lebanese war
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1975/1990
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117 news for the 3rd, 24th, 27th of every month

with the books

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January 3, 1975friday
South Lebanon was bombarded
Israeli bombing made the inhabitants of South Lebanon go through dramatic moments. Six persons were killed, five were wounded, six villagers were kidnapped, and 13 houses were destroyed. The army and the Fedayin fought with the enemy. Twice, the Lebanese repelled incursion attempts.

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January 1975 saw heavy Israeli attacks on the South. Israeli forces razed Kfar Chouba, a border village, about a week after 7 January (Hanf), and Palestinian commandos shelled army positions in Tyre during border clashes with the Lebanese army (de Clerck and Malsagne). The figures for 3 January come from contemporary press reports.

January 27, 1975monday
After stormy debates and demonstrations, most schools reopened their doors.

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February 3, 1975monday
After a debate that lasted 15 days, the conclave chose unanimously a neutralist candidate. Mgr Antonios Khoreiche was the new Patriarch of Antioch and the Middle East.

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Antoine Khuraych headed the Maronite Church from his election on 3 February 1975 (enthronement 9 February) until 1986, styling himself the 'patriarch of dialogue'.

October 27, 1975monday
The Murr tower was occupied by the Mourabitun, and the Holliday Inn-Phoenicia region was held by the Phalange Party.

\_this day in full the books also date it 20 October 1975 \_on this day

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Begun in late October 1975 (20 October in de Clerck and Malsagne's chronology), the Battle of the Hotels ran for five months, ending when the Holiday Inn fell on 20-22 March 1976. Traboulsi links its launch to Black Saturday in December.

March 3, 1976wednesday
The army took in charge the downtown and its men were positioned in the green zone of Beirut.

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May 27, 1976thursday
Linda Joumblatt, Kamal Joumblatt's 55 years old sister, was cowardly assassinated in her home in Beirut. A group of armed men broke into her apartment and opened fire on her. She was killed while her daughters Nouha, 28 years old, and Samar, 18 years old were injured.

\_this day in full the books also date it 2 June 1976 \_on this day

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On 2 June Bashir Gemayel, having asked for a secret meeting with Kamal Jumblatt, offered him condolences and information on who had killed her. Traboulsi names her Linda al-Atrash and puts her apartment in East Beirut.

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

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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).

October 3, 1976sunday
The Lebanese leaders went to Paris for consultations. Kamal Joumblatt and Pierre Gemayel believed that France should help find a solution to the Lebanese crisis.

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Talks in France with the government and Mitterrand's opposition left Jumblatt sure that France could do nothing in Lebanon against Syrian and US opposition (Traboulsi). His tour, by boat from encircled West Beirut to Cyprus, then Cairo, Algiers and Paris, sought Arab contingents to offset the Syrians.

January 3, 1977monday
A violent explosion shook the district of Accoui in Achrafieh causing 26 dead and 70 injured.
Shattered glass fell all over the streets hitting several vehicles. The death toll rose to 50 by the next morning.

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January 24, 1977monday
The Government created an economic and social orientation body, called the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR).

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Its unprecedented powers spanned planning, funding and running reconstruction. It replaced the Planning Ministry in 1977; Picard calls it the economy's 'superministry'.

March 27, 1977sunday
The Arab League decided to renew the mandate of the Arab Strike Force for another six months.

\_this day in full the books also date it 18 October 1976 \_on this day

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The force is usually called the Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) in English.

March 27, 1977sunday
A powerful plastic charge, deposited in the elevator of the Minister of Defense, Fouad Boutros, exploded destroying the upper floor of the apartment.

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The bombing came the evening the government chose a new army commander, a change arranged by Boutros, who held foreign affairs and defence, and regarded by the Christian parties as cause for war.

May 3, 1977tuesday
Lebanon received about 110 million Lebanese Pounds from the EEC.

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July 24, 1977sunday
340 tourists made a brief stopover in Beirut. The Sol Phryne, a boat achieving a Mediterranean cruise, made a stopover in Beirut and its 340 passengers visited the capital for a few hours.

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August 3, 1977wednesday
The American Secretary of State, Cyrus Vans arrived to Beirut as part of a Middle East tour. He was welcomed in Baabda by President Sarkis. The meetings covered essentially the situation in the south and the American guarantees regarding an eventual Israeli military action in that region. Lebanese officials discussed with Vance the possibility of dispatching United Nations contingents to Southern Lebanon.

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Vance's airport motorcade skirted Sabra and Chatila after a Beirut visit, dated by Fisk to autumn 1977, to hear the government's views on the Palestinians' future.

August 27, 1977saturday
Although the collection of heavy arms was achieved, the Lebanese Front issued a press release, following the Ehden conference, emphasizing ' the necessity of spreading out Palestinians residing in Lebanon over the countries belonging to the Arab League.'

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Hanf records that Damascus rejected the Lebanese Front's demands of May 1977: annulment of the Cairo Agreement and dispersal among other Arab states of the 200,000 Palestinians its leaders regarded as illegal entrants.

October 3, 1977monday
After having pointed out the unusual increase of the number of refugees on the Lebanese territory, Fouad Boutros, Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared to the United Nations: 'Lebanon pays for the mistakes committed by the others.'

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January 24, 1978tuesday
The Lebanese Front was alarmed : armaments were unloaded in Tyr.

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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.

March 27, 1978monday
' The 'National parliamentary gathering', a Shiite block, was created under the presidency of Kamel El Assaad.

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May 24, 1978wednesday
The PLO committed, in an official press release, to stop all military activities in South Lebanon and facilitate the UNIFL's task, in order to reestablish the Lebanese sovereignty in this region.

