in full

June 1973

Thursday, 14 June 1973

The road to war · From the books

Amin al-Hafiz resigns; Taqi al-Din al-Sulh succeeds him.
On 14 June 1973, a month after Melkart, Amin al-Hafiz resigned. Chamoun, Gemayel and Frangieh kept Jumblatt from the interior ministry under Taqi al-Din al-Sulh, chosen chiefly for his Iraqi leanings.

\_this day in full \_on this day

June 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

The future Lebanese National Movement is launched at the Byblos Cinema.
In June 1973 opponents of a draft law curbing political parties met in force at the Byblos Cinema and founded the Rally of National and Democratic Parties and Personalities, later the Lebanese National Movement.

Sources differ: De Clerck & Malsagne date Jumblatt's leadership of the National Movement from 1969; Traboulsi dates the launch of the Rally that became the LNM to June 1973. The two may refer to different stages.

\_this day in full

after May 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Christian parties buy arms abroad; officers train the militias.
After May 1973 the Christian militias bought arms in Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Bulgaria, had Jordanian and Saudi aid, paid for weapons the army imported and were trained by Christian officers; Hanf traces this to their leaders' view that state and army could no longer defend Lebanese sovereignty. Fatah armed and trained Musa al-Sadr's new militia.

\_this day in full

July 1973

July 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

In Dekwaneh, Palestinian gunmen fight the army, the Phalange and Eddé's supporters.
According to Traboulsi, Dekwaneh, the suburb beside Tall al-Za'tar camp, saw the first fight pitting armed Palestinians against the army, Phalangists and Raymond Eddé's supporters. It was already public knowledge that the Phalange and Chamoun's party were giving their members weapons and training.

Sources differ: Picard dates 'the first serious skirmish' between fedayeen and Kataeb, in Beirut's northern suburbs, to July 1974; Hanf already records Kataeb-Palestinian fighting at Dekwaneh in March 1970. Same month, different years: possibly one event misdated, possibly two.

\_this day in full

August 1973

Tuesday, 28 August 1973

The road to war · From the books

The labour confederation holds a general strike.
The government met the CGTL general strike with a decreed 5 per cent rise, higher minimum wage and family allowances, and curbs on sacking unionists. Strikers also wanted commercial profits capped and cooperatives aided: for Traboulsi, the unions' first challenge to the commercial oligarchy.

\_this day in full \_on this day

August 1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

The government announces 140 appointments and the end of sectarian quotas in the top civil service.
The Sulh cabinet's 140 administrative appointments of August 1973 came with a declared end to civil-service sectarianism: junior posts split evenly between Christians and Muslims, director-general posts no longer held by one sect. Traboulsi sees the real aim as swapping Chehabist officials for the returning notables' men.

\_this day in full

October 1973

Saturday, 6 October 1973

The road to war · From the books range (6–25 October 1973)

Israel wrecks the Barouk radar in the October War; Lebanon stays out.
During the October War Israel destroyed the Mount Barouk radar Lebanon had lent Syria, and its jets crossed the Bekaa to strike Damascus, though Lebanon took no part. In Zahle the bishop and residents sent relief to Damascus for the Syrian army and nursed wounded soldiers at Tal Chiha hospital.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Saturday, 20 October 1973

The road to war · From the books

Armed robbery of the Bank of America in Beirut.
This raid on the Bank of America was the first major hold-up, coming before the war; once fighting began, bank robberies became common.

\_this day in full \_on this day

1973

1973: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Pierre Gemayel leads a Phalange delegation to Damascus.
In 1973, according to Traboulsi's chronology, Pierre Gemayel led a Phalange delegation to Damascus.

The road to war · From the books

A ministry of industry is created; its minister denounces the import monopolies.
Weeks after taking the new ministry of industry, long sought by industrialists, the businessman Pierre Helou told the press that the trading monopolies ran the government and were thwarting his efforts to shield local industry.

