Lebanese war chronology

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October 5, 1980		While the war was raging between Iraq and Iran, assaults continued against several embassies in Beirut. After the US, the Iraqi, and the Iranian chancelleries, a load of dynamite was thrown on the Saudi embassy in Bliss Street at Ras-Beirut.
October 8, 1980		Terrorist actions were on the rise. Explosions ravaged the 'Alia' offices and the apartment of the Swiss ambassador.
October 10, 1980		A rocket was fired on the US embassy, but the projectile fell on an adjacent building without making any victim.
October 11, 1980		Dalida made a triumph at the Summerland.
October 17, 1980		Israel perpetrated a new aggression against a Fedayeen base in the central area of South Lebanon. At the same time, confrontations between the Phalange Party and the NLP were reported in Zahle. A car bomb exploded in the airport of the BIA, injuring 6 persons.
October 22, 1980		Chafic Wazzan was asked to form a new government, while Israel launched an air strike againt Damour. The aerial Traffic at the Beirut International Airport was interrupted.
October 23, 1980		A dialog government was formed. The new team included 22 Ministers of which 5 were State Ministers. Chafic Wazzan: Prime Minister, Minister of Interior Fouad Boutros: Vice-President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Joseph Skaff: Minister of Defense Nazih Bizri: Minister of Health Khatchig Babikian: Minister of Health Rene Moawad : Minister of National Education and Fine Arts Khaled Joumblatt: Minister of Economy and Commerce Joseph Aboukhater: Minister of State Michel Murr: Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Anouar Sabbah: Minister of Hydraulic and Electric Resources Ali El Khalil: Minister of Finance Mahmoud Ammar: Minister of State Elias Hraoui: Minister of Public Works and Transports Mounir Aboufadel: Minister of State Mohammed Youssef Beydoun: Minister of Industry and Oil Cesar Nasr : Minister of State Sami Younes: Minister of State Selim Jahel : Minister of Housing and Cooperatives Abdel Rahman Labban: Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Mostapha Dernayka: Minister of Agriculture Marwan Hamade : Minister of Tourism
October 27, 1980		The Phalange Party and the NLP fought in Ain el Remmaneh. Camille Chamoun threatened to withdraw from the Lebanese Front.
October 31, 1980		The Lebanese army evacuated Ain el Remmaneh and gathered on the Damascus road and on major Streets.
November 1, 1980		The Safir press was dynamited in Hamra. Ain el Remmaneh recovered its calm. The cease-fire concluded between the army and the Lebanese Forces was fully respected. Nevertheless, a profound discomfort persisted in the country at higher levels because the tension persisted, and the Army lost some of its credibility due to its withdrawal.
November 1, 1980		Over 2000 persons watched the Marlboro Rally Mountain 1980.
November 5, 1980		After Bechir Obeid and Kamal Kheir Beik, two leaders from the Social National Syrian Party, were killed in West Beirut, as well as a civilian called Mounir Fatha, bloody confrontations opposed the Mourabitoun to the SNSP.
November 7, 1980		An agreement was reached between Camille Chamoun and Pierre Gemayel to unify the Lebanese Forces.
November 9, 1980		Three young men from Hammana were killed in awful conditions. Their bodies were found in a well in the Chouf.
November 10, 1980		A double assault spread terror in Achrafieh. Two car bombs stuffed with 140 kg of TNT exploded and killed 10 persons and injured 70 others. The first explosion occurred at a busy hour, when school busses were taking students back home, in one of Achrafieh’s streets. The second car blew up twenty minutes later, on Elias Baaklini street, next to the Shell gas station. The second explosion was aiming to kill those who would rush on the street after the first one went off.
November 17, 1980		Prime Minister, Chafic Wazzan announced that sanctions will be taken against militaries and officers responsible for the Army's passive attitude during the Ain el Remmaneh incidents.
November 23, 1980		The short movie made by the Lebanese Randa Chahal, Autrefois, won the special prize of the Seventh Carthage Cinematographic Days.
December 3, 1980		The government held its first meeting on October 25. Despite the opposition of the Amal movement, the four Shiite ministers attended the meeting.
December 3, 1980		A murderous Israeli raid was perpetrated between Damour and Saadyat. A Lebanese memorandum presented to the UN reported 15 deaths and 13 injuries.
December 21, 1980		The situation worsened in Zahleh under heavy bombardments. These confrontations between Zahliotes and soldiers from the Arab Strike Force continued until December 26 when a cease-fire eased the tension.
December 31, 1980		A Syrian-Israeli air fight took place in the Lebanese sky. Damascus admited that its two Migs were hit and that two Israeli airplanes were shot down. Tel-Aviv denied this information.
January 3, 1981		After its withdrawal from Ain El Remmaneh on October 31, 1980 the Army repositioned on the main road axes in the region.
January 5, 1981		Militiamen led by the dissident officer Saad Haddad bombarded the locality of Hasbaya, causing important damages.
January 5, 1981		Michel Rocard, member of the French Socialist Party's national secretariat met with President Elias Sarkis, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Chafic Wazzan, as well as with the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat.
January 8, 1981		The Arab Strike Force withdrew from Zahleh.
January 9, 1981		A new phase of the war started in Lebanon: the war of televisions. The 'Lebanese Forces' wanted to broadcast under the name 'Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation' and the Mourabitun seemed to be willing to give them hard time. As a result, they both emitted on the same channel and thus jammed the image.
January 18, 1981		Jean Francois Revel, the director of the French weekly magazine L'Express, left Beirut after a 48-hour visit. He declared before his departure: 'The actual drama in Lebanon is the result of the convergence of external factors rather than an internal crisis'.
January 19, 1981		Three blue helmets of the UNIFL were assassinated East of Tyr.
January 21, 1981		20,000 displaced persons from Damour participated in a peaceful walk towards the presidential palace to claim their return home.
January 23, 1981		Combats were raging between militiamen from the Amal movement and the Popular Palestinian Liberation Front (PPLF) in Chyah.
January 28, 1981		President Elias Sarkis delivered a speech at the Third Islamic States Summit in Taef, where he headed the Lebanese delegation. He declared: 'Lebanon cannot bear anymore the Palestinian armed presence on its land'.
January 29, 1981		The Israeli aviation bombarded Saida and Nabatyeh for two days. An artillery duel opposed the 'Common Forces' to the militiamen of Saad Haddad. These Israeli bombardments killed 14 and injured 30 others.
January 31, 1981		A violent storm hit Lebanon. 50 cars were totally stuck between Sofar and Mdeirej and their occupants spent the night in their vehicles. The Army was able to rescue 200 persons in the mountain.
February 4, 1981		Four Lebanese militaries were killed in a helicopter accident. The Aircraft crashed on the hills of Sannine.
February 13, 1981		The kidnapping on February 6 in Beirut of the chargé d'affaires of Jordan in Lebanon, remained at the center of preoccupation of the country's leaders. They adopted a series of security measures for the protection of embassies.
February 13, 1981		A Syrian-Israeli air duel took place in the sky of the Bekaa region.
February 14, 1981		Snipers paralyzed the circulation in Sodeco, the main road connecting East and West Beirut.
February 18, 1981		The Council of Ministers centered part of its deliberations to the Sodeco region that was catching fire on a daily basis. Chafic Wazzan pledged to cease the fire.
February 19, 1981		His Beatitude Bishop Maximos V Hakim escaped a killing attempt on the road of Bhamdoun. The aggressors' identity was unknown.
February 24, 1981		Shells from different calibers fell on the Eastern residential neighborhoods, spreading destruction, fires, and terror. The population wondered why these blind bombardments were perpetrated and until when would they continue.