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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

1997, 1998, 2007

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21 entries on 20 dates · the books disagree on 6

August 1997

Monday, 4 August 1997

After the war · From the books

Patriarch Sfeir denounces the mass presence of Syrian workers.
With Hariri's boom slowing from 1996, newspapers led by Al-Nahar spoke of a million or more Syrians exploiting Lebanon; Patriarch Sfeir echoed this, reckoning foreign workers at a quarter of residents.

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1997

1997: day not established

After the war · From the books

Sheikh Subhi Tufayli leads the 'revolt of the hungry' in Baalbek.
Sheikh Sobhi Toufayli, a dissident from Hezbollah, led the 'revolt of the hungry' in Baalbek.

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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 2007

January 2007: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

An opposition general strike turns into Sunni-Shiite clashes.
Sunnis and Shiites clashed in Beirut's Muslim quarters during the strike, and many feared a new civil war.

Since 2005 · From the books

Paris III conference pledges 7.6 billion dollars to Siniora's government.
With the opposition sit-in under way in Beirut, Paris III donors pledged Siniora's government 7.6 billion dollars.

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February 2007

Saturday, 10 February 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

Compulsory military service ends.
Quéméner notes that ending conscription, once binding on citizens of every faith, left only the sectarian allocation of officer posts.

Sources differ: Quéméner dates conscription's end to 10 February 2007, Picard to January 2005; perhaps one marks the law, the other its application.

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February 2007: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Bus passengers are killed in bombings at Ain Alaq.
Picard cites the bus bombing to show that ordinary people, not just public figures, were among the victims.

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April 2007

Friday, 13 April 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

The Ain al-Rummaneh bus is shown at the war's anniversary.
For the anniversary of the war's outbreak, visitors to the Beirut hippodrome could see the wreck of the Fargo Dodge bus in which 27 people died on 13 April 1975; it was exhibited again in 2011, at the Hangar in the southern suburbs.

Art and memory

film Ziad Doueiri's West Beirut (1998) popularised the Ain al-Rummaneh bus. In Philippe Aractingi's Bosta (2005) a bus touring Lebanon with music and dance quietly recalls it, recasting the symbol of the 1975 rupture as one of reconciliation.

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May 2007

Sunday, 20 May 2007

Since 2005 · From the books range

Battle of Nahr al-Bared between the army and Fatah al-Islam (20 May - 2 September).
Soldiers asleep at an army post by the camp entrance were killed when Fatah al-Islam fighters overran it; the army had been trying to detain members of the group over a Tripoli bank robbery. It then besieged and bombarded the camp for over three months, and 30,000 to 40,000 Palestinian refugees fled.

Sources differ: Soldiers killed: 179 (de Clerck & Malsagne) against 170 (Picard). Total dead: about 400 (Quéméner), consistent with 179 + 226 = 405.

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Wednesday, 30 May 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

UN Resolution 1757 establishes the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The tribunal, charged with identifying and trying those behind the attack on Hariri, came into force under an accord the Siniora government signed in June 2007.

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June 2007

Wednesday, 13 June 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

Future Movement MP Walid Eido is assassinated.
Walid Eido was one of a series of anti-Syrian deputies killed between 2005 and 2007.

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August 2007

Thursday, 30 August 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

A banned play about the war, How Nancy Wished That Everything Was an April Fool's Joke, opens.
Culture Minister Tarek Mitri's intervention lifted an initial ban, and Rabih Mroue and Fadi Toufiq's play opened at Masrah al-Madina. Its multimedia staging set rival war narratives side by side.

Art and memory

artwork Rabih Mroue and Fadi Toufiq's multimedia play pitted rival accounts of the Lebanese role in the war against each other.

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September 2007

Sunday, 2 September 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

The army takes control of Nahr al-Bared.
The army regained the camp after more than three months of fighting.

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Wednesday, 19 September 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

Kataeb MP Antoine Ghanem is assassinated.
A car bomb killed him and several others.

Sources differ: 19 September (de Clerck & Malsagne) against 18 September (Quéméner).

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late September 2007: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Parliament's session to elect a president is adjourned.
Parliament's sitting to choose Lahoud's successor, called about a week after Antoine Ghanem's assassination, was adjourned; deadlock lasted until May 2008.

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November 2007

November 2007: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Émile Lahoud's term ends with no successor: the presidency is vacant.
With the rival blocs deadlocked over who should succeed Lahoud, the presidency stayed empty until May 2008.

Sources differ: Picard starts the vacuum in September 2007, when the electoral sessions began to fail; the other books date it from November 2007, the end of Lahoud's term.

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December 2007

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Since 2005 · From the books

General François al-Hajj is killed by a car bomb.
A Beirut car bomb killed General François al-Hajj, army chief of operations during the Nahr al-Bared siege and expected successor to Michel Sleiman as commander.

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