30 news for the 2nd, 27th of January, February, June, September, December
with the booksJune 2, 1976wednesday
The residents of Beirut and its surroundings were living in the dark. The last cable supplying the capital with power had been broken. Daily life was very difficult.
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June 27, 1976sunday
The Beirut International Airport was heavily bombed. An MEA Boeing 707 caught fire on the runway. The airplane's pilot died in the accident.
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June 27, 1976sunday
The Phalange Party, the NLP, and the Guardians of the Cedar launched the 'Camps Battle'.
\_this day in full the books also date it 22 June 1976 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Yara El Khoury dates the start of the final offensive on Jisr al-Basha and Tal al-Za'tar to 22 June 1976, and Hanf's account (Jisr al-Basha stormed eight days after the first assault, on 1 July) points to the same week. The camps had been blockaded since January. Hanf says Chamoun's Tigers and Christian units of the army led the attack, the Kataeb joining later; a joint command of Bashir Gemayel (Kataeb), Dany Chamoun and Nabil Karam (NLP), Fawzi Mahfouz (Tanzim) and Etienne Saqr (Guardians of the Cedar) coordinated it (de Clerck and Malsagne).
February 27, 1978monday
Diverse shows were scheduled in Lebanon. 'We Belnesba la bokra chou?' by Ziad Rahbani was a triumph at the Orly Theater.
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De Clerck and Malsagne and Haugbolle list this 1978 play first among Ziad Rahbani's comedies, which satirised the war from West Beirut.
June 27, 1979wednesday
Syrians and Israelis faced each other in the sky of Damour. Four Syrian Migs were shut down. At the Southern border, shelling continued between Progressive Palestinians on one side and the militia of Saad Haddad and Israel on the other.
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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.'
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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 27, 1982saturday
The explosion of a car bomb killed 4 persons and wounded 26 others in Ouzaï.
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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.
September 2, 1982thursday
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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June 27, 1983monday
Violent combats were raging in the region of Mansouriet-Bhamdoun between the Lebanese Forces and the PSP militia. The bombs reached the Northern Metn.
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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.
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
June 27, 1985thursday
Elias Sarkis, former President of the Lebanese Republic, died at 61 years old. He was suffering from a disease that paralyzed his lymphatic and nervous system. Grandiose funerals were organized in Mar Takla church in Hazmieh.
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Elias Sarkis died in Paris (de Clerck and Malsagne).
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).
September 27, 1986saturday
500 fighters led by Elie Hobeika entered Achrafieh where they fought ferociously with Geagea's men. The Lebanese Forces and the army rebuffed the infiltration. 65 persons lost their lives in the operation while 200 others were wounded.
\_this day in full the books also date it 26 September 1986, 29 September 1986 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Dates differ: 27 September (de Clerck and Malsagne), 29 September (Hanf), or by 26 September (Ménargues). Hanf has the Lebanese army halting an attack launched across the green line from West Beirut, after which former comrades killed a few hundred of Hobeika's men.
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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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).
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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January 27, 1988wednesday
Ralph Schary is kidnapped in West Beirut. Married to Rana Mounla, a Muslim from Tripoli, he is the third West German national who is kidnapped.
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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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June 27, 1988monday
Chatila falls in the hands of the Palestinian dissidents.
\_this day in full the books also date it 28 June 1988, 8 July 1988 \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck (pp. 170, 576) dates the fall of Chatila to 28 June 1988, after 59 days of shelling; Arafat's fighters were escorted to Ain al-Hilweh.
September 27, 1989wednesday
Lakhdar Ibrahimi announces that the parliamentary meeting will take place in Taef (in Saudi Arabia) on September 30th.
\_this day in full the books also date it 13 September 1989, 30 September 1989 \_on this day
\_what the books add
The meeting date of 30 September was already part of the troika's 13 September proposals (Hanf). De Clerck and Malsagne say 63 of the 73 surviving deputies gathered in Taif on 30 September. Hanf dates the formal opening to 1 October.
September 27, 1990thursday
The blockade against the Eastern region gets tougher and tougher. The goal is proclaimed: force General Aoun to give up before schools reopen.
\_this day in full the books also date it 28 September 1990 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf notes the blockade had little support even outside the enclave, as civilians rather than Aoun's soldiers bore it. On 28 September 1990, he records, Lahoud's troops tightened it by taking every checkpoint around Aoun's area; Aoun's followers protested daily there and at Baabda.