lebanese war
chronology
1975/1990
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81 news for the 10th, 20th of every month

with the books

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May 20, 1975tuesday
Five people were killed and 24 were wounded in Dekwaneh
Violent confrontations opposed Palestinians from the Tell El Zaatar camp and Phalange Party members. Businesses were closed in protest against the lack of security.

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September 10, 1975wednesday
General Said, 52 years old, replaced General Ghanem at the head of the army.

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\_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.

November 10, 1975monday
An emissary of Pope Paul VI arrived to Beirut holding a papal message
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.

January 20, 1976tuesday
Damour massacre
Avenging the massacre of Karantina by Christian forces 2 days before, Palestinians and leftist Muslims attacked the Christian city of Damour, located about 20 kilometers south of Beirut, and murdered 350 civilians.

\_this day in full the books also date it 9 January 1976, 16 January 1976, 19 January 1976, 22 January 1976, 24 January 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

The siege of Damour had begun on 9 January, before the fall of Karantina; the main massacre began on 20 January (Hanf, Ménargues, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne; Traboulsi gives 22 or 24 January). Jiyeh fell the same day. The attackers were mainly PLA, Saiqa and Fatah units, with Lebanese leftist parties. Estimates of the dead range from about 150 bodies found plus 200 missing (Fisk) and 300-584 (de Clerck and Malsagne) to about 900 (Ménargues); some 5,000 people fled by land and sea.

November 20, 1976saturday
The third phase of the peace plan started. 250 tanks and 11 battalions entered Zghorta, Ehden, Tripoli and the Koura. In South Lebanon, the 'Green Helmets' took position in Saïda, and Zahrani. The Arab Dissuasion Force was not able to enter Tyr, Nabatyeh, Marjeyoun, and Masnaa because of the Israeli opposition to any Arab military presence beyond its famous 'red line'.

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\_what the books add

Israel, Hanf notes, would accept no Arab troops south of the 'red line', Syrian ones least of all. When a Syrian unit entered Nabatiyeh in January 1977, an Israeli protest got it withdrawn and the Palestinians kept the town.

March 10, 1977thursday
The cost of living had substantially increased in Lebanon. Meat, sugar, cheese, oil and chicken tripled since before 1975. Fares varied from a region to another due to the lack of control.

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September 20, 1977tuesday
While bombardments and fights were taking place along the border since September 16, Radio Israel announced that Israel had sent a warning to Syria, indicating that no Syrian troop movement will be tolerated in Southern Lebanon.

\_this day in full the books also date it 21 September 1977 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Robert Fisk, who reported from the area, saw Israeli tanks on Lebanese soil near Ibl al-Saqi and Israeli shelling of Christian villages such as Rachaya al-Fukhar, where Palestinian guerrillas had dug in.

January 10, 1978tuesday
Within 3 weeks, four explosive charges were placed next to Saeb Salam's home.

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January 20, 1978friday
A new armament and US equipment shipment sent to the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces arrived at the Port of Beirut. It included a hundred armored vehicles and cistern trucks.

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August 10, 1978thursday
While the bombardment of Acharafieh continued, the Arab Strike Force evacuated twelve positions in this district. Christian parties requested the evacuation of the Port and the Karantina and that Saudis and Sudanese soldiers replace the Syrian soldiers.

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\_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.

September 10, 1978sunday
Imam Moussa Sadr, a Shiite leader disappeared while visiting Libya. Libyans asserted that he left Tripoli for Rome. Sadr never arrived to Rome, and the Lebanese were worried.

\_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.

December 20, 1978wednesday
Following a governmental reshuffling, General Victor Khoury became Minister of Defense, replacing Fouad Boutros.

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March 20, 1979tuesday
A car bomb containing explosives operated by remote control, parked next to the military council of the Phalange Party was found. This attack aimed at the chief of the Lebanese Forces, Bechir Gemayel.

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April 10, 1979tuesday
Israel launched a double air strike against military targets in Tyr and Damour. 3 people dead and 15 injured were reported. President Hoss began an Arab tour trying to obtain the renewal of the mandate of the Arabic Strike Force.

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July 10, 1979tuesday
An artillery duel opposed the Arab Strike Force to the Lebanese Forces in Hadeth.

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August 20, 1979monday
A car bomb exploded prematurely in Achrafieh killing the two occupants of the vehicle. A disaster had just been avoided.

