lebanese war
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26 news for the 2nd, 16th of January, February, September, December

with the books
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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

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.

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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February 2, 1978thursday
Michel Sardou caused the walls at the Casino du Liban to vibrate.

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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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January 2, 1980wednesday
The chief of the 'Iranian volunteers', Hodjatolislam Mohammed Montazeri, held a press conference in Beirut during which he reasserted his men's determination to go to South Lebanon to 'fight imperialism and Zionism.' And he added: 'We will come by thousands.'

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

De Clerck and Malsagne have Iranian clerics and activists settling in the Bekaa, and then in Tyre, from 1980, before 500 to 2,000 Revolutionary Guards entered Lebanon in June 1982.

September 2, 1982thursday
The normalization continued. The Sodeco crossing way was opened to traffic.

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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

\_what the books add

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.

December 2, 1982thursday
A wide meeting in Baabda reached an agreement on the creation of a Lebanese strike force in charge of reestablishing order and security in Aley and the Chouf.

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February 2, 1983wednesday
The aggressions didn't spare the Multinational Force. Reacting to the anti-French attacks, the President of the French Republic, Francois Mitterand, ordered the reinforcement of the French contingent in Lebanon.

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February 16, 1983wednesday
A car bomb exploded in Antelias not far from a Phalange office. Once again, the civilians paid the price of this ferocity.

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December 16, 1983friday
The Beirut International Airport, closed since November 30, was reopened to air traffic.

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January 2, 1984monday
The year started like the previous one ended : everyone was talking about a new security plan for the mountain and the Southern suburbs of Beirut. Nevertheless, the fights continued intermittently in these regions between the Army and the Lebanese Forces on one side and the Progressive Socialist Party and Amal on the other.

\_this day in full the books also date it 29 January 1984 \_on this day

\_what the books add

On 29 January the Druze resumed attacking the army at Souk al-Gharb, after Shi'i militia sniping at the army and French troops from mid-January, Hanf's next escalation.

January 16, 1984monday
Saad Haddad, commander of the Army of Free Lebanon, died from a generalized cancer. He was 47 years old and was buried in his birthplace, Marjeyoun.

\_this day in full the books also date it 13 January 1984 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Sources disagree on the date of Saad Haddad's death: Ménargues gives 13 January 1984; Hanf and Fisk give January 1984; de Clerck and Malsagne give December 1983. No supplied book gives 16 January. Ménargues also gives his birth year as 1937 and his origin as Marjayoun, consistent with the age stated here.

January 16, 1984monday
Blind bombardments killed 16 persons and wounded 75 others in Beirut. Anxiety and fear prevailed. Schools and hospitals received their daily lot of bombs, amid international indifference. Panic reached the Lebanese stock exchange market where the Dollar amounted almost for six Lebanese Pounds.

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February 2, 1984thursday
The schools closed their doors in the Eastern sector of the capital due to the blind shelling of Beirut and its suburbs.

\_this day in full the books also date it 1 February 1984 \_on this day

September 16, 1984sunday
The fraud scandal at the baccalaureate exams repeated itself. The exams were cancelled in eight centers in West Beirut.

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September 16, 1985monday
In Tripoli, ten soldiers from the Lebanese Army were killed and 35 others wounded by shells that fell on the Bahjat Ghanem barracks.

\_this day in full the books also date it 7 October 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

On 7 October, Hanf writes, 20,000 Syrian soldiers entered Tripoli, after pro-Syrian groups had in September 1985 attacked the Tawheed movement then holding the city; some 250,000 civilians fled.

January 16, 1986thursday
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.

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\_what the books add

Hanf dates the main offensive, by SSNP fighters with Syrian support toward Bikfaya (at Douar and on the Baskinta-Bikfaya road), to the second half of February; it was stopped by the Lebanese army.

September 2, 1986tuesday
The first meeting of the Dialog Committee was held at the Beirut racecourse. The ten members of the government met for the first time since November 1985. The Ministers decided to elaborate a new National Pact.

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The meetings produced no agreement (Hanf).

December 2, 1986tuesday
A general strike paralyzed the country. The Lebanese were unable to cope with the increase in prices. The leaders couldn't find any solution to the crisis. The popular discontent was on the rise.

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January 2, 1987friday
The Minister of Labor Selim El Hoss signed a decree raising the minimum wage to 3,200 LBP. This decision was a timid ray of light in the heavy economic sky.

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\_what the books add

Historians describe the collapse of real wages behind such decrees: against 1974, the statutory minimum wage kept 13 percent of its buying power at the end of 1986 (Hanf, after Abou Rjaily and Labaki).

February 2, 1987monday
The Swiss Embassy was the last embassy to close in West Beirut.

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December 2, 1987wednesday
While credits are unblocked to buy fuel and service stations are reopened, Victor Cassir, Minister of Industry and Oil, authorizes private companies to import fuel subject to a previous authorization by the Ministry of Oil.

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February 2, 1988tuesday
Jacques Merrin, a Frenchman working for the DGSE, is killed by unknown persons in the neighborhood of the Palace of Justice.

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December 2, 1988friday
General Aoun orders the closure of the Museum-Berbir junction; the passage will be re-opened 17 days later.

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February 16, 1989thursday
An agreement on military disengagement is concluded between the Army and the L.F., within in a four-party committee.

\_this day in full the books also date it 17 February 1989 \_on this day

\_what the books add

De Clerck and Malsagne have a truce under the Maronite Patriarch's patronage from 17 February. Hanf says Aoun accepted a ceasefire once the militia agreed to hand over Dock Five of the port and the Bourbara checkpoint.