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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

1992, 1996, 2012

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27 entries on 24 dates · the books disagree on 7

January 1992

January 1992: day not established

After the war · From the books

A budget with huge borrowing needs sets off a run on the Lebanese pound.
The run on the pound outlasted the budget's withdrawal; it planned borrowing of half of GDP.

After the war · From the books

Syria's vice-president Khaddam comes to arbitrate the 'troika'.
In January 1992 Vice-President Khaddam came to Beirut to explain how Taif should regulate the troika of president, prime minister and speaker: the first of many Syrian arbitrations, mostly his.

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February 1992

Saturday, 29 February 1992

After the war · From the books

The Central Bank gives up defending the pound.
By early May a dollar cost 2,000 pounds; the bank had given up on the pound after losing a third of its foreign reserves.

Sources differ: Peak rate: 2,000 (Hanf, early May) or 2,200 (Picard, 1992).

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May 1992

Wednesday, 6 May 1992

After the war · From the books

A general strike against the cost of living brings down the Karami government.
Karami resigned after the 6 May general strike paralysed the country and rioters, often anti-Syrian in tone, attacked the prime minister's office and property of leading figures. Rashid Solh's cabinet, formed in Damascus, called elections.

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June 1992

Wednesday, 17 June 1992

After the war · From the books

The last two Western hostages are freed.
Two Germans, the last Western hostages held in Lebanon, were released.

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July 1992

Thursday, 16 July 1992

After the war · From the books

Parliament passes a new electoral law for 128 deputies.
Mixing large and small constituencies, the law set 128 seats, not Taif's 108; Hanf sees Syria's allies as the gainers. Albert Moukheiber called it 'imported and imposed'.

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Thursday, 23 July 1992

After the war · From the books

A general strike against the elections; the main Christian forces call a boycott.
The 23 July strike against the elections held where Syrian troops were absent. The Patriarch and his synod led opponents, wanting no vote until the displaced returned and the occupation ended; the Kataeb, LF, NLP, National Bloc and some Muslim figures joined.

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July 1992: day not established

After the war · From the books

Hundreds of Aoun supporters are arrested for distributing leaflets.
Leaflets urging 'real independence' or a boycott led military police to detain young Aounists; some faced military courts. Amnesty International counted about 200 arrests by December 1992, citing ill-treatment.

Sources differ: More than 120 (Picard) or about 200 (Amnesty, via Hanf).

After the war · From the books

Army commander Emile Lahoud deploys troops to take back public property held by wartime militias.
Protests by Druze clerics and civilians, organised by Walid Jumblatt, blocked the army in the Chouf; the government gave way and left Beiteddine palace in his hands.

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August 1992

summer (no day in the books) August 1992: day not established

After the war · From the books

First parliamentary elections since 1972, boycotted by most Christians.
In Baalbek-Hermel Hezbollah's list defeated the speaker's, and with Amal it took the Shiite seats. Few voted: about 10 percent in Beirut and 6.5 percent in Jbeil, where one deputy won with 41 votes. The major Christian currents had no seats.

Sources differ: Turnout: under 20 percent (Hanf, provisional official) or 30 percent (Picard). Hezbollah seats: Hanf counts a faction of fourteen, Picard nine deputies.

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September 1992

September 1992: day not established

After the war · From the books

The Taif deadline for Syrian redeployment passes without a withdrawal.
In September 1992 Lebanese pressing for the partial Syrian pullback that Taif tied to a two-year deadline after the constitutional reforms were told the reforms, deconfessionalisation first, remained unfinished.

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October 1992

late October 1992: day not established

After the war · From the books

Rafiq Hariri becomes prime minister.
Hariri, a billionaire contractor and not a deputy, formed a cabinet of business people and technocrats in late October, centred on reconstruction. Within two weeks the dollar fell from 2,200 to 1,900 pounds. Berri became speaker that month; Jumblatt minister for the displaced.

Sources differ: Hanf's text prints 1982 for 1992, an obvious misprint.

