lebanese war
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1975/1990
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168 news for the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 28th of every month

with the books

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January 6, 1975monday
The army launched an attack in Tripoli
The army succeeded, after a tense day of occasional shootings, to invest and control the old town of Tripoli where many outlaws have been hiding for the past 6 months. Two civilians died, 12 were wounded, and 75 persons were arrested.

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January 7, 1975tuesday
Teachers went on strike
25,000 private school teachers went on an open strike. The movement hit approximately 200,000 students. Strikers were claiming the amendment of their salary scale and of the teachers' dismissal law. Their actual minimum salary amounted for 250 Lebanese pounds.

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March 7, 1975friday
Major events were reported in the town of Saida.
The army clashed with demonstrators protesting in favor of fishermen. Maarouf Saad, former legislator, was hit by a bullet and died from his wounds. Saida was in fire and blood. Many dead and wounded persons were reported, on the civilian as well as on the military sides. Businesses and schools shut down. Many leaders accused the Prime Minister, Rachid El Solh, of being responsible for the recent events in Saida. Nevertheless, demonstrations supporting the army were organized in Beirut.

\_this day in full the books also date it 26 February 1975 \_on this day

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De Clerck and Malsagne and Traboulsi date the Sidon fishermen's protest to 26 February 1975. The marchers opposed Protein, a fishing company whose board included Camille Chamoun; their leader, Maarouf Saad, was shot and died some days later. Clashes between the army and armed groups in Sidon and Tyre followed at the start of March: de Clerck and Malsagne give 6 soldiers and 11 civilians killed and an army pull-out from Tyre, Hanf 5 soldiers and 11 civilians. The Kataeb staged a pro-army demonstration in Beirut. Hanf puts the fishermen's protest in March, and Picard describes the Sidon marchers as Palestinian militants.

July 7, 1975monday
New coins equivalent to one Lebanese pound were issued

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July 7, 1975monday
An Israeli aggression against Rachidieh and Bourghoulieh camps in South Lebanon killed 12 persons and wounded 20 others. A Lebanese complaint was lodged at the United Nations.

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September 7, 1975sunday
Tripoli was in fire and blood
Exceptionally violent fights opposed Tripolitans to Zghortiotes, causing fires, kidnappings and street fights.

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Historians describe the Tripoli-Zgharta round as following the Zahleh fighting of late August: kidnappings on both sides, the killing of twelve Muslim bus passengers on the Beirut-Tripoli road, attacks on Christian villages in Akkar and the flight of Christians from Tripoli and Akkar. It ended when the army created a buffer zone between the two towns.

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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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.

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 6, 1975saturday
The assassination of four young Phalangists on the Fanar road provoked horrible killings in the streets of Beirut.
The capital was rapidly set ablaze. It was the apocalypse. Militias launched street fights resulting in tens of innocent victims. Violence was at its peek and nothing seemed to end this thirst for blood.

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The bodies of four young Kataeb members were found on 6 December 1975, while Pierre Gemayel was in Damascus; Muslims seized at makeshift checkpoints by the port were killed in reprisal. Accounts place the bodies in the Metn (Hanf), near Tal al-Za'tar (Haugbolle) or outside the electricity company offices (Fisk). De Clerck and Malsagne blame Joseph Saadeh, whose son was among the four. Only Fisk puts Bashir Gemayel in Damascus and cites Phalangist officers saying he ordered the reprisal. The Muslim dead number about 200 (Hanf, Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne) or several dozen (Picard); Fisk gives at least 300 Muslims, and probably as many Christians, in the reprisals.

January 7, 1976wednesday
The Palestinian camps of Tell El Zaatar and Jisr El Bacha being under a blockade, 1200 armed elements attacked the region of Horsh Tabet. Pitched battles opposed Phalangist and Fedayin activists.

\_this day in full the books also date it 4 January 1976 \_on this day

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De Clerck and Malsagne date the siege of Tal al-Za'tar from 4 January 1976 to the camp's fall on 12 August. According to Hanf, Interior Minister Camille Chamoun had Internal Security Forces units join the assault.

