lebanese war
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1975/1990
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76 news for the 16th, 25th of every month

with the books

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May 16, 1975friday
The Solh Cabinet resigned due to pressures against its members.

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In a heated sitting of parliament Rashid al-Solh resigned, blaming the Kataeb for the fighting. His refusal to deploy the army had led the Kataeb ministers to leave the cabinet, and other Christian ministers had followed them.

October 25, 1975saturday
50 000 Lebanese demonstrated against violence in Lebanon, in response to the call launched by Cherif Akhaoui, the radio journalist famous for his security bulletins.

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Haugbolle notes widespread protests on National Day in November 1975; Hanf places the war's first demonstration in that month, when gunmen held fire until tens of thousands from East and West Beirut, summoned by television announcer Sharif Akhawi, had gone home.

November 16, 1975sunday
President Sleiman Frangieh and Prime Minister Rachid Karameh studied the political reform and the secularization of public service.
The Prime Minister presented a plan to redress the economy and curb unemployment. He claimed religious equity in the parliamentary representation and a complete secularization of public service. The government decided to create a shock squad in charge of reestablishing security in the country.

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January 16, 1976friday
For the first time since the beginning of the war, the Lebanese aviation intervened against Palestinian and progressive activists settlements in the Khaldeh and Aramoun regions. Thirty women and children were killed at the entry of Damour.
The airport was closed after three shells hit the runways.

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De Clerck and Malsagne record that the besiegers executed some twenty Damour residents on this day, a first massacre a week after the siege began on 9 January. Whether these are the deaths reported 'at the entry of Damour' is not established.

May 16, 1976sunday
The Lebanese press was in mourning. A sniper's bullet killed Edouard Saab, the chief editor of L'Orient-Le-Jour.

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De Clerck and Malsagne note that Edouard Saab was Le Monde's correspondent too; a sniper shot him dead while he crossed the demarcation line.

May 25, 1976tuesday
Raymond Eddeh fell into an ambush between Nahr Ibrahim and Antelias. The Amid's car was riddled with over a hundred projectiles but he got away with only an injured leg.

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De Clerck and Malsagne record three attempts on Raymond Eddé's life, one outside his home, before his voluntary exile in Paris from January 1977; Picard dates the exile to December 1976.

June 16, 1976wednesday
The US ambassador in Lebanon, Francis Meloy, the US economic advisor, Robert Waring, and the driver of the US embassy were assassinated after being kidnapped. They were about to cross the borderline between West and East Beirut.

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Fisk reports that the bodies of Ambassador Francis Meloy, his economic counsellor Robert Waring and their Lebanese driver, abducted near the Museum crossing, were found that evening at Ramlet al-Baida, and that Arafat, once sure of the three Palestinians responsible, sent them to Tyre. De Clerck and Malsagne judge that the murders ended American efforts at a settlement through the Lebanese parties.

September 25, 1976saturday
Prime Minister, Rachid Karameh, presented to the President, the resignation of his government.

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November 16, 1976tuesday
According to Ghassan Tueni, who was in Geneva asking for help from international organizations, 'In 18 months, the Lebanese war killed 60,000 persons, injured 200 000 others, and made 1.7 million homeless persons.'

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Later estimates for the 'two-year war' are below the figures quoted here. Published death tolls, de Clerck and Malsagne note, run from 15,000 to 40,000, and the displaced numbered at least 200,000. In The Times of 16 November 1976 Fisk reported almost 40,000 dead.

March 16, 1977wednesday
Kamal Joumblatt was assassinated
He was leaving Moukhtara when he and two other passengers were killed. An ambush was set up not far from an Arab Strike Force control post. This assassination aroused a huge wave of disapproval. A call for a strike was immediately issued. The country was in mourning. Chief of the Lebanese left wing, leader of the Druze community, author of several political books, coming from a famous family in the Chouf, Kamal Joumblatt was born in 1917 in Moukhtara, with essentially an eclectic spirit. After he graduated from the Law school in Saint Joseph University in Beirut, he went into politics very young. In 1946 he was elected for the first time Deputy of the Chouf in the Parliament and three years later he was appointed Minister of Economy and Agriculture. In 1949, he founded the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). Three months before his assassination, he had given up politics.

\_this day in full the books also date it 17 March 1977 \_on this day

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Jumblatt was ambushed near a Syrian checkpoint of the Arab Deterrent Force; Fisk places it on the mountain road near Baaqlin. Most historians give 16 March 1977 (Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne, the Confluences authors, and Hanf on one page); Hanf elsewhere and Ménargues give 17 March, which Ménargues ties to the burial. His son Walid took over, and Christians were killed in reprisal in Chouf villages. Hanf writes that most politicians, Muslims above all, took the murder as a warning against defying Syria openly, and that Jumblatt had attacked the Syrian presence in speech and print, in Lebanon and abroad.