\_this day in full

January 2001

Tuesday, 30 January 2001

After the war · From the books

UNIFIL's mandate is renewed and its strength cut to 4,500.

\_this day in full \_on this day

February 2001

February 2001: day not established

After the war · From the books

Christian opposition figures form the Qornet Shehwan Gathering.
Patriarch Sfeir informally led this anti-Syrian Christian gathering of the centre-right, whose members ranged from ex-president Amine Gemayel to Samir Frangieh, formerly of the National Movement.

Sources differ: February 2001 (Haugbolle) or April 2001 (Picard).

\_this day in full

March 2001

March 2001: day not established

After the war · From the books

On a US tour, Patriarch Sfeir demands that Syrian forces leave Lebanon.

\_this day in full

April 2001

April 2001: day not established

After the war · From the books

The 'Memory for the Future' colloquium breaks the silence on the war.
Amal Makarem convened it at the UN building in Beirut: Lebanese journalists, academics and lawyers met transitional-justice specialists from Germany, Rwanda and South Africa. Several organisers later set up the Association Mémoire pour l'Avenir.

Sources differ: April 2001 (Haugbolle) or March 2001 (title cited by Reder).

Art and memory

testimony Haugbolle's notes cite the 111101.net artist page and 111101.com: the artist Naji Zahar, he writes, started a war-memory discussion group in the late 1990s and later created 111101, an award-winning online memory database.

After the war · From the books

Rival demonstrations over Syria revive fears of war around 13 April.
Haugbolle notes that in April 2001 several newspapers wondered whether war could return: they reported ex-militiamen stirring in both East and West Beirut after rival rallies, some against Syria, some for the government.

\_this day in full

May 2001

Thursday, 24 May 2001

After the war · From the books

A national holiday marks one year since the 'liberation' of the south.

Sources differ: Abirached dates the anniversary 24 May; de Clerck and Malsagne date the withdrawal itself to 25 May (see the withdrawal entry).

\_this day in full \_on this day

June 2001

June 2001: day not established

After the war · From the books

Syrian troops partly withdraw from Beirut.
In June 2001, a year after Bashar al-Assad took power, some Syrian units moved from Beirut and its eastern suburbs to the north and east, while the bulk of the army stayed. Reported troop numbers: 25,000 after 2000, 21,000 in 2001, 17,000 in 2004.

\_this day in full

August 2001

Saturday, 4 August 2001

After the war · From the books

Patriarch Sfeir's visit to the Chouf seals a Maronite-Druze reconciliation.
Patriarch Sfeir toured the Chouf and called on Walid Jumblatt, eighteen years after the Mountain war; thousands of villagers applauded. Yet most displaced Christians still did not return.

\_this day in full \_on this day

August 2001: day not established

After the war · From the books

Hundreds of Lebanese Forces and Aoun supporters are arrested.
Reacting to the Maronite–Druze reconciliation, the security services detained anti-Syrian activists for allegedly plotting against the state, and plainclothes police forcibly broke up a protest outside Beirut's Palace of Justice. The cabinet and parliament approved the crackdown.

Sources differ: Hundreds (Picard) or 200 (Quéméner).

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October 2001

Monday, 22 October 2001

After the war · From the books

After Hezbollah strikes Israeli posts at Shebaa, Israel hits back with raids in the south.

\_this day in full \_on this day

2001

late 2001 (after 11 September): day not established

After the war · From the books

The United States lists Hezbollah as a terrorist group; Beirut refuses to act.
Washington asked Lebanon to freeze Hezbollah's assets and disarm it; the government refused, citing the unfinished Israeli withdrawal.

\_this day in full

January 2002

January 2002: day not established

After the war · From the books

Elie Hobeika is killed by a car bomb near Beirut.
The former Lebanese Forces intelligence chief, widely held responsible for Sabra and Shatila and a minister after the war, died shortly before he was to testify in the Belgian case against Ariel Sharon.

