111101 entry from the books the books disagree: each version, with the date it gives
1986
From the books
Hobeika regroups in Zahle under Syrian protection.
With Syrian help, Hobeika, back via Damascus from a brief exile in France, gathered his supporters in the Bekaa and West Beirut. Syria based him and several hundred men in Zahle, as one of its Christian clients (Picard).
The PLO and the Christian camp become tacit allies against Syria and Amal.
Gemayel renewed travel documents for 70,000 Palestinians, and PLO weapons and fighters reached the Beirut and southern camps with Lebanese Forces help.
The trade unions lead demonstrations against the war.
The CGTL labour confederation, Christian and Muslim alike, called nationwide strikes against the war, the militias and the fall in living standards, and demanded an economic rescue plan.
In 1986 the pound lost more than half its value against the dollar and prices roughly doubled or more; by the end of the year the minimum wage bought 13 per cent of what it did in 1974.
Abou Rjaily and Labaki, quoted by Hanf, count 2,668 dead and 7,237 wounded for 1986. A quarter of that year's dead fell in the camps war and another quarter in clashes between militias of the same confessional bloc.
Syria's allies boycott President Gemayel; the cabinet stops meeting.
Jumblatt, Berri, Prime Minister Karami and Selim al-Hoss refused to attend cabinet sessions chaired by Gemayel, whom Syria and its Lebanese allies boycotted after the Tripartite Agreement collapsed; the cabinet went months without meeting.
It is a bad beginning of the year for the Lebanese Forces. A conflict emerged within the party, causing exchanges of rockets and gunshots in Zalka and Nahr El Mott. Ten persons were killed or wounded. The signature by Elie Hobeika of the tripartite agreement in Damascus, triggered the fight.
What the books addHanf says that once the Tripartite Agreement had been signed, on 28 December 1985, Hobeika turned Lebanese Forces units against militias loyal to President Gemayel and the Kataeb.
13 hours of combats and military operations opposed the Phalangists, followers of the President of the Republic, to Elie Hobeika and his men. The Army intervened to separate the belligerents.
In eight hours of violent fights, 100 persons were killed, and the chief of staff of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, evinced Elie Hobeika sending him into exile.
What the books addHistorians date Geagea's takeover to 15 January 1986 (de Clerck and Malsagne; Picard's chronology dates Gemayel's rejection of the accord to the same day). Traboulsi's narrative gives 12 March 1986 instead. De Clerck and Malsagne put the dead at about 800, far above the 100 given here. Hobeika was flown out by army helicopter after an army mediation backed by the patriarch, was briefly exiled in France, then settled in Zahle under Syrian protection.
Confrontations started on the Northern Metn front. The shells kept falling intermittently during several months on Bickfaya, the Metn and the Kesrouan. The population in these regions was living in the fear of car bombs and blind bombardments.
What the books addHanf dates the main offensive, by SSNP fighters with Syrian support toward Bikfaya (at Douar and on the Baskinta-Bikfaya road), to the second half of February; it was stopped by the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese radical opposition called President Gemayel to resign.
What the books addHanf writes that Prime Minister Karami joined Jumblatt and Berri in boycotting cabinet sessions chaired by Gemayel, whose resignation the two had demanded after the Tripartite Agreement failed.
Syrian-backed attacks on the Metn are stopped by the Lebanese army.
Late in February 1986 the army stopped two Syrian-backed SSNP attacks towards Bikfaya, at Douar and on the Baskinta road. A Syrian push on the northern edge of the Christian region failed too. Earlier that month Syrian guns had shelled East Beirut irregularly.
A delegation from the Union of Independent Maronite Deputies visited Damascus in an effort to reestablish the dialogue between the Christians and Syria.
A bomb exploded in Ain El Remmaneh next to the entrance of a building where a Phalange Party office was located. Two persons lost their lives and 17 others were injured.
Islamists killed a communist leader, Souheil Tawileh, in Mazraa. Four days earlier, another communist leader, Khalil Nous, was assassinated. Meanwhile, terrorist-killing attempts continued in the Eastern regions. A car bomb exploded on the Salomeh intersection, causing 4 dead and 16 injured.
What the books addPicard places the wave of killings of Communist and pro-Iraqi Baath leaders in January 1986.