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August 24, 1978thursday
The situation deteriorated suddenly in the North.
Eight persons were killed and 10 others wounded in an ambush between the Cazas of Koura and Batroun. The situation worsened on August 25. The Arab Strike Force launched a raking operation. Fights resulted in 20 deaths and did not end until August 26. The Arab Strike Force now controls all the region of Batroun while the Phalangists are settled in Jbeil.

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October 3, 1978tuesday
France took the initiative of a cease-fire in Beirut and suggested the repositioning of the Arab Strike Force, as well as the interposition of a Lebanese Force between the belligerents.

\_this day in full the books also date it 16 October 1978 \_on this day

March 24, 1979saturday
While Hoss was claiming the revision of the taking over operation, arguing that there are not enough soldiers nor material, combats were raging in the Batroun region between the Phalange Party and the Marada, followers of President Frangieh.

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May 3, 1979thursday
2,000 persons cheered Fayrouz who was performing at the Olympia.

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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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October 27, 1979saturday
A car bomb exploded in basta, next to the office of the Army of Arabic Lebanon provoking 8 deaths and 32 injuries. The attack was followed by a strike in West Beirut.

\_this day in full the books also date it 22 April 1979 \_on this day

February 3, 1980sunday
Arab Strike Force units stationed in Beirut projected to withdraw towards Aley in the next few days. The decision surprised the government and the chief of State presided a meeting to study how to fill the gap.

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Historians describe the Syrian pull-back from Beirut in 1980 as a redeployment to the Bekaa and to mountain positions overlooking the capital, with a garrison kept in West Beirut (Hanf). The Lebanese army could not replace the departing Arab Deterrent Force everywhere (Picard).

February 24, 1980sunday
Selim Laouzi, owner of the Hawadess, a local newspaper, was kidnapped on the Beirut International Airport road. The kidnapping of this eminent figure of the Lebanese press provoked strong emotions in the political environment and the Editors Syndicate decided to call for a strike.

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Officially no killer was named, but al-Lawzi's murder was widely blamed on his criticism of Syrian rule (Fisk; Picard). Fisk: he was seized near a Syrian army checkpoint heading for the airport.

April 24, 1980thursday
The Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the Israeli military intervention in Lebanon and the de facto alliance between Israel and Saad Haddad's militia. Washington suggested the creation of a special commission in charge of finding a final settlement in South Lebanon.

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May 27, 1980tuesday
Violent confrontations burst between Shiite militiamen from Amal and a coalition including the Communist Party and the Resistance. The confrontations lasted three days, claiming a big number of victims. The Arab Strike Force mediated between the belligerent parties. A normalization and demilitarization agreement was signed in Damascus with the participation of the PLO.

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De Clerck and Malsagne list Amal's opponents once Nabih Berri led it, from 1980: the Communist Party, the Communist Action Organisation, the Iraqi Baath, Fatah and the Army of Arab Lebanon. Traboulsi notes frequent fighting between Amal and the Palestinian groups and National Movement up to June 1982.

June 3, 1980tuesday
Violent combats were reported in Saida.
Soldiers from the Lebanese Army clashed with armed elements from the Resistance, acting under the name of officer Ahmed Khatib's Army of Arab Lebanon. The confrontation started by an ambush in Remeile against a military convoy. The town of Saida observed a strike in protest against these incidents.

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August 24, 1980sunday
5 persons were killed and 35 others wounded by a car bomb explosion in front of a coffee shop in Reyfoun.

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August 24, 1980sunday
An air combat took place over South Lebanon between Syrian Migs and Israeli airplanes. A Syrian plane crashed next to Jbaa.

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August 27, 1980wednesday
The US ambassador, John Gunther Dean, escaped from a killing attempt in Hazmieh. Killers shot his armored car.

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Ménargues: the attack was claimed by telephone to Reuters by an unheard-of 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners'. Investigators found the discarded tube of a US-made LAW anti-tank rocket, a type Israel says it passed to the Christian militias in 1976. Bashir Gemayel's own inquiry blamed the National Liberal (Ahrar) leader Elias Hannouche, whose aim was to discredit the Lebanese Forces.

October 27, 1980monday
The Phalange Party and the NLP fought in Ain el Remmaneh. Camille Chamoun threatened to withdraw from the Lebanese Front.

\_this day in full the books also date it 31 October 1980, 28 November 1980 \_on this day

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The National Liberal holdouts in Ain el-Remmaneh were led by Elias Hannouche ('Hannache'). Hanf and de Clerck and Malsagne place the end of their autonomy in late October 1980 (de Clerck: Lebanese Forces in control of East Beirut on 31 October); Ménargues dates the decisive Lebanese Forces assault to the second half of November. There may have been two rounds.

December 3, 1980wednesday
The government held its first meeting on October 25. Despite the opposition of the Amal movement, the four Shiite ministers attended the meeting.

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December 3, 1980wednesday
A murderous Israeli raid was perpetrated between Damour and Saadyat. A Lebanese memorandum presented to the UN reported 15 deaths and 13 injuries.

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January 3, 1981saturday
After its withdrawal from Ain El Remmaneh on October 31, 1980 the Army repositioned on the main road axes in the region.

\_this day in full the books also date it 31 October 1980, 20 November 1980 \_on this day

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Dates differ. De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology has the Lebanese Forces controlling East Beirut from 31 October 1980. Ménargues puts the LF's 48-hour assault on Ain al-Remmaneh, held by Elias Hannouche's Chamounists, ten days after the 10 November car bombs, around 20 November 1980.

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