April 16, 1977saturday
The Cairo agreement will be applied progressively. The worried Lebanese have been waiting for a long time for this agreement to be implemented.

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July 25, 1977monday
An agreement was signed in Chtaura.
The technical four-party committee decided unanimously the following: -Approving the two plans of action for the execution of the Cairo agreement. -Entrusting the regular Lebanese forces and the Arab Strike Force with the supervision of their execution in all regions, including Southern Lebanon. -Starting the execution of the two plans of action on July 30, no armed elements will be allowed to circulate outside the camps. -Withdrawal of the Palestinian forces up to 15 kilometers north of the borderline with Israel.

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Syria, Hanf writes, had lost interest in disarming the Palestinians by autumn 1977, with Sadat's initiative under way, and the deal soon counted for nothing. It had bound the PLO to keep out of a ten-kilometre belt beside the Israeli frontier and, chiefly, to halt raids and shelling across it.

September 16, 1977friday
15 cholera cases were reported in Lebanon.
The officials in the Health and Education departments recommended putting off the re-opening of schools to November 10.

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September 25, 1977sunday
Following efforts deployed by the American government in Tel Aviv, a cease-fire came into effect in Southern Lebanon. During the past few days, fights reached their maximum intensity especially in the Khyam region.

\_this day in full the books also date it 26 September 1977 \_on this day

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Israel's Christian allies emerged with a slightly wider strip, spanning nearly the whole frontier from sea to Hermon; Fisk dates the tank withdrawal to 26 September.

January 25, 1978wednesday
The Parliament extended its mandate until the first of June 1980.

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February 25, 1978saturday
It is the first night, at the Casino du Liban theater, of the ' Akhwat Loubnan ' show written and interpreted by Nabih Aboulhosn.

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November 16, 1978thursday
According to a study done by the national federation of syndicates, the cost of living had increased by 90% in four years.

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January 16, 1979tuesday
The disappearance of the Imam Sadr was back on the news. Seven young Lebanese Shiite militiamen hijacked the MEA Boeing 720, in order to attract the world's attention on the sequestration of the Imam. The militants affirmed that General Kadhafi, who was vigorously opposed to the Palestinian settlement in Lebanon, detained Imam Moussa Sadr. The hijackers surrendered to the Lebanese justice at night.

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May 16, 1979wednesday
The Hoss cabinet resigned.

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June 16, 1979saturday
After murderous combats, the Lebanese authorities decided to send the army to Ain el Remmane at the beginning of the week.

\_this day in full the books also date it 12 May 1979, 18 June 1979 \_on this day

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Bashir Gemayel's men fought a bloody battle with army units sent, at Pierre Gemayel's and Camille Chamoun's request, to separate the Kataeb and National Liberal militias, at war since 12 May. De Clerck and Malsagne call it the first serious armed clash between the army and a Lebanese militia, dating it once to 14 June and once to 18 June.

July 16, 1979monday
Two months after the resignation of the Hoss Cabinet formed at the end of the 75-76 war, Selim El Hoss announced the formation of his second Cabinet. The ministerial team included:
Selim El Hoss: Prime Minister - Fouad Boutros: Vice-president of the Council and Minister of Foreign affairs - Charles Helou: Minister of State - Bahige Takieddine: Minister of Interior and Tourism - Joseph Skaff: Minister of Defense and Agriculture - Anouar Sabbah: Minister of Resources and Industry - Ali El Khalil: Minister of Finance - Nazem Kadri: Minister of Social Affairs - Boutros Harb: Minister of Education and Public Works - Talal Merhabi: Minister of Health and Economy - Youssef Germanos: Minister of Justice and Information

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August 16, 1979thursday
The Lebanese weightlifter Mohammed Traboulsi won several gold medals during the 11th Asian championship of weightlifting that was taking place in Tokyo.

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October 25, 1979thursday
The Lebanese government who had just launched a wide offensive against barratry and smuggling, adopted serious measures to insure the supervision of the coasts and to prevent pirate cargos from accosting in the clandestine ports.

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November 16, 1979friday
The dollar registered its highest level in Beirut, reaching 347 Lebanese Pounds, something that never happened before.

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January 25, 1980friday
Fights opposed the Phalange Party and the NLP in Ehmej and Annaya. The road leading to Jbeil was closed. An acute crisis erupted between the two parties.