The Islamic Jihad announced the execution of Michel Seurat. The French sociologist was kidnapped on the 22nd of May at the same time as the journalist Jean-Paul Kauffmann.
What the books addSeurat and Kauffmann were taken on the airport road on 22 May 1985. Fisk says Seurat died of cancer in captivity, his kidnappers claiming an 'execution' with a photograph of the body. Imad Mughniyeh is suspected of a direct role (Aurélie Daher, in Confluences); Hezbollah's leaders always denied it.
Art and memory
book Historians of the war still rely on Michel Seurat's study of Tripoli's Bab al-Tebbaneh district.
The black series continued. Terrorism hit this time Jeetaoui where a car bomb killed 3 persons and wounded 40 others.
Four French journalists from Antenne 2 were kidnapped in Bir El Abed.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date the kidnapping of the Antenne 2 crew to 8 March 1986. It was claimed by the "Revolutionary Justice Organisation".
A sad gift for mother's day in the mountain: shells fell on 20 villages in the Metn and the Kesrouan. Violent combats were reported in the mountain, killing 3 and injuring 21 persons on this 'usual' day.
A car stuffed with explosives and inflammable material exploded in Achrafieh, while a timing bomb ravaged a Phalangist office in Tahouita. Together, the two explosions killed 10 persons and wounded 80 others. The bombardment of the Eastern regions continued in the meantime.
After the Fatah claimed responsibility for the Katioucha shots on Kiryat Shmona, the Israeli aviation attacked the camps of Mieh Mieh and Ain El Heloueh. Ten persons were killed and 30 others were wounded.
The 45 French observers in charge of observing the dividing lines in Beirut and in the Mountain, left Lebanon. Their departure was probably due to political changes in France.
What the books addHanf cites the observers' heavy casualties and a ceasefire nobody respected, which left them nothing to do.
Suddenly, horror hit the heart of Jounieh. A car bomb exploded killing 11 persons and wounding 89 others, spreading an indescribable panic and ravaging four residential buildings.
A French teacher from the Collge Protestant Franais, Michel Brian, was kidnapped in Hamra, thus increasing the number of French nationals held hostages in Lebanon to 9.
Mgr Achille Silvestrini, the special envoy of Pope John Paul II, arrived in Lebanon to meet Lebanese and Syrian leaders, in an effort to end the crisis in the country. He left on April 14 after having partially failed in his mission.
What the books addDe Clerck and Malsagne date Mgr Silvestrini's mission to March 1986 and consider that it overreached, showing the limits of Vatican influence.
The French teacher, Michel Brian, kidnapped on April 7, was released in the Bekaa. Another Irish teacher, Brian Kenaan was kidnapped in West Beirut. To protest against the kidnapping of foreign professors, schools and universities in West Beirut went on strike on April 14.
Art and memory
book Anne Maguire's For Brian's Sake tells how Brian Keenan's sisters campaigned for his release.
The British teachers John Leigh Douglas and Philip Ralph Patfield, kidnapped on the 28th of March 1986, were executed and their bodies were thrown on the Roueissat-Sofar road. A cameraman, John McCarthy, was kidnapped on the Beirut International Airport road. An extremist organization announced the hanging of Alec Colett, a British journalist who was working at the UNRWA. The dead body of Peter Kilburn, librarian at the AUB, who was kidnapped on the 3rd of December 1984, was also found. Furthermore, the British embassy in Zokak EL Blatt was partially destroyed and burned by rocket shots.
What the books addFisk: Libyan agents in Beirut had bought Kilburn and both British teachers from freelance kidnappers; the deaths were reported the night of the US raid on Libya.
Art and memory
book John McCarthy and Brian Keenan, held together in Beirut, later wrote Between Extremes together, about a journey they had planned while in captivity; it is listed in 111101's References.
The Maronite Church had a new Patriarch in the person of Mgr Nasrallah Sfeir. A triple task was waiting for him. He had to reinstate the authority of the church, clean up the inter-religious relations, and reconcile the executive power with Syria.
What the books addHanf dates Sfeir's election to April 1986 and notes that the Lebanese Forces had lobbied for a more hard-line churchman.
A serious outburst of violence plunged Beirut and its surroundings back into the anguish of blind bombardments. 4 persons were killed and 53 were injured.
