38 news for the 2nd, 24th of January, February, September, November, December
with the booksNovember 2, 1975sunday
Chuchu, the famous actor died from a hart attack. His real name was Hassan Alaeddine, the friend of younger and older kids was the most popular comedian on stage and on TV.
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January 24, 1977monday
The Government created an economic and social orientation body, called the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR).
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Its unprecedented powers spanned planning, funding and running reconstruction. It replaced the Planning Ministry in 1977; Picard calls it the economy's 'superministry'.
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.'
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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.
February 24, 1980sunday
Selim Laouzi, owner of the Hawadess, a local newspaper, was kidnapped on the Beirut International Airport road. The kidnapping of this eminent figure of the Lebanese press provoked strong emotions in the political environment and the Editors Syndicate decided to call for a strike.
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Officially no killer was named, but al-Lawzi's murder was widely blamed on his criticism of Syrian rule (Fisk; Picard). Fisk: he was seized near a Syrian army checkpoint heading for the airport.
February 24, 1981tuesday
Shells from different calibers fell on the Eastern residential neighborhoods, spreading destruction, fires, and terror. The population wondered why these blind bombardments were perpetrated and until when would they continue.
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November 2, 1981monday
The Arab Strike Force launched a security operation in the West of the capital where Palestinian, Libyan and Iranian influence multiplied lately.
\_this day in full the books also date it 11 September 1981 \_on this day
February 24, 1982wednesday
A commando of the partisans of the Imam Moussa Sadr burst into the Beirut International Airport and took control of a Boeing 707 of the Kuwait Airways that had just landed with 195 passengers on board. The negotiations led to the release of the passengers. The commando members surrendered to the Arab Strike Force. After this incident, the Kuwaiti company interrupted its flights to Beirut.
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September 2, 1982thursday
September 24, 1982friday
The French contingent of the multinational force arrived in Beirut; the Americans and Italians were on their way too.
\_this day in full the books also date it 26 September 1982 \_on this day
November 2, 1982tuesday
Sister Theresa arrived in Beirut for a short visit of several days. She offered housing to 37 young Lebanese, providing them with everything they needed.
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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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November 2, 1983wednesday
At the Geneva conference, the Mai 17 agreement was the main subject of debates. A Gemayel-Frangieh reconciliation took place.
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Geneva's leaders agreed on Lebanon's 'Arab identity'. Fisk saw two reconciliations: Camille Chamoun ended five years of silence with Suleiman Frangieh, and Frangieh's public embrace of Amin Gemayel seemed to close their families' feud.
November 24, 1983thursday
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
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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.
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
January 24, 1985thursday
The negotiations in Nakoura were suspended sine die after the two parties refused to moderate their positions.
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Picard dates the end of the talks with Israel to January 1985 and links it to the Lebanese Forces' revolt two months later.
September 24, 1985tuesday
A first Lebanese Forces-Amal-PSP meeting was held in Damascus.
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In Hanf's account Berri offered the Christians a choice: a census to reset sectarian proportions, or an end to proportionality. Asked by Jumblatt why Syria dealt with Hobeika, Khaddam reportedly said everyone in Lebanon was a murderer.
February 24, 1986monday
Islamists killed a communist leader, Souheil Tawileh, in Mazraa. Four days earlier, another communist leader, Khalil Nous, was assassinated. Meanwhile, terrorist-killing attempts continued in the Eastern regions. A car bomb exploded on the Salomeh intersection, causing 4 dead and 16 injured.
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Picard places the wave of killings of Communist and pro-Iraqi Baath leaders in January 1986.
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).
November 2, 1986sunday
An American, David Jacobsen, detained by the Islamic Jihad since the 27th of May 1985, was finally released.
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Fisk's account puts the kidnapping on 28 May 1985.
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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December 24, 1986wednesday
Aurel Cornea, one of the Antenne 2 journalists kidnapped on June 21, was released by the Organization of Revolutionary Justice.
\_this day in full the books also date it 8 March 1986 \_on this day
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The Antenne 2 crew was kidnapped on 8 March 1986 (de Clerck and Malsagne), not on 21 June.
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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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).
January 24, 1987saturday
While there were still no news about West German nationals Cordes and Schmidt, three Americans and one Indian holding a US passport were kidnapped at the Beirut University College campus, in Koraytem in Ras Beirut.
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September 24, 1987thursday
Father Andre Masse is assassinated close to Saida. He was head of the USJ (Saint-Joseph University) section in South-Lebanon.
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Not long before he was killed, Masse remarked that the foreign press passed over much of Lebanon's cultural, economic and political life; Picard quotes him.
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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September 24, 1989sunday
Crossing roads are finally opened and the flights at the International Beirut Airport resume. Even the maritime blockade against the Eastern regions is lifted.
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November 24, 1989friday
Elias Hraoui is elected President of the Republic by an Assembly reunited at the Chtaura Park Hotel, on the eve of the National Funerals of the defunct President.
\_this day in full the books also date it 22 November 1989 \_on this day
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Hanf: Elias Hrawi, the only candidate, won on the second ballot with 47 votes of the 53 deputies present, 5 abstaining, under Syrian protection; at the same sitting parliament gave itself four more years. Speaker Husseini had gone to Damascus on the night of 22 November. Traboulsi's chronology places the election on 22 November.
December 24, 1990monday
The Karame Government is composed of 30 Ministers including 9 Ministers of State, but the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb refuse to be part of it.
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Hanf lists the parties left out of the Karami cabinet of 24 December 1990: Hezbollah, the National Liberals, Aoun's supporters and the Communists. With 30 ministers it was Lebanon's largest. Berri, Jumblatt, Geagea, Hobeika, Suleiman Frangieh, Abdallah el-Amin and Assad Hardan, seven militia chiefs, joined as ministers of state without portfolio. After the Lebanese Forces protested at its make-up, Geagea urged the Christian ministers to resign; only his two colleagues followed. It won confidence on 9 January 1991.