\_this day in full the books also date it 12 May 1979 \_on this day

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One of many clashes between Kataeb and National Liberal militiamen: de Clerck and Malsagne count 46, with 200 dead, from 1976 to 1980, the latest wave running from 12 May 1979 to 2 July 1980 and reaching Achrafieh early in 1980. Ménargues traces the tension of early 1980 partly to disputes over dividing the arms Israel supplied.

April 16, 1980wednesday
The conflict between Amal and the Iraqi Baas worsened.
Violent fights raged in the Southern suburbs of Beirut claiming 40 victims. The Iraqi and the Iranian embassies were attacked. The Amal organization, founded by Imam Moussa Sadr who disappeared in 1978, accused the Iraqi agents of ignoring the cease-fire.

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Hanf sees the Iran–Iraq war of September 1980 as already being fought earlier in Beirut's suburbs: Amal and the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front clashed there despite repeated ceasefires, and the fighting spread south, where a dozen villages were contested until mid-1982. De Clerck and Malsagne list the Iraqi Baath among Amal's adversaries.

March 16, 1981monday
Israel retorted at the Lebanese decision to send the Army to the frontier region by bombarding the UNIFL. The United Nations Secretary General, Kurt Waldheim was outraged and requested an urgent Security Council meeting.

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Fisk: after shells killed two Nigerian UNIFIL soldiers in March 1981, the force commander, General William Callaghan, blamed Israeli gunners rather than Haddad's militia.

May 16, 1981saturday
The Soviets and the Americans reinforced their military presence in the Mediterranean.

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May 16, 1981saturday
Washington advocated a fast resolution of the missile crisis to avoid a worsening of the situation. Beirut was hit by one bomb every three seconds. Twenty-seven persons were evacuated from Zahleh during a lull period.

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July 16, 1981thursday
Within a few hours, the Israeli aviation destroyed 9 bridges in Southern Lebanon cutting off the supply roads of the Palestinian forces. 32 persons were killed and 97 were injured in just one day.

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Ménargues counts six bridges over the Awali and Litani destroyed in the raids. The Palestinians replied the same day with some 2,000 shells and rockets on Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona.

August 16, 1981sunday
Elias Youssef Hannouch, 38 years old, former leader of the NLP, refugee in West Beirut since November 1980, was killed in Raoucheh with his two children.

\_this day in full the books also date it 20 December 1980 \_on this day

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Ménargues places the attack at 9 a.m. in a Hamra side street: four gunmen fired on Hannouche's Range Rover, killing him, his daughter May (9), his son Alain (7) and two bodyguards. His armed entry into Zahleh under Syrian protection on 20 December 1980 had started the Zahleh crisis.

January 25, 1982monday
The Syndicate of Fishermen in Tyr launched a symbolic 24-hour strike in protest against recurring Israeli aggressions against fishermen.

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February 25, 1982thursday
1000 additional 'blue helmets' joined the UNIFL battalion.

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March 16, 1982tuesday
The plot against foreign embassies continued. A large number of embassies closed their doors, while those that were still open were a regularly subjected to threats or assaults.

\_this day in full the books also date it 4 September 1981 \_on this day

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The 117 foreign diplomatic staff killed in the war included the ambassadors of France (4 September 1981), Iraq (15 December 1981) and Algeria (13 January 1982).

May 25, 1982tuesday
Israelis fighters shoot two Syrian Migs over the Kesrouan. The two pilots were handed in to the Arab Strike Force.

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June 16, 1982wednesday
The bombings resumed on West Beirut.

\_this day in full the books also date it 15 June 1982 \_on this day

June 25, 1982friday
A savage bombardment of Beirut caused tens of victims. Simultaneously, a violent battle was raging close to Aley.

\_this day in full the books also date it 24 June 1982 \_on this day

September 16, 1982thursday
The Israelis' attacks against West Beirut continued, killing 31 persons and injuring 121 others. Major damages were also reported.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 September 1982, 15 September 1982 \_on this day

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Israeli troops entered West Beirut at 5 a.m. on 15 September, the morning after Bashir Gemayel's death, against the commitments given through Philip Habib; Lebanese leftist militias fought them in parts of the city.

November 16, 1982tuesday
The Israelis reinforced their control in the Chouf and Aley. The leaders in the mountain called upon Amine Gemayel who seemed determined to speed the settlement of the crisis in the Druze-Christian regions.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 September 1982 \_on this day

January 25, 1983tuesday
France granted more than 100 millions of French Francs as a back up for Hôtel-Dieu. The hospital was facing great financial difficulties.

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