\_this day in full

February 2002

Thursday, 14 February 2002

After the war · From the books range

Assaad Shaftari's war confessions appear in al-Hayat.
In three interviews with Hazim al-Amin, Hobeika's former aide described his militia years, including orders to execute captives, and called for the truth to be told so that the next generation might forgive.

\_this day in full \_on this day

March 2002

Sunday, 31 March 2002

After the war · From the books

Israel threatens to strike Syria over its support for Hezbollah.
On 14 April, two weeks after that threat, Ariel Sharon charged Syria and Iran with supporting Hezbollah's attacks.

\_this day in full \_on this day

April 2002

Wednesday, 3 April 2002

After the war · From the books

The government announces Syrian troop withdrawals from parts of Mount Lebanon.
The move was presented as an application of the Taif Agreement.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Friday, 12 April 2002

After the war · From the books

Iran's foreign minister urges Hezbollah not to provoke a war.

\_this day in full \_on this day

May 2002

Saturday, 25 May 2002

After the war · From the books

On Liberation Day Nasrallah declares Hezbollah's support for the Palestinian intifada.

\_this day in full \_on this day

August 2002

August 2002: day not established

After the war · From the books

Sharon calls a Lebanese water pump on the Wazzani a cause for war.
A war over the Council of the South's plan to supply some fifty villages from the Wazzani, a Hasbani tributary, was averted by American, Russian and European mediation.

\_this day in full

November 2002

November 2002: day not established

After the war · From the books

Before-and-after photographs of downtown go on show in Place de l'Étoile.
Haugbolle calls the book version, 'Beirut's Memory', propaganda: a Solidere-linked bank published it in the name of Hariri's photographer Ayman Traoui. On site, paired 1990 and 2002 views ringed the clock tower.

\_this day in full

December 2002

December 2002: day not established

After the war · From the books

Rustom Ghazaleh replaces Ghazi Kanaan as Syria's intelligence chief in Lebanon.
Kanaan had ruled from Anjar since 1982, vetting candidates and shaping the 2000 electoral map; his recall signalled Bashar al-Assad's tighter grip on Lebanon. Ghazaleh, his replacement, was implicated in Al-Madina bank's 2003 collapse.

Sources differ: Farewell ceremony 9 October 2002 versus replacement in December 2002.

\_this day in full

2002

summer 2002: day not established

After the war · From the books

Much of rebuilt downtown Beirut is inaugurated as 'Beirut reborn'.
Posters ('Le Liban vit'), full-page press advertisements and television spots hailed the completion, with no reference to the war.

\_this day in full

January 2006

Wednesday, 11 January 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Serge Brammertz replaces Detlev Mehlis as head of the UN Hariri inquiry.
The Belgian prosecutor took charge of the international inquiry into Rafic Hariri's assassination, as Kofi Annan had requested.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Tuesday, 17 January 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Thousands protest at the US embassy against American interference.
The demonstration in front of the US embassy was peaceful.

\_this day in full \_on this day

February 2006

Thursday, 2 February 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

The Shiite ministers return to the cabinet.
Their boycott, begun after Tueni's assassination, ended after some seven weeks.

Sources differ: Abirached's dates imply a boycott of about seven weeks; Picard's chapter speaks of several months.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Sunday, 5 February 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Protesters attack the Danish consulate in Achrafieh.
Cars, shops and building entrances in Achrafieh, a Christian district, were wrecked when hundreds of protesters, furious at the Danish cartoons of the Prophet, tried to storm Denmark's consulate there. For Picard, the protests revived Christian fears of an 'Islamist' threat.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Monday, 6 February 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Michel Aoun and Hassan Nasrallah sign their memorandum of understanding.
At the church of Mar Mikhael, on the old Chiyah–Ain al-Rummaneh demarcation line, Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah signed a memorandum of understanding covering the electoral law, Hezbollah's weapons and relations with Syria. The alliance lasted until the 2020 crisis.

