lebanese war
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1975/1990
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April 13, 1975sunday
A serious incident opposed the Phalange (Kataeb) Party to the Resistance in Ain El Remmaneh causing 31 deaths.
These people were on board of a bus bringing back from Tell El Zaatar members of Palestinian Organizations who had just participated in a Resistance meeting. Because of the incident, tension rose in the Palestinian camp and in many surrounding towns. Authorities and mediators were trying to calm the waters and ask the Phalange Party leader, Pierre Gemayel, to hand over those responsible of the incident to the Lebanese Justice.

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The day began with shootings near the church in Ain al-Rummaneh, where Pierre Gemayel was attending a consecration; his bodyguard Joseph Bou Assi was killed. In the early afternoon Kataeb militiamen fired on a bus returning to Tal al-Za'tar from a rally of the Arab Liberation Front. Most historians count 27 dead (Hanf, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne: 27 of 35 passengers); Traboulsi gives 21 and Ménargues 31. According to de Clerck and Malsagne the bus carried Palestinians and Lebanese in equal numbers, all men. Fighting spread that evening across the suburbs of Beirut.

July 13, 1976tuesday
William Hawi, commnander of the Kataeb military forces was shot and killed by a sniper whilst he was inspecting his forces on the edge of the Tel el Zaatar camp.

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Ménargues has William Hawi shot by a Palestinian sniper in June 1976, at the end of the Tal al-Za'tar siege; Traboulsi places it during the siege. Bashir Gemayel succeeded him as Kataeb militia chief.

May 13, 1977friday
An Antonov-12 air freighter belonging to the Polish company LOT crashed in the forest of Aramoun. The airplane that was returning from Warsaw carried a shipment of meat and seven crewmembers who perished in the accident.

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July 13, 1977wednesday
Dalida sang in Byblos and charmed the Lebanese.

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June 13, 1978tuesday
A dramatic event was reported in Zghorta. A chock commando killed Tony Frangieh, deputy and son of the President Sleiman Frangieh, his wife Vera and their daughter Jihane, at their home in Ehden. The murder of Tony Frangieh took place while the conflict between the Phalange Party and the Zghortiotes was at its peak.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 June 1978 \_on this day

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Historians date the Ehden killings to 13 June (de Clerck and Malsagne) or 14 June (Hanf). A unit of some 200 men (Traboulsi) led by Samir Geagea attacked the Frangieh residence; besides Tony Frangieh, his wife and their three-year-old daughter, about thirty relatives and supporters were killed. The Phalange presented the raid as retaliation for the killing of their local leader Jud al-Bayeh in early June; Bashir Gemayel denied ordering the killing of the family. The raid also turned on control of the Chekka cement works. Syrian troops then occupied Ehden and much of the north.

August 13, 1978sunday
A bomb destroyed an eight floor building where the offices of the Palestine Liberation Front were located. The explosion killed 150 persons.

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May 13, 1979sunday
Amine Gemayel, deputy of the Northern Metn and member of the Phalange Party's political bureau, escaped from an assassination attempt that nearly cost him his two children's life. A plastic explosive (20 kg of TNT) tied to a 122 mm bomb placed in a trunk of a tree, exploded at the time Amine Gemayel's car went by. He was injured in the face. This incident caused a general strike in the Eastern regions.

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August 13, 1979monday
The Iraqi ambassador was wounded during an attack in Jnah.

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February 13, 1980wednesday
The Phalangist deputy from Jezzine, Edmond Risk was kidnapped, causing a rising tension in the region.

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March 13, 1980thursday
Fights opposed Amal to the Fateh, killing seven persons in the Ouzaï-Aramoun region. Leaders of the National Movement started to mediate between the two parties to end the dispute.

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Hanf: early in 1980 Amal fought the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front in Beirut's suburbs while Fatah tried to mediate, as relations between Shi'is and Palestinians grew worse; the fighting later reached the south.

June 13, 1980friday
The European Community called upon all parties in her meeting in Venice, inviting them to end all actions that might harm Lebanon's independence and sovereignty.

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July 13, 1980sunday
A bomb exploded in a movie theater at Mazraa killing 5 persons and injuring 18.

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August 13, 1980wednesday
President Sarkis rejected, in front of Gaston Thor, the President of the Council of Ministers of the EEC, the settlement of the Palestinians in Lebanon as part of the global settlement of the Middle East problem.

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February 13, 1981friday
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.

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February 13, 1981friday
A Syrian-Israeli air duel took place in the sky of the Bekaa region.

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March 13, 1981friday
A Lebanese Army unit positioned in the Kantara locality following an agreement with the UNIFL commandant. On March 15, 50 soldiers deployed in the village of Chaqra. However, Saad Haddad was opposed to the reinforcement of the Army in the South.

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May 13, 1981wednesday
A car bomb exploded in Chyah killing 6 and injuring 32 in addition to important material damages.

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August 13, 1981thursday
The escalation of violence resumed in the capital while the country was entering a phase of political stagnation.

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February 13, 1982saturday
A car bomb exploded next to the Palestinian camp of Ain El Heloueh killing 6 persons and injuring 12 others.

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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.

June 13, 1982sunday
The Israeli troops attacked Baabda where they occupied the Seraglio and the governmental hospital.

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On 13 June Israeli forces reached Baabda and Yarze, seats of the presidency and the army command, and joined the Lebanese Forces' lines (Hanf, Ménargues); Fisk dates the arrival of Sharon and his forward troops at Baabda to just before midnight.

October 13, 1982wednesday
The Israelis interfered in Kfarmatta to end the violent conflict between the Phalange Party and the SPP..