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October 1992: day not established

After the war · From the books

Kisrawan has to vote again for lack of candidates.
Kisrawan's October by-election turnout was 20.9 percent, against 57 percent in 1972; the government had found one candidate for its five seats.

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November 1992

Tuesday, 10 November 1992

After the war · From the books

Speaker Berri hopes to see confessional elections end with this parliament.
Hezbollah took up the call to abolish political confessionalism, which Syria then tied to any future withdrawal of its troops.

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Thursday, 26 November 1992

After the war · From the books

Hariri wins a vote of confidence but not the powers he wanted.
Deputies refused him temporary decree powers and an end to civil servants' immunity, which Hanf deems vital to reforming the administration.

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December 1992

Tuesday, 8 December 1992

After the war · From the books

Syrian withdrawal is made conditional on ending confessionalism.
On 8 December Hrawi declared that deconfessionalisation would rest on consensus, Taif and the Constitution. Khaddam tied any partial Syrian withdrawal to ending confessionalism, and a Damascus summit's communiqué left withdrawal out.

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1992

1992: day not established

After the war · From the books

Demolitions begin in downtown Beirut for the reconstruction company.
From 1992 Solidere blew up shell-damaged central Beirut: part of the medieval wall, the gold souk ruins, Ottoman façades. Its 'tabula rasa' angered press and universities.

Sources differ: Picard dates the founding of Solidere to 1993 (next entry), after the demolitions Fisk describes in 1992.

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February 1996

February 1996: day not established

After the war · From the books

Hariri hands internal security in selected areas to the army.
The decision gave the army, rather than the police, a leading role in domestic order.

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April 1996

Thursday, 11 April 1996

After the war · From the books range

Israel launches 'Operation Grapes of Wrath' against southern Lebanon.
After a boy died in a booby-trap blast and Hezbollah fired rockets at Kiryat Shmona, Israel bombarded the south, killing more than 150 civilians and driving about 400,000 north, often under fire. Solidarity with the displaced crossed community lines.

Sources differ: Start 11 April (de Clerck) or 16 April (Picard); end 27 or 26 April. Civilian dead about 170 (de Clerck) or more than 200 (Fisk).

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 16 April 1996

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Thursday, 18 April 1996

After the war · From the books

Civic associations hold a day for peace and national unity.
In 1996 young civic associations, APAC and Al-Mouwatin foremost, drove the National Rally for the Support of Lebanon's Survival; at a day for peace on 18 April, their slogans urged civil society to stand united against Israeli attacks.

After the war · From the books

Israeli shells kill 106 refugees in the UN compound at Qana.
A UN inquiry judged an error unlikely, largely on the strength of a soldier's video of an Israeli drone above the Fijian battalion's base, where some 560 villagers had taken shelter. The shelling lasted seventeen minutes, until 2.25 p.m.; more than half of the dead were children.

Sources differ: 106 dead (Fisk, de Clerck, Haugbolle), 107 (Picard), 102 (Quéméner calendar). Number of refugees: 560 (Fisk). Quéméner alone says UN soldiers were killed.

Art and memory

memorial Qana Day, 18 April, became a state day of national remembrance in 1997, with gatherings, exhibitions and a permanent museum display at Qana; the victims share a marble-covered grave beside the former UN base.
book Robert Fisk's chapter 'The Massacre' in Pity the Nation is built on survivors' testimony and the UN soldier's video of the drone.

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Friday, 26 April 1996

After the war · From the books

The 'April Understanding' sets rules for the fighting in the south.
Syria formally, and Hezbollah informally, gained a part in handling the conflict. Brokered by France and the US, it set rules for combatants, monitored by Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the US and France.

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1996

1996: day not established

After the war · From the books

Second postwar parliamentary elections.
Only 45 percent voted, 22 percent among Christians. Hezbollah was beaten in Baalbek; in the south, made by Damascus to share a list with Amal, it took just four of the fourteen Shiite seats.

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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.

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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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