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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

1996, 1998, 2002, 2012

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25 entries on 24 dates · the books disagree on 5

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 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Friday, 12 April 2002

After the war · From the books

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

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May 2002

Saturday, 25 May 2002

After the war · From the books

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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