Sources differ: 6 February in three sources against 5 February in the introduction to 33 jours. The church is placed 'in the southern suburb' by de Clerck & Malsagne and 'on the old demarcation line' by Mermier & Picard.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Tuesday, 14 February 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Hundreds of thousands mark the first anniversary of Hariri's death.
On Martyrs' Square, Saad Hariri spoke of national unity.

\_this day in full \_on this day

March 2006

Thursday, 2 March 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

The National Dialogue among community leaders opens.
Community leaders, some former warlords, opened a National Dialogue on Syria, militia disarmament and President Lahoud's fate.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Tuesday, 14 March 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

The National Dialogue agrees on three points.
The accord left Hezbollah's arms and the Israeli border aside, but the leaders agreed that Lebanon would deal with Syria as an equal, accept no armed Palestinian presence and regard the Shebaa Farms as Lebanese.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Wednesday, 29 March 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

UN Resolution 1664.
Part of the series of resolutions leading to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

\_this day in full \_on this day

April 2006

Monday, 10 April 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Security services announce arrests over a plot against Hassan Nasrallah.
Lebanese security services said they had arrested nine people, eight Lebanese and one Palestinian, over a plot against Hassan Nasrallah.

\_this day in full \_on this day

May 2006

Wednesday, 17 May 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

UN Resolution 1680 urges Syria to delimit the border and open diplomatic relations.
Syria was strongly urged to open full diplomatic ties with Lebanon and delimit the border, chiefly where it was unclear or contested.

Sources differ: Picard's chapter in 33 jours (p. 84) dates 1680 to 2005, evidently a slip.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Sunday, 28 May 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Rockets on northern Israel bring the heaviest Israeli strikes since 2000.
Rockets fired at an air base near Safad, in northern Israel, brought Israel's most violent response since its 2000 withdrawal: aircraft struck the Aita al-Shaab area and hillsides by Khiam and Chakra in the border zone.

Sources differ: Abirached attributes the rockets to Hezbollah; Khayat says nobody claimed them.

\_this day in full \_on this day

May 2006: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals sign the Beirut-Damascus Declaration.
In May 2006 several hundred Lebanese and Syrians signed Michel Kilo's declaration calling for mutual respect of sovereignty, border demarcation, diplomatic relations and democracy in both states; Syria then harassed and arrested signatories, Kilo above all.

\_this day in full

June 2006

June 2006: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

A television parody of Nasrallah sets off a night of riots.
Hezbollah supporters rioted, reaching Beirut's tourist districts, after a Christian TV channel aired a parody of Hassan Nasrallah.

\_this day in full

July 2006

Monday, 10 July 2006

Since 2005 · From the books

Metropolis art cinema opens in Hamra.
Hamra, where most of the pre-war cinemas still stood disused, gained an art-house cinema, Metropolis, inside the Theatre de la Ville on 10 July, two days before the war began.

\_this day in full \_on this day

Wednesday, 12 July 2006

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers at the border near Zar'it.
Shortly after 9 a.m. a Hezbollah unit ambushed two Israeli army Humvees patrolling the border fence near Zar'it, opposite Ayta al-Shaab, killing three soldiers and taking two wounded reservists, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, into Lebanon under cover of a rocket and mortar barrage. Five more Israeli soldiers died that day, four in a tank blown up during a pursuit across the border and one by mortar fire, bringing the army's dead to eight. Hezbollah announced that it would exchange the captives for prisoners held in Israel.

Sources differ: Time: 34 Days (Israeli reconstruction) puts the attack shortly after 9:00; Abirached quotes Hezbollah's statement giving 'around 9:05'; 34 Days dates Al-Manar's announcement to 10:15.

