lebanese war
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1975/1990
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179 news for the 2nd, 4th, 15th, 28th of every month

with the books

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April 15, 1975tuesday
A cease-fire was reached
After more than three days of anguish, with 120 deaths and many injuries, two suspects were handed over to the Justice. Beirut and its surroundings have been the theater of violent clashes between the Phalange Party and Palestinian militias. Also, Zghortiotes and Tripolitans fought in Tripoli. A cease-fire was declared at night and all parties reached an agreement, the execution of which was entrusted to the Internal Security Forces.

\_this day in full the books also date it 16 May 1975 \_on this day

\_what the books add

After several days of fighting (Hanf; four, says Traboulsi), Pierre Gemayel gave up to the police two militiamen implicated in the Ain al-Rummaneh shooting. Early Syrian mediation failed to stop this round, which de Clerck and Malsagne end with a cease-fire on 16 May 1975; no book confirms a truce on 15 April.

October 2, 1975thursday
Rachid Karameh presided the meeting of the Ç National Committee for dialog È at the Serail. The committee decided that all armed elements will have to back up from their positions before the next day and will be replaced by Interior Security Forces.

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\_what the books add

Formed in September 1975 through Syria's foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, the National Dialogue Committee of some twenty leaders debated secularism and ending sectarian quotas; Hanf says it broke up empty-handed.

October 4, 1975saturday
Interior Security Forces held in check a land attack against the Beirut International Airport where 4 armed men tried to kidnap an airplane in order to go to Cairo.

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November 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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December 15, 1975monday
After a week of dreadful combats, the first phases of the 18th cease-fire agreement were executed with the evacuation of the towers and big hotels in the capital.

\_this day in full the books also date it 8 December 1975, 9 December 1975 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf has the Murabitun, discreetly backed by the Palestinians, going on the offensive against the Kataeb downtown and around the hotels on 8 December and seizing the Phoenicia and St Georges. Traboulsi places an army attempt to retake the two hotels on 9 December.

March 15, 1976monday
Lieutenant Ahmed Khatib, chief of the ' Army of Arab Lebanon ', rejoined Ahdab's reformist movement. Barracks fell in the hands of protesters. 68 deputies signed a petition claiming the departure of Sleiman Frangieh who refused to leave his post, despite all the pressures against him.

\_this day in full the books also date it 11 March 1976, 13 March 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

The deputies' petition demanding Frangieh's resignation is dated 11 March in Traboulsi's chronology and 13 March by de Clerck and Malsagne; Picard and Traboulsi's chronology count 68 signatures out of 99, Traboulsi's narrative 69. On 15 March Syrian-controlled PLA and Saiqa units halted a march on the Baabda palace by the Lebanese Arab Army and al-Ahdab's followers. Within days Khatib's force grew to a few thousand men and held most of the army's heavy weapons.

April 2, 1976friday
A ten-day truce had bee decided, in order to elect a new President of the Republic after the expected departure of Sleiman Frangieh.

\_this day in full the books also date it 31 March 1976, 9 April 1976, 10 April 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Parliament used the truce to amend Article 73 of the constitution so that Frangieh's successor could be elected early: on 9 April according to Hanf, 10 April according to Yara El Khoury. The truce had coincided with the arrival on 31 March of the US envoy Dean Brown.

April 15, 1976thursday
Despite the extension of the truce, several fronts were set ablaze, including those in Beirut.
A new agreement, called the Damascus Agreement, was likely to be applied in the next 48 hours. Syrian and Resistance leaders had signed it. The agreement stipulated ending hostilities, reactivating the 'Supreme Military Committee', refusing the partition of Lebanon, rejecting American arrangements and plans in Lebanon, continuing the Syrian initiative and refusing the internationalization or the 'Arabization' of the Lebanese crisis. Also, an agreement had been reached stipulating the withdrawal of Syrian troops that entered the Bekaa region on April 10, back to the Masnaa borderline.

\_this day in full the books also date it 9 April 1976, 11 April 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Traboulsi's chronology puts the Syrian-PLO accord to restore order in Beirut on 11 April. Around 9 April Syrian army tanks entered the Bekaa at Anjar, Judaydat Yabus and Bayadir al-Adas (Traboulsi), some forty in all according to Yara El Khoury, as Saiqa fighters set about ending the siege of Zahleh.

May 4, 1976tuesday
Air France suspended its flights. It was the last foreign airline that was still flying to Lebanon.

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June 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 15, 1976tuesday
The Lebanese Front approved the application of the solutions of the sub-summit, concerning the dispatch, to Lebanon, of a peace force including Libyan, Algerian, Syrian, Sudanese, Saudi, and Palestinian contingents.

\_this day in full the books also date it 9 June 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Picard (2016) dates to 9 June 1976 the Arab League Council resolution, taken in Cairo, that created an Arab peace force. Hanf has some 2,000 Sudanese arriving first, then Libyans; Picard (2002) says Tripoli sent 500 men in June.

September 4, 1976saturday
Bleeding continued in the ports. Massive emigration went on in the same intensity. Hundreds of families flew every day by sea escaping from hell.

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\_what the books add

Historians disagree on 1976: Haugbolle ranks it among the war's largest emigration waves, while de Clerck and Malsagne see many returning that year after nearly 400,000 Lebanese had left by 1975. Haugbolle notes that no official figures exist.

