111101 entry from the books the books disagree: each version, with the date it gives
1985
January 1985
From the books
Lists of alleged collaborators are posted in Tyre.
The 'Lebanese National Resistance' claimed to have killed 15 collaborators by 11 January; around Tyre, lists naming 60 alleged informers for the Israelis had appeared in the first week of the month.
It is a bad beginning of the year for the Lebanese. Beirut was still divided in two, the problem of kidnapped and disappeared persons was unsolved, the fighting continued in the mountain between the Army and the PSP. In South Lebanon, the assault-reprisal cycle continued.
What the books addFisk's figures for December 1984 alone: some hundred attacks on Israeli forces in the south, with three Israeli soldiers, seventeen of Lahad's militiamen and eight collaborators killed.
Eric Wehrli, the Swiss chargé d'affaires, was kidnapped in West Beirut. He was later released on January 7 by Amal. The dollar reached 9.10 Lebanese Pounds.
A commission was created, including the Lebanese Front, the Progressive Socialist Party, Amal, the Syrian Nationalist Party, and parents of the hostages. The crossing points between the two sectors of the capital were reopened while the plan for the Iqlim was halted because of the conflict between the Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Front.
Resistance bombs hit an Israeli patrol near Abbasiyeh.
On 6 January gunmen near Deir Qanoun en-Nahr shot dead a collaborator, and west of Abbasiyeh a combined Israeli army and Shin Bet patrol was hit by two roadside bombs and retreated towards Tyre under fire.
The security plan for the coastal road and the Iqlim El Kharroub was finally put into execution. The Internal Security Forces started their deployment in these regions.
What the books addHanf dates the army's advance to 9 January 1985, the day he says the Israelis began to pull back. In his account the plan, agreed with Walid Jumblatt, the Sidon Nasserites and the region's Christian deputies, sent a mainly Muslim battalion into the Iqlim al-Kharroub and the Sidon hinterland.
The army deployed on the coastal road South of Beirut and in the Iqlim EL Kharroub after the withdrawal of the Lebanese Forces and the PSP militiamen. The government appointed Edmond Naim Governor of the Central Bank, Michel Samaha CEO of Télé Liban, Mohammed Beydoun president of the Council of the South, and Ayoub Hemayed General Director of the Information.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne say Edmond Naim succeeded Michel el-Khoury at the Central Bank because both the militia chiefs and the unity cabinet could accept him.
The Israeli government decided to withdraw its army from South Lebanon progressively.
What the books addThe withdrawal was unilateral and staged. Antoine Lahad's militia, renamed the South Lebanon Army and backed by Israel, was to police the 'security zone' Israel kept. Historians date the departure from Sidon to 17 February (Traboulsi), and the fall-back to the security zone to May-June 1985 (de Clerck and Malsagne).
Armed confrontations and artillery duels on the axes Kfarchima-Choueifat and Aitate-Souk El Gharb, extended to the residential areas. Four persons were killed and seven others wounded by shells that fell on the regions of Beit-Mery, Bsous, Ain Saadeh and their surroundings.
Moustapha Saad, leader of the Nasserist Popular Organization, was seriously wounded in Saida by a car bomb that killed his daughter.
What the books addSaad survived, nearly blind, but was absent when Israel left Sidon. The UN spokesman told Fisk Israel had held up clearance by half an hour for the UN helicopter flying him to the American University hospital.
Selim El Hoss, Minister of Education and Labor, resigned from office. Efforts were made to convince him to review his decision. Indeed, he withdrew his resignation the next day.
Hezbollah makes its existence public with an 'Open Letter'.
Hezbollah, formed in secret in 1982, came into the open with an 'Open Letter' setting out its programme, addressed 'to the deprived of Lebanon and the world'. It demanded Israel's final expulsion from Lebanon and the departure of the United States and France.
Israel's best-known informer in Sidon flees by sea.
With Israel about to leave Sidon, its most notorious collaborator, 'Abu Arida', put to sea in mid-February with two dozen of his men. Early in the month others had been told their Israeli protection was over.
Israel applies its 'iron fist' policy in the south (February-June).
When guerrillas struck again after the pull-out from Sidon, Israel hit Shia villages with large raids, mass arrests, curfews and demolitions, until it withdrew to the 'security zone' in June.
Nothing could stop the dollar from rising. For the first time, the green bill was exchanged for over 15 Pounds on the Beirut stock market while the French Franc was quoted at 1.55 Pounds. The Lebanese authorities requested help from Saudi Arabia and asked Rafic Hariri to intercede with King Fahd to grant Lebanon 500 million dollars to boost the economy.
What the books addAnnual figures: the pound fell to about 16 to the dollar in 1985 against 6.5 in 1984, with retail inflation of about 70 per cent (Hanf, citing Abou Rjaily and Labaki); de Clerck and Malsagne put the 1985 devaluation at 150 per cent. Hanf notes that rumours of large PLO deposits briefly strengthened the pound in early 1985.
Colonel Sleiman Mazloum, a Christian army officer, is shot dead.
Islamic Amal, Sobhi Tufayli's breakaway wing of Amal, killed Colonel Sleiman Mazloum, one of several Christian officers murdered to scare other Christian soldiers away and seize the Bekaa barracks.
Crewmembers of a Cyprus Airways Boeing were held hostages for 5 hours at the Beirut International Airport, by armed elements from Hay El Sellom. As a result, the company suspends its flights to Beirut.
The army made a triumphal entrance in Saida. The transition was smooth and no incident followed the Israeli departure.
