37 news for the 2nd, 28th 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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September 28, 1976tuesday
The Syrian forces and the Lebanese Forces launched an attack against the positions of the Palestinian Progressive forces in the mountain. This far-reaching attack aimed at dislodging the Common Forces from the crests they occupied in Sannine, Zaarour, Aintoura and Mtein. This assault was accompanied by an intensive bombing of Aley, the main Palestinian Progressive base in the mountain.
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From Sarkis's inauguration on 23 September Hanf counts three quiet days, the Semiramis Hotel attack in Damascus and a Syrian move two days after it, placing this offensive at about 28 September. The Palestinian and leftist forces lost the Upper Metn; Traboulsi notes that the Joint Forces' largest concentration, there under Abu Khalid al-Amleh, never engaged the advancing Syrians.
February 28, 1977monday
A master plan for the souks of the old Beirut was submitted to the Council of Ministers. This project included the creation of a green front, an opening to the sea from the Saint George to Bahri, the construction of a port district around the first basin, the opening of avenues towards the sea, and the reconstruction of the souks.
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APUR, the Atelier parisien d'urbanisme, drew up this 1977 plan, the earliest of three reconstruction studies made during the war.
September 28, 1977wednesday
Demis Roussos was back to Lebanon to give a concert. 'I am glad to be in Lebanon especially after what happened', he declared.
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June 28, 1978wednesday
A massacre of a unique atrocity was perpetrated in the North of the Bekaa region.
Forty persons from the Christian town of Kaa and its surroundings were kidnapped from their homes at night. 26 were executed at dawn, and their bodies were left in a mass grave. The Lebanese population and especially the Greek Catholic community, to which the victims belonged, were terrorized and distressed.
\_this day in full the books also date it 27 June 1978, 29 June 1978 \_on this day
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The Qaa massacre is dated to the night of 27-28 June (de Clerck and Malsagne) or to 29 June (Hanf); Ras Baalbek and Jdeidet al-Fakiha were also raided. De Clerck and Malsagne blame Syrians in civilian clothes, carrying name lists and guided by local Christian members of the SSNP and the Communist Party, and see the killings as revenge for Ehden. Hanf counts 26 dead, de Clerck and Malsagne 32 to 36. The community's Supreme Council asked that a day of national mourning be held.
September 28, 1978thursday
It is the famous ' Black Thursday ' where hundreds of shells hit Achrafieh in a murderous frenzy that did not spare anyone. The Arab Strike Force and the Lebanese Front accused each other of being responsible of this nightmare, while women, children and elderly persons were dying.
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February 28, 1979wednesday
Saudi troops decided to withdraw from the Arabic Strike Force. The Lebanese tried to dissuade them.
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The Saudis announced their departure in March 1979 (Ménargues). Picard has Syria's partners, among them Saudis, Sudanese and Emiratis, leaving two years after the 1976 summits; de Clerck and Malsagne call the ADF wholly Syrian from 1979.
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.
January 28, 1981wednesday
President Elias Sarkis delivered a speech at the Third Islamic States Summit in Taef, where he headed the Lebanese delegation. He declared: 'Lebanon cannot bear anymore the Palestinian armed presence on its land'.
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September 28, 1981monday
Terrorism continued to spread in Lebanon. A car bomb exploded at Zrariyeh in the South killing 15 persons and injuring 50 others.
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January 28, 1982thursday
The war between Amal and the National Movement was at its peak. The confrontations resumed and the tension reached Baalbeck and the Southern suburbs of Beirut.
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June 28, 1982monday
The PLO accepted the idea of leaving Beirut to save the city, with, in return, an Israeli withdrawal from the surroundings of the capital.
\_this day in full the books also date it 27 June 1982, 30 June 1982 \_on this day
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Fisk dates the PLO's statement that it would leave Beirut, made public by Saeb Salam, to 30 June; Hanf puts its agreement in principle only at the end of July. On 27 June an Israeli cabinet statement had first floated a negotiated exit: the Lebanese army would take over West Beirut and the disarmed fighters would leave by road for Syria (Ménargues).
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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December 28, 1982tuesday
Israeli-Lebanese negotiations started in Lebanon. But Israel was still sticking to its position.
\_this day in full the books also date it 17 May 1983 \_on this day
January 28, 1983friday
39 persons were killed and tens of others were wounded following a car bomb explosion parked in front of the 'Fateh' headquarters in Chtaura.
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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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December 28, 1983wednesday
After three days marked by violent combats in the capital, the Army announced that it was controlling the camps of Sabra and Chatila.
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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
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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
September 28, 1984friday
Richard Murphy, the American under-secretary of State visited Beirut as part of a regional trip in preparation for the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations.
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September 28, 1985saturday
December 28, 1985saturday
The Lebanese Forces, the PSP and Amal signed an agreement in Damascus, putting an end to the Lebanese war.
The year ended with some hope for the Lebanese, following the signature of the tripartite agreement, while the economy was agonizing and hundreds of Lebanese and foreign hostages were living in horrifying daily conditions.
\_this day in full the books also date it 12 March 1985 \_on this day
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Signed in Damascus by Elie Hobeika (Lebanese Forces), Nabih Berri (Amal) and Walid Jumblatt (PSP) under Syrian sponsorship. It provided for Christian-Muslim parity during a transition towards the end of political sectarianism, a stronger prime minister and cabinet, a senate, and 'strategic complementarity' with Syria. It did not end the war: President Gemayel refused it and, in January 1986, Samir Geagea's forces drove Hobeika out of East Beirut. Its provisions were largely taken up in the Taif Agreement of 1989.
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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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 28, 1987wednesday
Assad and Gemayel met for 55 minutes in Kuwait during a pan-Islamic conference to put an end to a disagreement that lasted one year. Besides, Washington decided to prohibit US nationals from travelling to Lebanon.
\_this day in full the books also date it 13 January 1986 \_on this day
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Traboulsi dates the break between the two presidents to their meeting of 13-14 January 1986, when Gemayel rejected the Syrian-sponsored Tripartite Accord.
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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December 28, 1987monday
Charles Malek dies at the age of 82 ans following a long period of illness. The news of the death of the former Council's Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs saddens the political, as well as the academic and intellectual sets. The American President Ronald Reagan addresses an emotional tribute to the memory of the academic, the philosopher and the politician.
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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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