77 news for the 10th, 12th of every month
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\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf: Franjieh accepted Karami's condition for sending the army between Tripoli and Zgharta, Ghanem's removal; his replacement, Hanna Said, was a 'politically uncontentious' colonel.
Cardinal Bertoli called all leaders to start working for the restoration of peace.
\_this day in full the books also date it 9 November 1975 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Cardinal Paolo Bertoli's mission lasted from 9 to 14 November 1975 (de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology). Like the French envoy Couve de Murville, he backed a limited revision of the National Pact.
After a siege that lasted 52 days, the Tell El Zaatar Palestinian camp fell in the hands of the Lebanese Forces as a result of an ultimate assault launched at dawn. It was in total confusion that the 12000 camp residents were evacuated. In retaliation, kidnappings were reported in West Beirut. 2000 people died in fighting during the entire siege, and 4000 were wounded. The surviving cilvilians were settled by The PLO in other camps and in Damour.
\_this day in full the books also date it 4 January 1976, 13 August 1976 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Tal al-Za'tar fell on 12 August 1976 (13 August in Ménargues) after more than 70 assaults. Ménargues and Hanf count a siege of 52-53 days from the final offensive; de Clerck and Malsagne and Traboulsi count six months from the January blockade. An ICRC report cited by de Clerck and Malsagne puts the dead at about 2,500 residents and defenders and up to 800 attackers; many died trying to escape. The Tigers and the Guardians of the Cedar led the last assault, reportedly with Syrian and Israeli officers present. The camp was bulldozed and never rebuilt.
\_this day in full the books also date it 18 October 1976 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Under the Riyadh decisions of October 1976 all parties were to give up heavy weapons to the Arab Deterrent Force; the Hoss government set a 5 December 1976 deadline (Traboulsi). Fisk reports the militias did not hand them in; Hanf, that the Palestinians moved most of theirs south of the 'red line'.
\_this day in full the books also date it 11 May 1978 \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne record that Frangieh had quit the Lebanese Front the day before over its ties with Israel. The reconciliation, Hanf notes, made the north a pro-Syrian bloc.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Avoiding the risk of hitting their own men, and leaving positions hard to hold, were the main aims of the Syrian pull-back in Hanf's reading: a tactical move.
\_this day in full the books also date it 25 August 1978, 13 September 1978 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Musa al-Sadr travelled to Libya on 25 August (de Clerck and Malsagne) at the invitation of the Libyan government (Ménargues) and was never seen again; Hanf dates the disappearance to September. Beirut papers speculated about the Shah's secret police or Libyan intelligence. Fisk writes that he was almost certainly killed in Libya. The loss mobilised the Shi'a and later strengthened Amal.
\_this day in full the books also date it 18 April 1979 \_on this day
\_this day in full the books also date it 20 November 1979 \_on this day
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Fisk: violating the UN's agreements with Israel, Haddad's militia set up positions inside the UNIFIL zone in spring 1980, beside At-Tiri, near Beit Yahoun and at ruined Rashaf, where it parked a Sherman tank reached by a road built with Israeli help.
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\_what the books add
Fisk: in the April 1980 fighting at At-Tiri, Haddad's gunmen killed Private Stephen Griffin of the Irish UNIFIL battalion and UN troops killed a militiaman, whose death two other Irish soldiers later paid for. The militia also held the coastal strip between the French unit and Naqoura and shot at helicopters.
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Ménargues counts 10 dead and 62 wounded from two car bombs in Achrafieh, Bashir Gemayel's power base.
\_this day in full the books also date it 10 April 1981 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Ménargues writes that Syrian special forces, landed by helicopter at dawn on 10 April, soon took the heights of Qalaat Aramta and Deir Charfé around Zahleh, leaving its defenders almost encircled.
\_this day in full the books also date it 14 May 1981 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Ménargues's run of drone losses begins on 14 May, when a Syrian SAM-6 downed an Israeli reconnaissance drone over the Bekaa; more were lost on 19, 22 (two) and 25 May.
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Ménargues counts 6 dead and 20 wounded in the two raids, on Democratic Front sites at Habbouch (near Nabatiyeh) and Ghaziyeh (near Sidon). Hanf dates the Israel–PLO 'Fourteen Day War' from them.
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For Hanf, early 1982 showed Muslim opinion shifting: Beirut's old leaders and clergy closed ranks against the National Movement's district-council elections and outnumbered it on the streets in March.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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De Clerck and Malsagne, drawing on Ronen Bergman, attribute to Ariel Sharon a series of car bombings from October 1981, carried out under the name 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners' and aimed chiefly at Palestinians, to provoke retaliation that could justify an invasion. They list no individual attacks, so this bombing cannot be matched to their account.
Despite the approval of this formula by Beirut, Paris, and the PLO, an obstacle subsisted: the destination country of the Palestinian fighters.
\_this day in full the books also date it 7 July 1982 \_on this day
\_this day in full the books also date it 11 September 1982 \_on this day
\_what the books add
The Marines pulled out on 10 September, a week or more before their mandate expired; the Italians left on 11 September and the French on 12–13 September (Ménargues, Hanf). Their last landing craft bore a 'Mission accomplished' banner. The Sabra and Chatila massacre began a few days after the last French troops left.
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