Lebanese war chronology

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September 29, 1985		The Beirut International Airport was bombed and some installations were destroyed.
September 30, 1985		Three diplomats from the Soviet embassy and the chancellery's doctor were kidnapped in West Beirut. One of them was killed later, while the three others were released on October 30. Twelve Western nationals remained held hostages by Islamist organizations.
October 12, 1985		The kidnappings continued in Beirut.
October 19, 1985		President Gemayel went to New York to plead the Lebanese cause at the UN. He affirmed that 'the internal conflict in Lebanon is resolved', and invited the United Nations to help the Lebanese resolve the external aspect of the war. President Gemayel emphasized the necessity of distinguishing the Lebanese issue from the Middle East issue. He met, among others, with De Cuellar and Shultz.
October 28, 1985		As part of the reconciliation efforts between the Lebanese Forces and Damascus, Syria released 31 Lebanese Forces militiamen.
October 28, 1985		Saida's Antiquities Service discovered interesting archeological vestiges in limited excavations in the region of Hlaliyeh.
November 10, 1985		Terry Waite, the envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in Beirut to negotiate with the Islamic Jihad the release of the four US hostages. He had a tough and lengthy mission that required a second visit to Beirut on December 20.
November 13, 1985		The Eastern regions went on strike to protest against the suicide truck killing attempt perpetrated against the leaders of the Lebanese Front gathered in the St Georges convent in Awkar. The assault caused 4 dead and 36 wounded, including Elie Karameh, Edouard Honein, and Fouad Ephrame Boustany who were slightly injured.
November 16, 1985		It is in front of 15,000 persons including 2,000 Lebanese gathered in the St Peter basilica in Rome that Sister Rafka Rayes, a maronite from Lebanon, was declared blessed by Pope John Paul II. Sister Rafka was born in 1832 in Hamlaya.
November 19, 1985		For the first time since 1982, a duel between Israeli and Syrian airplanes took place in the Lebanese sky. Two Syrian Migs were shot down. The Syrians decided after this incident to install Sam-2 ground-air missiles on the Syrian-Lebanese border.
November 20 to 24, 1985		Violent combats opposed Amal and the PSP in West Beirut. Five days of hell followed for the residents of this region. 65 persons were killed and 250 were wounded.
December 3, 1985		For the first time since the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, the Israeli Army carried out an important military operation outside the Security Zone. A base belonging to Ahmed Jibril's Popular Palestinian Liberation Front was destroyed in the Region of Rachaya El Wadi.
December 11, 1985		A new security plan was executed in West Beirut. The army and the Internal Security Forces were controlling the public order, with the help of the Amal-PSP military police.
December 28, 1985		The Lebanese Forces, the PSP and Amal signed an agreement in Damascus, putting an end to the Lebanese war. The year ended with some hope for the Lebanese, following the signature of the tripartite agreement, while the economy was agonizing and hundreds of Lebanese and foreign hostages were living in horrifying daily conditions.
January 1, 1986		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.
January 13, 1986		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.
January 14, 1986		The eleventh Gemayel-Assad summit was a total failure.
January 15, 1986		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.
January 16, 1986		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.
January 21, 1986		A car bomb exploded in Furn El Chebback. An entire street of over 100 meters was devastated, 30 persons were killed, and 132 others were wounded.
January 23, 1986		The Lebanese Pound registered a fast decline. A new record was broken when the Dollar was being exchanged for 24 Lebanese Pounds.
January 26, 1986		The Lebanese radical opposition called President Gemayel to resign.
February 1, 1986		A delegation from the Union of Independent Maronite Deputies visited Damascus in an effort to reestablish the dialogue between the Christians and Syria.
February 3, 1986		Death hit once again. A bomb hidden in a suitcase exploded in Jdeideh killing four persons and wounding 22 others.
February 12, 1986		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.
February 18, 1986		President Gemayel met French President Miterrand and Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. He also met King Hassan II of Morocco.
February 24, 1986		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.
March 4, 1986		Artillery duels were raging between the Eastern and Western sectors of the capital, killing tens of persons, and wounding hundreds.
March 5, 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.
March 9, 1986		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.
March 21, 1986		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.
March 26, 1986		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.
March 27, 1986		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.
March 29, 1986		The dollar jumped from 19 to 23 Lebanese Pounds.
April 4, 1986		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.
April 8, 1986		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.
April 9, 1986		A French teacher from the Collge Protestant Franais, 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.
April 10, 1986		There are no limits for barbarian crimes. A car bomb exploded in Saida killing three persons and wounding 35 others.
April 11, 1986		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.
April 17, 1986		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.