43 original entries, 60 added from the books, 82 days.
Tuesday, 7 January 1975
111101 entry in the original chronology
Teachers went on strike
25,000 private school teachers went on an open strike. The movement hit approximately 200,000 students. Strikers were claiming the amendment of their salary scale and of the teachers' dismissal law. Their actual minimum salary amounted for 250 Lebanese pounds.
Added from the books
Presidents Assad and Frangieh meet at Chtaura.
At Chtaura, President Suleiman Frangieh received Syria's president, Hafez al-Assad, who pledged to defend Lebanon against Israeli attack. Hanf, quoting Goria, judges that Lebanon thereby lost what neutrality had gained it.
Sources differ: Ménargues gives 17 January 1975. Traboulsi's narrative chapter dates the summit to 7 January 1974, while his own chronology gives 7 January 1975. Two sources agree on 7 January 1975.
Friday, 7 March 1975
111101 entry in the original chronology
Major events were reported in the town of Saida.
The army clashed with demonstrators protesting in favor of fishermen. Maarouf Saad, former legislator, was hit by a bullet and died from his wounds. Saida was in fire and blood. Many dead and wounded persons were reported, on the civilian as well as on the military sides. Businesses and schools shut down. Many leaders accused the Prime Minister, Rachid El Solh, of being responsible for the recent events in Saida. Nevertheless, demonstrations supporting the army were organized in Beirut.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne and Traboulsi date the Sidon fishermen's protest to 26 February 1975. The marchers opposed Protein, a fishing company whose board included Camille Chamoun; their leader, Maarouf Saad, was shot and died some days later. Clashes between the army and armed groups in Sidon and Tyre followed at the start of March: de Clerck and Malsagne give 6 soldiers and 11 civilians killed and an army pull-out from Tyre, Hanf 5 soldiers and 11 civilians. The Kataeb staged a pro-army demonstration in Beirut. Hanf puts the fishermen's protest in March, and Picard describes the Sidon marchers as Palestinian militants.
Tuesday, 15 April 1975
111101 entry in the original chronology
A cease-fire was reached
After more than three days of anguish, with 120 deaths and many injuries, two suspects were handed over to the Justice. Beirut and its surroundings have been the theater of violent clashes between the Phalange Party and Palestinian militias. Also, Zghortiotes and Tripolitans fought in Tripoli. A cease-fire was declared at night and all parties reached an agreement, the execution of which was entrusted to the Internal Security Forces.
What the books addAfter several days of fighting (Hanf; four, says Traboulsi), Pierre Gemayel gave up to the police two militiamen implicated in the Ain al-Rummaneh shooting. Early Syrian mediation failed to stop this round, which de Clerck and Malsagne end with a cease-fire on 16 May 1975; no book confirms a truce on 15 April.
Added from the books
The Kataeb office in Zahleh is attacked.
Zahleh's Kataeb office on the Boulevard, the main street, was targeted on the evening of 15 April. On the 14th Bishop Yuhanna Bassul had given the Beirut fighting one diary line, as another clash.
Tuesday, 1 July 1975
111101 entry in the original chronology
Lebanon had a new Government
The new Cabinet included the following 6 members Rachid Karameh - Prime Minister, Minster of Finance, National Defense, and Information. Camille Chamoun - Minister of Interior, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, and Hydraulic and Electric Resources. Adel Osseirane - Minster of Justice, Public Works, Economy and Trade Magid Arslane : Minster of Health, Agriculture, and Housing and Cooperatives. Philippe Takla - Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Education, and Plan. Ghassan Tueni - Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Tourism, and Industry and Oil. This government aimed, in a climate of daily fights and extreme tension, at dismantling barricades, taking away heavy armaments, suppressing defense positions, and reopening the roads.
What the books addHanf puts the cabinet's formation at the end of June and its announcement some two weeks before the 15 July confidence vote (83 for, none against, 16 Jumblatt supporters abstaining); Traboulsi's chronology gives 6 July. Neither the Kataeb nor Jumblatt was included. A cease-fire followed, which Traboulsi says was reached with Syrian mediators' help.
Saturday, 6 December 1975
111101 entry in the original chronology
The assassination of four young Phalangists on the Fanar road provoked horrible killings in the streets of Beirut.
The capital was rapidly set ablaze. It was the apocalypse. Militias launched street fights resulting in tens of innocent victims. Violence was at its peek and nothing seemed to end this thirst for blood.
What the books addThe bodies of four young Kataeb members were found on 6 December 1975, while Pierre Gemayel was in Damascus; Muslims seized at makeshift checkpoints by the port were killed in reprisal. Accounts place the bodies in the Metn (Hanf), near Tal al-Za'tar (Haugbolle) or outside the electricity company offices (Fisk). De Clerck and Malsagne blame Joseph Saadeh, whose son was among the four. Only Fisk puts Bashir Gemayel in Damascus and cites Phalangist officers saying he ordered the reprisal. The Muslim dead number about 200 (Hanf, Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne) or several dozen (Picard); Fisk gives at least 300 Muslims, and probably as many Christians, in the reprisals.