Reports at the time: The archive's first report of the capture comes at 10:40 (Al-Manar via AFP), 25 minutes after the time 34 Days gives for Al-Manar's announcement. The toll of eight soldiers appears only at 22:30, after reports of three (17:10) and four in a tank (18:05). Archive times are wire-feed publication times, not event times.

The reports of that day, as they came in

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

First Israeli raids on the South and the coastal bridges.
Israel's 'Just Reward' offensive opened with roughly forty air strikes in the South; its bombing there and in Beirut caused serious damage to infrastructure.

Sources differ: Dieckhoff (pdf:192) dates the bombing of bridges and roads across the country from the next day, 13 July.

Reports at the time: The archive records two civilians killed near Ayta al-Shaab at 12:25 on 12 July, strikes on the Zahrani bridge from 17:45 and on Saida's Awali bridge at 22:30.

The reports of that day, as they came in

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

Israel's cabinet votes for war; airport and Damascus road approved as targets.
'The Seven', Olmert and six senior ministers, approved strikes that night on Hezbollah's Fajr launchers hidden in homes and limited raids on Beirut airport's runways and the Beirut-Damascus highway, after the full cabinet voted unanimously for a forceful response. Harel and Issacharoff rely on Israeli participants and meeting records.

The reports of that day, as they came in

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

Siniora's government says it knew nothing of the operation.
After the afternoon cabinet, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi declared that the government had not known of the operation and was not responsible; March 14 leaders, among them former president Amine Gemayel, publicly attacked Hezbollah. Earlier Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had angrily asked Nasrallah's adviser what Hezbollah had done.

Reports at the time: The archive reports only that Lebanon, through Ghazi Aridi, asked for an urgent Security Council meeting on 'the Israeli aggression' (20:35); the government's disclaimer does not appear in it.

The reports of that day, as they came in

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

Nasrallah: the soldiers will be returned only through an exchange.
Hassan Nasrallah told a Beirut press conference that the raid had been five months in preparation and that Israel's new leaders should expect surprises if they sought confrontation; the two soldiers were far away and would come back only through an indirect prisoner exchange.

Reports at the time: The archive carries the statement at 18:50, nearly two hours after the 5 p.m. given by 34 Days.

The reports of that day, as they came in

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

Olmert holds the Lebanese state responsible and promises a 'thundering' response.
At a press conference beside Japan's prime minister, Ehud Olmert called the attack the act of a sovereign state and warned that Lebanon, with Hezbollah in its government, would pay. Abirached has chief of staff Dan Halutz vowing to 'set Lebanon back fifty years'.

Reports at the time: The archive reports Olmert calling the attack an 'act of war' from 13:30, consistent with the 12:50 press conference; it does not report Halutz's 'fifty years' remark.

The reports of that day, as they came in

July 2006, as the books tell it · From the books

A Gaza solidarity sit-in turns into the Samidoun relief campaign.
Samidoun ('those who hold fast') began as a mixed coalition of environmental, gay and lesbian, artistic, far-left and student groups that had planned a sit-in and cultural festival for Gaza on the very day the Israeli offensive began. Based at Zico House, it quickly turned to relief work and drew up to three hundred volunteers a day.

Reports at the time: The archive does not mention Samidoun.

Since 2005 · From the books

Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers; Israel launches a war on Lebanon.
Hezbollah fighters attacked an Israeli patrol across the border on the morning of 12 July and took two soldiers, whom the party offered to trade for Arab prisoners. Dozens of Israeli air raids on the South followed; strikes on the airport, bridges and roads and an air and sea blockade came next. The war's day-by-day record is in 111101's July 2006 archive (/facts/history/july2006/).

Sources differ: Abirached quotes Hezbollah's announcement of the capture 'around 9.05'; Harel & Issacharoff place the burnt-out vehicles and the start of the search at about 9.45 a.m. These are different moments, not necessarily a conflict.

\_this day in full (July 2006, as the books tell it) \_this day in full (Since 2005) \_on this day

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