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

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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.

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 7, 1976monday
Violent combats opposed pro-Syrian formations to Palestinian Progressive militiamen in several districts of Beirut. Syrian troops entered the capital where most Palestinian Progressive forces were concentrated.

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

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In Beirut in early June, Hanf writes, Fatah and its allies turned on Saiqa, the PLA and the pro-Syrian parties and cleared them from the city within a few hours. Syria's regular army stayed outside the capital for now: on 7 June its troops got as far as Sofar on the Beirut-Damascus road and into Sidon, where an armoured column was wiped out. Syrian forces reached Beirut only in mid-November, within the Arab Deterrent Force.

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.

January 6, 1977thursday
A particularly vigorous winter hit Lebanon. It snowed in Beirut, which was quite unusual. Temperature fell to 0 degree.

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January 7, 1977friday
Regular Palestinian forces will have to leave Lebanon before January 13', announced a press release issued by the presidency of the Republic.

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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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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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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.

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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January 6, 1978friday
The Begin Plan concerning the settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon made some noise.
The Lebanese reacted with firmness and indignation to the conspiracy initiated by foreign countries. According to Salim El Hoss, 'Every project expecting the settlement of Palestinians outside of their land is rejected.' The President of the Republic also rejected any project stipulating the permanent settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon. 'Our country should determine itself what it is able to offer. It is unfair to solve the Palestinian question by creating a Lebanese problem. We will make every effort to let our right prevail', he said.

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Hanf notes that in December 1977 Menachem Begin, Israel's prime minister, had excluded any return of the Palestinian refugees in neighbouring countries.

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

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February 7, 1978tuesday
A serious incident occurred in Fayadieh.
Lebanese Soldiers fought with elements of the Arab Strike Force. Shots were exchanged followed by heavy armaments shootings.

\_this day in full the books also date it 8 February 1978, 17 February 1978 \_on this day

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Historians date the Fayadiyeh incident to 7 February (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8 February (Hanf) or 17 February (Ménargues). It began when Syrian soldiers set up a roadblock in front of the Military Academy; officer cadets, led according to de Clerck and Malsagne by Captain Samir (Sami) al-Achkar, fought back and Syrian artillery shelled the barracks. Syrian losses are given as 13 dead and 36 wounded (de Clerck and Malsagne), over 30 dead (Ménargues) or 220 dead and 30 wounded (Hanf). As fighting spread into East Beirut, about a hundred people died when Syrian guns shelled Badaro, Ain el-Remmaneh and Karm el-Zeitoun. Sarkis and Damascus settled the affair with a joint Lebanese-Syrian military court. De Clerck and Malsagne date the Syria-Christian split to it.

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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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.

May 6, 1978saturday
Several civil victims were reported during a violent bombardment of Ain el Remmanneh. As usual, there were contradictory versions of the incident.

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May 7, 1978sunday
The 'Mikhael Naimy' week was inaugurated under the patronage of the President of the Republic. This event was a Lebanese tribute to the great thinker and writer who stirs up Lebanon's tradition and vocation in the field of thinking.

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June 6, 1978tuesday
The Lebanese Front stiffened its position.
It considered that the Palestinian Resistance did not have its place in Lebanon anymore. The Front proclaimed that all the agreements with the PLO were null and void. The Front hoped that the Lebanese army replaces the primarily Syrian Arab Strike Force. President Sarkis was determined to dispatch the army to the South.

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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.

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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November 7, 1978tuesday
The residence of General Victor Khoury in Amchit was dynamited.

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January 6, 1979saturday
President Elias Sarkis re-affirmed the rejection of the implantation. The chief of State requested the reinforcement for the UNIFL

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February 6, 1979tuesday
One dead and 10 injured were reported on the 'Ring of death' under sniper shots.

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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.

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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April 6, 1979friday
A general strike to protest against the insufficient salary increase paralyzed the country. The syndicates granted a delay of 3 months to the government.

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