16 news for the 21st of January, February, June, September, December
with the books\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne date the start of bread rationing to September 1975.
Sabri Hamadeh, a legendary figure on the Lebanese political scene and an independence hero, died from a heart attack. He was 74 years old. He was born in 1902 in the Hermel and entered the political arena very early. In 1925, he was elected for the first time deputy of the Hermel. His mandate was renewed several times. In 1944, he became President of the Parliament. In addition, he had been repeatedly vice-president of the Council, as well as Minister of Interior and Minister of Public Works and Transportation. He was titular of several honorific distinctions such as the great cordon of the National Order of the Cedar.
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Sudan supplied the Arab peace force's first contingent, some 2,000 men, and Libya the next (Hanf).
\_this day in full the books also date it 20 March 1980 \_on this day
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Deploying the army, Sarkis insisted on his return from an Arab meeting at Ta'if in February 1980, should come before political reform (Traboulsi). Amal and the Phalange newspaper al-Amal also called for the army to be sent south (Traboulsi; Hanf).
\_this day in full the books also date it 20 December 1980, 22 December 1980 \_on this day
\_what the books add
The crisis began on 20 December when Elias Hannouche, a former Tiger commander backed by Syria, seized the old National Liberal office in Zahle. After an ambush inside the town killed five Syrian soldiers on 22 December, Syrian artillery opened fire on it (Ménargues; Hanf counts an officer and five soldiers). De Clerck and Malsagne date the bombardment to 21 December and call it the first round of the battle of Zahle. Most of the former Tigers then joined the Lebanese Forces, and Syrian troops stayed positioned around the town until the siege of spring 1981.
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Amine Gemayel was elected in the same Fayadiyeh barracks as his brother, with 77 votes of the 80 deputies present (Hanf). On the evening of 20 September Israeli ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Ariel Sharon had met him secretly at Dbayeh (Ménargues).
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Saad survived, nearly blind, but was absent when Israel left Sidon. The UN spokesman told Fisk Israel had held up clearance by half an hour for the UN helicopter flying him to the American University hospital.
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According to de Clerck and Malsagne (pp. 204-205), inflation peaked in 1987: the pound was devalued by 485% and Beirut consumer prices went up 450%.
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Hanf says Kadri had lobbied deputies to press for Syria's withdrawal from the Bekaa before Taif. He groups the killing with those of Bashir Gemayel, Kamal Jumblatt, Hassan Khaled and Mohammed Shukair, all of which, in his view, plainly benefited Syria.