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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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54 entries on 49 dates · the books disagree on 14

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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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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January 2011

January 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Hariri's government collapses as Hezbollah's ministers resign.
Hezbollah's ministers and their allies resigned, toppling the cabinet during the dispute over the UN tribunal's Hariri inquiry.

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February 2011

February-March 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Weekly demonstrations call for abolishing the sectarian system.
Weekly marches against the sectarian system drew secular and leftist activists inspired by the Arab Spring; Lebanon, they said, had some twenty dictators, not one.

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March 2011

March 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

The Syrian uprising begins and immediately plays out in Lebanon.
Lebanese took sides from the revolt's first month; dozens of young Lebanese and Palestinians crossed from Akkar and Hermel to join the rebels around Homs.

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June 2011

June 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Najib Mikati forms a government dominated by Hezbollah's allies.
Hezbollah's allies took many cabinet seats; Picard calls it an '8 March' government.

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September 2011

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Since 2005 · From the books

Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals renew their 2006 declaration.
Nine months into the Syrian uprising, the signatories reissued their 2006 appeal, 'For the sake of the Lebanese-Syrian future'.

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September 2011: day not established

Since 2005 · From the books

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai backs Bashar al-Assad.
Patriarch Bechara Rai sided with Assad, fearing Islamists would win, though his community was hostile to the Syrian regime.

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