What the books addTraboulsi dates Israel's exit from Sidon to 17 February 1985. Fisk describes Christians and Muslims briefly celebrating together when Lebanese troops arrived.
President Gemayel made an unexpected visit to Saida where he was warmly acclaimed. The next day, Islamist women in chador demonstrated in Saida and burnt a Lebanese flag. They also destroyed bars and cafZs, and chanted slogans against the legal authorities.
What the books addPrime Minister Rashid Karami travelled with Gemayel. Hanf records kidnappings of Christians and counter-kidnappings after several thousand Islamists from Beirut rallied in Sidon next day for an Islamic republic while the army stood aside.
A security inspector hijacked a Beirut-Paris MEA flight. A passenger was killed and 13 others were injured. The hijacker had wage claims.
What the books addA passenger died on the runway, flung there by the jets' blast, because the hijacker, Fisk writes, made the Larnaca plane take off with its doors open.
On 3 March hundreds of Israeli troops searched Maarakeh, east of Tyre, home of the resistance leader Khalil Jerardi. Hidden with his colleague Mohammed Saad, he met the press within hours; a bomb killed both next day (entry of 4 March).
A bomb attack against the Husseiniyeh in Maarakeh killed 11 persons, including two leaders of the Amal movement, and wounded 28 others.
What the books addOn 4 March 1985, a day after an Israeli raid, a bomb on the roof of the resistance office above Maarakeh's mosque killed Khalil Jerardi, nominally Amal but a Hezbollah supporter, and Mohammed Saad, an Amal commander in the south. French UN officers who examined it believed the departing Israelis had left it (Fisk's report, not an established finding).
The Lebanese Pound reached a new record, with over a 19 Pounds drop in value. The pound had lost half its value compared to the dollar since the beginning of the year.
What the books addSee the note on 4 February: Hanf's yearly table puts the pound at 16 to the dollar for 1985.
A mass killing took place in Bir El Abed. A car bomb killed 62 persons and wounded 200 others, including a large number of women, children and elderly persons.
What the books addSheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the target, escaped with his bodyguard Imad Mughniyeh. Fisk dates the car bomb to 9 March and writes of more than 80 dead, nearly all civilians, citing the Washington Post on CIA involvement. De Clerck and Malsagne give 80 dead and 256 wounded and cite confessions by local agents, traced by Hezbollah, that the CIA commissioned it with Mossad help and Saudi funds.
Thanks to Syria's intervention, opposition ministers Berri and Joumblatt met in Bickfaya with Presidents Gemayel and Karameh. The smoothing of the relations led to a promise of a cooling down on the Souk El Gharb front. During the meeting, the bombs were continuing to fall on Hazmieh and Achrafieh and kidnappings of innocent civilians were still taking place on various crossing roads in Beirut.
The Israelis attacked Zrariyeh claiming tens of victims and huge destructions. Many persons were also arrested.
What the books addA survivor told Fisk an Israeli officer at Zrariyeh shot a Lebanese soldier who had surrendered. Tanks ran over occupied cars; gunmen, women and old men died; and the departing soldiers painted 'This is the revenge of the Israeli army' on the square.
Art and memory
book Souha Taraf-Najib devoted a study to Zrariyé, the village attacked in March 1985: Zrariyé, village chiite du Liban-Sud (Cahiers du Cermoc no. 4, 1992).
Samir Geagea was expelled from the Kataeb on 11 March for refusing the government's early-March order to dismantle the Barbara roadblock, manned by his northern militiamen; its tolls had been the Lebanese Forces' main income since Quay 5 was returned.
The United States vetoed the adoption by the United Nations Security Council of a Lebanese resolution that condemns Israeli actions against civilians in South Lebanon.
The 'intifada' of Samir Geagea and Elie Hobeika takes over the Lebanese Forces.
Calling for an 'independent Christian decision' and an end to concessions to Syria, Samir Geagea, Elie Hobeika and Karim Pakradouni led a revolt within the Lebanese Forces against President Amin Gemayel and the Kataeb leadership. The rebels took the LF headquarters in Ashrafieh after its main barracks north of Beirut; the army had to keep them apart from Kataeb loyalists.
Art and memory
testimony Jocelyne Khoueiry, in the Kataeb women's unit since 1975, quit and went back to civilian life after Geagea's intifada of March 1985; she felt 'our cause had been betrayed'.
place Shellfire and snipers hit the Rizk Hospital in Ashrafieh in 1985, when East Beirut's militia factions fought each other.
British businessman Brian Levick is kidnapped in West Beirut.
On rue Australie five gunmen took Brian Levick, the Coral oil company's British general manager, out of his car; Terry Anderson was seized twelve and a half hours later.
The regional director of the Associated Press, Terry Anderson, was kidnapped in West Beirut. Many other US and British nationals had already been kidnapped. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for these acts.
What the books addTerry Anderson was the AP's Beirut bureau chief. He was seized near the Ain Mreisseh mosque and held for more than six years. Two Britons had been kidnapped in the two days before him; Islamic Jihad claimed all three on 17 March.
Art and memory
book Terry Anderson's memoir Den of Lions (1993) recounts his captivity; Fisk devotes a chapter, 'Wait for me', to his kidnapping.
Islamic Jihad claims the kidnapping of Terry Anderson and two Britons.
Islamic Jihad told Reuters by telephone that it held Terry Anderson, Brian Levick and Geoffrey Nash, accused foreigners in 'Islamic Beirut' of spying and warned the foreigners who remained.