September 15, 1976wednesday
One week before the expiry of his mandate, President Frangieh carried out a spectacular government reshuffling. Rachid Karameh was appointed Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture, Tourism, Housing, and Cooperatives; Camille Chamoun vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Interior, Foreign Affairs, and National Defense; Addel Osseirane Minister of Justice, National Education, and Plan; Magid Arslane Minister of Public Works, Transportation, Hydraulic and Electric Resources, and Health; Ghassan Tueini Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Information, Industry and Oil; and Georges Skaff Minister of Finance, Economy and Trade, and Posts and Telecommunications.

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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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\_what the books add

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.

November 15, 1976monday
Phase 2 of the peace plan started.
The Arab Strike Force including mainly Syrians started to advance on various axes leading to the heart of the capital, as well as the Chouf, the Kesrouan, and Jbeil. 8,000 infantrymen and 250 armored vehicles converged towards the districts of Beirut and the front line.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 November 1976, 16 November 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf puts the entry of about 6,000 Syrian soldiers, in the peace force's green helmets, into East and West Beirut on 14 November. Fisk's report in The Times of 16 November dated their occupation of the whole city to the previous morning, with 6,000 men and hundreds of tanks; the last firing, near the port, ended on 16 November, Fisk recounts.

December 4, 1976saturday
A violent explosion hit the district of Mousseytbeh, where a bomb exploded next to Kamal Joumblatt's house, killing 4 persons and seriously injuring 20 others.

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February 4, 1977friday
The Government promulgated a decree concerning wartime conflicts between owners and renters.
The decree stipulated mainly that rent contracts remained operative, while backlogs will be staggered on 18 months with no interest for all rents under 5,000 Lebanese Pounds. As to destroyed properties, there were three possibilities: reconstruct, compensate the renters, or give them shares.

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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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\_what the books add

APUR, the Atelier parisien d'urbanisme, drew up this 1977 plan, the earliest of three reconstruction studies made during the war.

March 28, 1977monday
The Council of Ministers appointed Colonel Victor Khoury at the head of the army replacing General Hanna Said.

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\_what the books add

Muslim leaders accused Hanna Saïd, commander since September 1975, of leniency towards the Lebanese Front (Traboulsi: of closeness to the dissident troops in the south). His replacement, Victor Khoury, a Constitutional Bloc sympathiser committed to Christian-Muslim coexistence, ran the army and its rebuilding from March 1977 to December 1982.

June 4, 1977saturday
The election of Miss Lebanon was organized at the Santa Teresa in Maameltein.

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June 15, 1977wednesday
Charles Aznavour was the first star to come to Lebanon during the war. He sang in Byblos in front of a Lebanese audience trying to forget the nightmare of the last two years.

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August 2, 1977tuesday
The Saint-Georges Yacht Motor Club organized a water-ski competition, in presence of many foreigners; it was a come back of the Lebanon of yesterday.

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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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October 2, 1977sunday
President Chamoun declared to 3200 new NLP members: 'We should not be misled by a fake peace'.

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November 15, 1977tuesday
The performance of Joe Dassin at the Casino du Liban conquered the Lebanese.

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

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March 15, 1978wednesday
According to a report issued by the Ministry of Finance, the losses in the public sector were estimated at 7.5 billion Lebanese Pounds.

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April 28, 1978friday
A building collapsed on refugees from South Beirut causing tens of victims.

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May 2, 1978tuesday
A fight opposed the UNIFL and the Palestinians. The French barrack in Tyr was bombed and the commander of the French contingent was seriously injured.

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\_what the books add

Colonel Jean Germain Salvan was badly hurt in both legs in early May, Fisk writes, when dissident PLO gunmen fired on the Fatah jeep carrying him, killing a French soldier and his Palestinian driver; Arafat called it a crime. Hanf adds that such losses made the French unit much more careful.

June 4, 1978sunday
A 19 years old Lebanese pianist, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, won the longest and toughest international contest: the Queen Elisabeth Music Prize.

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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

\_what the books add

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.

July 2, 1978sunday
Achrafieh was bombed. 130 shells hit the H™tel-Dieu hospital where 20 rooms were destroyed. At the same time, a huge fire ravaged the dock number 6 in the port.

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July 28, 1978friday
US nationals were evacuated and this was worrying for the Lebanese population.

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August 28, 1978monday
A Syrian-Israeli war in Lebanon seemed likely to happen, but the US intervened to moderate the two countries.

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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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October 4, 1978wednesday
The bombardments reached Bikfaya and Beit-Mery while in East Beirut there was a shortage of food and medications. The Security Council called for the urgent ending of the combats.

\_this day in full the books also date it 6 October 1978 \_on this day

\_what the books add

According to de Clerck and Malsagne, the Security Council's call for a ceasefire came on 6 October.

November 4, 1978saturday
While the situation improved on the ground, Damascus liberated Ahmed Khatib, previously chief of the Army of Arab Lebanon.

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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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\_what the books add

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.

April 2, 1979monday
A rocket attack was launched against the American embassy in Beirut. Three missiles were shot from a car. Small damages were reported.

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May 15, 1979tuesday
The Phalange Party and the LNP merged under the sign of cooperation with the State.

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

\_what the books add

De Clerck and Malsagne date the start of the fighting between Kataeb and National Liberal Party militias to 12 May 1979, at Furn el-Chebbak; clashes recurred in various places until July 1980.

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