111101 entry from the books the books disagree: each version, with the date it gives
1984
January 1984
From the books
An American academic and a French engineer are kidnapped in Beirut.
Amal gunmen freed the American academic Frank Regier and the French engineer Christian Joubert from 'Islamic Jihad' two months after their kidnapping in January 1984.
Israeli troops bulldoze Sheikh Abbas Harb's house in Hallousiyeh.
Israeli troops arrested Sheikh Abbas Harb of Hallousiyeh and bulldozed his house, accusing him of steering young men towards 'terrorist organisations'.
The year started like the previous one ended : everyone was talking about a new security plan for the mountain and the Southern suburbs of Beirut. Nevertheless, the fights continued intermittently in these regions between the Army and the Lebanese Forces on one side and the Progressive Socialist Party and Amal on the other.
What the books addOn 29 January the Druze resumed attacking the army at Souk al-Gharb, after Shi'i militia sniping at the army and French troops from mid-January, Hanf's next escalation.
A double Israeli raid in the region of Baalbeck caused tens of victims and buried many persons under the debris. In Beirut, the electric power was severely rationed by the EDL due to damaged installations in the Iqlim El Kharroub. The acts of resistance against the Israeli occupation continued in South Lebanon. Until the end of 1984, not a single day passed without one, two or three killing attempts perpetrated against Israeli troops or the local militias that they created.
What the books addCounts of attacks on the Israeli army vary by source and period: Fisk reports 15 ambushes a week on average by February 1984 and a hundred attacks in December 1984; de Clerck and Malsagne put suicide attacks at about a hundred a month in 1984.
An anti-French killing attempt at the Résidence des Pins killed a paratrooper and wounded two others. Attacks against US and French troops of the Multinational Force continued until their departure in March.
The New Jersey shells pro-Syrian positions after Syrian and Druze guns fire at US planes.
The battleship New Jersey shelled pro-Syrian positions in response to an attack on American reconnaissance aircraft by Soviet-supplied Syrian and Druze anti-aircraft batteries.
One person was killed and many others were wounded in Achrafieh in a blind bombardment of residential areas. These bombings continued until July 4, causing thousands of deaths and injuries. Meanwhile, the dollar broke a new record in Beirut, reaching 5.55 LP.
What the books addSources differ on when the shelling stopped: the original entry has it continuing until the security plan of 4 July, while de Clerck and Malsagne date the systematic bombardment of Christian residential districts from the 17 May 1983 agreement to its abrogation on 5 March 1984.
Saad Haddad, commander of the Army of Free Lebanon, died from a generalized cancer. He was 47 years old and was buried in his birthplace, Marjeyoun.
What the books addSources disagree on the date of Saad Haddad's death: Ménargues gives 13 January 1984; Hanf and Fisk give January 1984; de Clerck and Malsagne give December 1983. No supplied book gives 16 January. Ménargues also gives his birth year as 1937 and his origin as Marjayoun, consistent with the age stated here.
Blind bombardments killed 16 persons and wounded 75 others in Beirut. Anxiety and fear prevailed. Schools and hospitals received their daily lot of bombs, amid international indifference. Panic reached the Lebanese stock exchange market where the Dollar amounted almost for six Lebanese Pounds.
The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the killing attempt that cost the life of Malcolm Kerr, President of the American University in Beirut, shot in front of his office.
What the books addHanf writes that Kerr was murdered by unknown assailants; Fisk says he was shot in the head by 'Islamic Jihad' on campus. De Clerck and Malsagne give 18 January 1984 in one chapter but list the murder among the reverses of 1983 in another. The wording 'killing attempt' understates it: Kerr was killed.
Walid Joumblatt, president of the Progressive Socialist Party, requested the resignation of the Lebanese government.
What the books addHanf: Gemayel had undertaken at Geneva to negotiate a new agreement with Israel and had not; for that, Jumblatt and Berri demanded he resign at the end of January. Traboulsi cites Jumblatt, early in 1984, vowing to fight on until Gemayel's government went. Neither confirms the day, 22 January.
Kfar Rumman's pro-Israeli militia leader is shot dead.
Attacks on Israeli troops and their collaborators were mounting when, on 25 January 1984, Kfar Rumman's pro-Israeli militia chief, Mohamed Atef Farhat, was shot dead near his home.
Ragheb Harb, Jibchit's Shi'i imam, had urged no cooperation with the occupation; in late February he was shot from behind his garden wall. Israel's 'home guard' attacked men carrying his body round nearby villages.
The army tries to push into Beirut's southern suburbs.
To sever the link between West Beirut's Shi'i militias and the Chouf Druze, the army set out on 1 February to push into the southern suburbs. Fisk, at Galerie Semaan, found soldiers and Phalangists fighting side by side against Shi'i militiamen in the Bourj al-Barajneh slums.
President Gemayel announced his intention to form a national union government and presented a program of 8 points to save the country. He also convoked a new conference for national reconciliation in Geneva on February 27. The resignation of the Wazzan government presented on September 26, 1983, was finally accepted.
What the books addIn Fisk's account Wazzan submitted his resignation that day, insisting it be accepted at once. This looks like a fresh resignation rather than acceptance of the one tendered on 26 September 1983, though Fisk also has the cabinet resigning in September 1983. Hanf has Berri appealing to Shi'i soldiers not to fire on their own people on the day the army began shelling the southern suburbs, at heavy civilian cost.