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After the Israeli advance, Lebanese Forces militiamen set up checkpoints in the Chouf and Aley; clashes with Druze fighters followed and the Israelis often mediated (Hanf). De Clerck and Malsagne date the 'Mountain War' from summer 1982, the Lebanese Forces fighting first the SSNP's Druze and then the PSP.

January 13, 1983thursday
The sixth Lebanese-American-Israeli round of negotiations took place in Kyriet Shmona, Israel. Five points were put on the agenda: 1- Ending the state of war. 2- Reaching security arrangements. 3- Establishing a framework for mutual relations, including matters such as liaison, and end of propaganda... 4- Completing the withdrawal program: conditions for the Israeli withdrawal within the context of a withdrawal of all foreign forces. 5- Giving eventual guarantees

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Lebanese and Israeli delegates met in turn at Khalde, in a repaired beach hotel, and at Kiryat Shmona. De Clerck and Malsagne count 37 meetings over 138 days, from December 1982 to May 1983.

March 13, 1983sunday
The negotiations that were taking place in Washington, in view of an Israeli troops withdrawal from Lebanon, seemed to have reached some progress. Back to Lebanon, an attack against an Israeli patrol in Jiyeh provoked the death of three soldiers.

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April 13, 1983wednesday
General Moussa Kanaan was appointed new CEO of Télé-Liban.

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April 13, 1983wednesday
The French soldiers of the Multinational Force dug out a 1000 kilos bomb dropped by an Israeli airplane during the summer of 1982 and buried next to a building. 15000 persons were evacuated from their homes.

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August 13, 1984monday
The exchange rate of the dollar reached 6.20 LP.
The rise of the American dollar continued until the end of the year. The depreciation of the Lebanese Pound was due to political as well as economic difficulties in the country. Besides, the government was profoundly divided and unable to meet.

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De Clerck and Malsagne give 8.7 pounds to the dollar for 1984 (no month stated) and date the start of the pound's collapse to the last quarter of 1984 (30% devaluation that year). Picard: prices rose eightfold from summer 1984 to summer 1987.

December 13, 1984thursday
The Israelis launched a wide repression operation in South Lebanon. 3,000 men searched the region for members of the Resistance and arrested several of them.

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Fisk counts a hundred attacks on Israeli forces in December 1984, when the Sayeret Matkal commandos searched villages east of Tyre on foot and Shin Bet men beat youths each time. De Clerck and Malsagne date the complete sealing-off of the Israeli-held zone from the rest of Lebanon to autumn 1984.

November 13, 1985wednesday
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.

\_this day in full the books also date it 28 December 1985 \_on this day

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Hobeika and President Gemayel escaped injury only because they were not in their cars when these were attacked; Chamoun, Elie Karami and other Lebanese Front leaders were hurt. Hanf places these attempts in a series that, in his view, hardened the confrontation over the Damascus agreement.

January 13, 1986monday
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.

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June 13, 1986friday
The Muslim leaders agreed with Damascus upon the replacement of militias by regular Lebanese forces. Karameh who was back from Damascus presented the resignation of his government.

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Hanf records no resignation by Karami in 1986. He says Karami resisted calls to resign that autumn and resigned only on 4 May 1987.

December 13, 1986saturday
The Camps Car continued. After ten hours of violent combats, the Chatila camp was 90% destroyed and tens of deaths were reported.

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Typhoid broke out in besieged Chatila during this third camps war.

January 13, 1987tuesday
The kidnapping, in West Beirut, of Roger Auque, a French journalist, raised the number of French nationals who disappeared in Lebanon to 18.

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Counts differ: Hanf, after Abou Rjaily and Labaki (figures to late 1987), counts about fifty foreigners kidnapped in Lebanon, including twenty Americans and nine Frenchmen. The figure of 18 French nationals may include people who were not kidnapped; its basis is not known.

October 13, 1987tuesday
While the price of bread is following the rising of the price of fuel, its price going up to 50 LBP per bread bag, handicaps on crutches and in wheelchairs go from Akkar to Beirut to express their wish to live in peace.

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Hanf and de Clerck and Malsagne mention an undated peace march by war-disabled people, some on crutches or in wheelchairs: Tripoli to Beirut in Hanf, Halba to Tyre in de Clerck and Malsagne. Whether this is the October 1987 march is not established.

September 13, 1988tuesday
Fire exchanges between units of the Lebanese army and the Lebanese Forces in Sin-el-Fil and Mkalles killed one militiaman and injured another one.

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December 13, 1988tuesday
An agreement takes place between the employers and the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers. The minimum wage is thus increased to 25,000 LBP.

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October 13, 1990saturday
A quick operation following a bombardment by the Syrian aviation permitted to the Lebanese army loyal to the Hoss government to take control of the Baabda palace and Yarze. General Aoun capitulated to avoid bloody fights and took refuge at the French embassy. Fights, according to some estimates, cause 700 deaths.

\_this day in full the books also date it 12 October 1990 \_on this day

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At about 7 a.m. on 13 October 1990 Syrian aircraft started bombing Baabda, and Syrian and Lebanese armour moved in from West Beirut and the mountains. Some two and a half hours later Aoun went to the French embassy; with Ambassador René Ala mediating, and at Hrawi's demand, he told his troops over the radio to obey General Lahoud. Within about eight hours the fighting had ended. Tolls vary: over 200 dead in a single morning (de Clerck and Malsagne); some 400 Syrian soldiers dead (Hanf); 160 Syrian soldiers dead at Dahr el-Wahash alone, by Syrian figures (Fisk); and an initial government figure of 36 dead (Fisk). Picard's chronology places the Syrian attack on 12 October.

December 13, 1990thursday
After a small rise of the Lebanese Pound, the dollar catches up and reaches 800 LBP.

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