Added from the books
Pierre Gemayel visits Damascus.
At Assad's invitation, Pierre Gemayel took a Kataeb delegation to Damascus to set out his ideas for a new National Pact, the party's first visit there since the war began. Black Saturday took place in Beirut that day.
Sources differ: Fisk says it was Bashir Gemayel who was in Damascus.
1975: day not established
mid-January 1975
Added from the books
Israeli troops destroy the border village of Kfar Chouba.
In January 1975 the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front and the Popular Front attacked the army in several places, including the Tyre barracks. About a week after the Chtaura summit, Israeli troops levelled Kfar Chouba, on the border.
early March 1975
Added from the books
Fighting between the army and armed groups in Sidon and Tyre.
Early March fighting forced the army out of Tyre. Protests against the army in Sidon and Tyre had followed Saad's death; roads were blocked, Palestinian, Nasserist and leftist fighters attacked troops, and Muslim and leftist leaders sought a shake-up of its command.
Sources differ: Dead: 6 soldiers and 11 civilians (de Clerck and Malsagne) or 5 soldiers and 11 civilians (Hanf).
June 1975
Added from the books
Arafat and Frangieh meet to negotiate a cease-fire.
In June President Frangieh held cease-fire talks with Yasser Arafat. Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia offered mediation, as did the Arab League.
July 1975
Added from the books
Gemayel, Chamoun and Qassis denounce a Palestinian 'occupation' of east Beirut's fringes.
Picard sees two aims behind the Christian militias' later attacks: homogeneous cantons and an end to Palestinian 'occupation'. Pierre Gemayel, Camille Chamoun and Father Charbel Qassis had used that word for the resistance's hold on areas by the camps east of Beirut.
August 1975
Added from the books
Saiqa attacks Hawsh al-Umara near Zahleh.
Palestinian fighters of the pro-Syrian Saiqa struck Hawsh al-Umara, near Zahleh, killing 15 people and wounding many.
early/mid September 1975
Added from the books
First contacts between Christian leaders and Israel.
In mid-September 1975 Rabin met Camille Chamoun and Pierre Gemayel on an Israeli boat offshore, agreeing to arm and train the militias but not to join the fighting. Days earlier the Mossad's David Kimche and Colonel Benjamin Ben-Eliezer had landed at Jounieh to see Pierre, Bashir and Amin Gemayel and Camille and Dany Chamoun, after Tanzim leader Georges Adwan called at Israel's Paris embassy and was received by Kimche.
September 1975
Added from the books
Walid Jumblatt is kidnapped by the Kataeb and freed through Dany Chamoun.
Kataeb militiamen kidnapped Walid Jumblatt at Hazmieh, and Dany Chamoun obtained his release, an example of the lasting bond between the two Chouf families despite their rivalry.
late September 1975
Added from the books
The National Dialogue Committee is formed.
Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria's foreign minister, mediated in Beirut; a cease-fire followed, and some twenty leaders formed a National Dialogue Committee to work on reforms. Its vote to abolish sectarian quotas led nowhere, the committee dissolved, and weeks later Franjieh offered a reform programme of his own.
late October 1975
Added from the books
Karami shuts himself in the Serail to force a compromise.
Only the Greek Orthodox minister Ghassan Tueni was still with Prime Minister Karami a few days after Karami pledged, late in October, to stay in the Serail until the dialogue bore fruit.
November 1975
Added from the books
Karami suspends government work over an arms shipment at Jounieh.
In November 1975 the Kataeb, aided by Interior Minister Chamoun's hostility to Karami, kept the army from impounding arms landed at Jounieh for the Christian militias. Karami, premier and defence minister, had ordered it; he suspended cabinet work in protest.
late November 1975
Added from the books
Frangieh and Karami announce an agreement is near.
At the end of November President Frangieh and Prime Minister Karami said a deal on limited National Pact amendments was close; Syria, the Vatican and French mediators supported it.
November 1975
Added from the books
Peace demonstrations in Beirut.
Gunmen held their fire until the crowd dispersed: tens of thousands from East and West Beirut had answered an appeal against the fighting by the television announcer Sharif Akhawi. Haugbolle also notes widespread protests on National Day.
Sources differ: The existing entry 34 dates Akhawi's demonstration to 25 October.
December 1975
Added from the books
Christian militias expel Muslims from enclaves north and east of Beirut.
In December Palestinian guerrillas seized Ta'labaya, a Christian village of the Bekaa, and expelled its people. Christian militias drove out a Bedouin group from the hills east of Beirut and the inhabitants of a Shi'i district beside Antelias, home to an active Communist branch.
Sources differ: Tegho Bou Nassif dates the fall of Ta'labaya to 21 January 1976; this may be a second attack.
early December 1975
Added from the books
Army raid in Zahleh angers the bishop.
Seeking to restore the state's monopoly of force, troops raided Hawsh al-Umara, the Tajammu's Zahleh base, and traded fire with its youths. Bishop Bassul condemned the army for attacking the town's defenders.