The army shells the southern suburbs; Berri calls on Shi'i soldiers not to fire.
Nabih Berri, saying he could no longer work with Gemayel, urged Shi'i soldiers not to fire on their own community as army shelling of southern Beirut took a heavy civilian toll. That afternoon on the airport road Fisk saw soldiers leave three tanks and go into the suburbs on foot.
In a matter of hours, Amal took control over West Beirut. The capital was heavily bombed, while the Army gave up the control of the Western sector of the Capital to Amal and to the Islamic militias.
What the books addThe books describe a joint Amal and PSP (Druze) offensive, not Amal alone; the mainly Shi'i Sixth Brigade went over to Amal. Hanf dates the last Christian soldiers' withdrawal to the east, and so the completed division, to 7 February. De Clerck and Malsagne record the uprising's name, 'the 6 February movement'. About 50,000 Christians moved east, almost half the public radio's 400 staff left their posts, and Télé-Liban split. A later Sunni militia took its name from the date (Hanf).
Art and memory
place The 6 February 1984 uprising gave its name to a later Sunni militia in West Beirut, the 'Sixth of February Movement'.
Army units loyal to Gemayel shell West Beirut through the night.
On the night of 6 February, with West Beirut in militia hands, Gemayel's loyal army units, all Christian, shelled it with new US-bought artillery; Fisk counts almost a hundred civilians dead.
Beirut is divided again; Washington announces the Marines' 'redeployment' to the ships.
Beirut was split along the Green Line again on 7 February as the last regular troops in West Beirut, mostly Christians, pulled back east; Hanf notes that the Lebanese had never before divided their capital themselves. Washington said that day the Marines would 'redeploy' to ships offshore.
The ' New Jersey ', the most powerful battleship in the world from the 6 US fleet, bombed for several hours anti-governmental positions in the mountain.
What the books addDruze militiamen in Tibiyat, east of Beirut, visited by Fisk on 13 February, said the New Jersey's shelling of the Metn and Chouf foothills had killed 24 civilians and wounded 115 (their figures). De Clerck and Malsagne note the ship's frequent misses and its Arabic nickname 'New Jersa' ('new shame').
Art and memory
testimony On 13 February 1984 Fisk heard survivors in the Druze village of Tibiyat describe the New Jersey's shelling; his own archive held a large fragment of one of its shells.
Sailing from Jounieh, the British were the first Multinational Force contingent to go; Fisk says they abandoned two military trucks on the quay and told their partners nothing.
Amal and PSP met in Khaldeh, while only Souk El Gharb was still controlled by the Army in the mountain.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne give 14 February 1984 for the PSP's capture of the Chahhar district, part of a week-long uprising in Beirut and the mountain.
The Marines withdrew from Beirut. The Italian contingent of the Multinational Force was soon to follow. The capital was left on its own.
What the books addSources date the Marines' departure differently. Hanf: the US announced the 'redeployment' to the ships on 7 February. De Clerck and Malsagne: the evacuation ran from 7 to 26 February, and their chronology dates the MNF withdrawal 26 February - 31 March. Fisk: a last Marine detachment guarding the embassy left on 31 July 1984. The Italians left on 20 February (Hanf).
Art and memory
book Hanf cites Eric Hammel's The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982 - February 1984 for the Marines' own verdict on their mission: of 200 interviewed, about half said it had achieved 'nothing'.
The withdrawal of the Marines, ordered by the White House and begun on 7 February, was completed. De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology dates the MNF's departure to 26 February-31 March.
President Amine Gemayel visited Damascus. The observers expected a normalization soon after. Indeed, the Syrian President approved the opening of new round Israeli-Lebanese negotiations.
What the books addMénargues gives two different days for this visit: 24 February in his prologue and 26 February in another passage. Hanf and Fisk both give 29 February. Fisk notes a 21-gun salute; Hanf says Gemayel told Assad he was ready to abrogate the 17 May agreement.
The Wazzan government met under the presidency of Gemayel and abrogated the Israeli-Lebanese agreement of May 17. A new reconciliation conference was to be held on the 12th of March in Lausanne.
What the books addTraboulsi notes Gemayel never signed the agreement, which his government formally repudiated.
The Lausanne conference began and lasted until March 20. The observers considered it a camouflaged failure. The participants decided to execute a security plan, stop slanderous campaigns, create a constituent assembly, and resume the dialog under the patronage of the chief of State.
What the books addMost sources give 12-20 March 1984. Picard's main text gives April 1984 and Fisk says 'spring of 1983'. Traboulsi's chronology lists Lausanne under 1983. Hanf says the conference agreed on a ceasefire and a commission on the constitution, which may be what 'constituent assembly' refers to. He also says Frangieh blocked any radical reorganisation.
It was the French contingent's turn to leave Beirut while the Eastern regions remained the target of blind and murderous bombardments.
What the books addHanf and de Clerck and Malsagne date the departure of the last French MNF soldiers to 31 March 1984; 25 March may mark the start of the French withdrawal, which the books do not mention. France left soldiers in Beirut as ceasefire observers.
