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45 entries on 40 dates · the books disagree on 14

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 1998

February 1998: day not established

After the war · From the books

Two agreements open trade between Lebanon and Syria.
Duties on agricultural goods were to fall by 50 percent a year from October 1999, and those on industrial goods by 25 percent a year from that January.

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March 1998

March 1998: day not established

After the war · From the books

Israel's prime minister accepts Resolution 425.
Netanyahu's unexpected acceptance of Resolution 425 exposed, in Picard's analysis, a paradox: Lebanon still demanded the resolution officially, but Syria's veto on separate Israeli-Lebanese talks meant it in fact opposed it.

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November 1998

Tuesday, 24 November 1998

After the war · From the books

Army commander Emile Lahoud becomes president.
Backed by Bashar al-Assad, who had taken charge of the Lebanese file, Lahoud promised to fight corruption. He soon broke with Hariri.

Sources differ: September 1998 and October 1998 (both in Picard 2002), November (Picard 2016, 33 jours) and 24 November (de Clerck). The later dates may be the start of the term rather than the vote.

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December 1998

December 1998: day not established

After the war · From the books

Hariri leaves office; Salim al-Hoss forms a government.
Soon after Hariri left office, dozens of his administration's senior officials faced corruption inquiries. Hoss governed until October 2000.

Sources differ: Hariri stepped down in November (Picard p. 166) or December 1998 (Picard p. 177).

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1998

1998: day not established

After the war · From the books

The first municipal elections since 1963 are held after a civic campaign.
Newly formed associations drove the campaign and gathered a million signatures; Picard calls it post-war civil society's first major win.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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February 2003

Friday, 28 February 2003

After the war · From the books

Israel bombs the south and reinforces its positions at Shebaa.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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October 2003

Monday, 27 October 2003

After the war · From the books

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

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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.

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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).

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