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September 20, 1979thursday
Numerous typhoid cases were reported in Lebanon but there hasn't been any epidemic outbreak in the country.

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April 10, 1980thursday
Israelis settled in the UNIFL zone, but withdrew progressively in the following days. Beirut called upon the Security Council to convene urgently.

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\_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.

May 20, 1980tuesday
In a verbal message transmitted through the US ambassador John Gunther Dean, President Elias Sarkis urged the US President Carter to stop Lebanon's agony.

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July 20, 1980sunday
Takieddine Solh was asked, by the President of the Republic, to form a new Government of National Union.

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\_what the books add

In Ménargues's account Damascus rejected Takieddine Solh, finding him too lukewarm about Lebanese–Syrian friendship, and offered three names instead, Selim Hoss's among them.

October 10, 1980friday
A rocket was fired on the US embassy, but the projectile fell on an adjacent building without making any victim.

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November 10, 1980monday
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.

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\_what the books add

Ménargues counts 10 dead and 62 wounded from two car bombs in Achrafieh, Bashir Gemayel's power base.

March 10, 1981tuesday
The convoy of the United States ambassador in Lebanon skimmed automatic arm shots in the port's sector.

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March 20, 1981friday
The United Nations Security Council condemned Saad Haddad without mentioning Israel.

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April 10, 1981friday
During his meeting in Strasbourg, the European Parliament called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon, except for the UNIFL.

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April 10, 1981friday
Israel bombarded Delhamiye and Arab Salim killing 16 persons.

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April 20, 1981monday
The situation was worsening in Lebanon. Violence unleashed in the South where artillery duels and air raids on Nabatyeh and Saida killed 16 and injured 33. Sporadic bombardments shred the silence in Zahleh. East Beirut was violently shelled and bombings spread to Nahr El Kalb causing five deaths and 32 wounded.

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July 10, 1981friday
In retaliation to an air raid launched by Israel in Southern Lebanon, the Palestinians bombarded Kyriat Shmona injuring 14 Israelis.

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\_what the books add

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.

September 20, 1981sunday
A bomb inside a theatre in Mazraa killed 4 and injured 27.

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November 20, 1981friday
Habib was expected to undertake a new mission in order to prevent a new round of hostilities in Lebanon.

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December 10, 1981thursday
Terrorism stroke in Tripoli where an attack caused 12 dead and 75 injured.

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March 10, 1982wednesday
In his new mission to prevent the outbreak of war on the Lebanese-Israeli borderline, Habib gave insurances but no guarantees. At the same time, two car bombs exploded in Zouk and Maameltein.

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\_what the books add

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.

April 10, 1982saturday
The cease-fire in the South was fragile. Lebanon appealed to Washington, to the Security Council, and to the Arab League to stabilize the situation.

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April 20, 1982tuesday
A special envoy of the quai d'Orsay arrived to Lebanon to appease the French.

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June 10, 1982thursday
The Lebanese Army deployed in West Beirut.

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June 20, 1982sunday
A Public Salvation Committee was constituted. It included: Bechjr Gemayel, Walid Joumblatt, Nabih Berry, Nasri Maalouf, Chafic Wazzan, and Fouad Boutros. Walid Joumblatt resigned from office a few days later.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 June 1982, 22 June 1982 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Ménargues and Fisk date the decision to form the committee to 14 June; Traboulsi has it convening on 20 June. Philip Habib attended its sessions of 22 and 23 June. Its agenda, Traboulsi notes, dealt with the PLO's withdrawal, not the Israeli occupation; Jumblatt quit the committee and the cabinet rather than 'deal the final blow to the Palestinians', and Berri stopped taking part.

July 10, 1982saturday
Philip Habib suggested that the French troops evacuate the Fedayin.
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

September 10, 1982friday
The Marines left Beirut after having accomplished their mission.

\_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.

October 20, 1982wednesday
Amine Gemayel met with French President Franois Mitterand.

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November 20, 1982saturday
The Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party militiamen started a merciless war in the cazas of Aley and the Chouf.

\_this day in full the books also date it 8 November 1982, 23 November 1982 \_on this day

\_what the books add

On 8 November 1982 PSP men attacked a Christian funeral in Kfar Nabrakh, a mixed Chouf village, killing eleven, in reaction to a Lebanese Forces checkpoint set up nearby. Some twenty houses were burned and nine villagers abducted; their bodies were found in a well on 23 November. De Clerck and Malsagne call it the Mountain War's first massacre.

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