lebanese war
chronology
1975/1990
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179 news for the 3rd, 4th, 18th, 19th 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.

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'.

March 19, 1975wednesday
Imam Moussa Sadr remained the spiritual leader of the Shiite community until he was 65 years old.
The Imam was 48 years old. His mandate was extended unanimously by the General assembly of the Superior Shiite Council.

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April 19, 1975saturday
A huge fire in the Port destroyed 10,000 m2 of warehouses. An investigation was opened to determine whether it was arson or not.

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September 19, 1975friday
Beirut was the theater of numerous troubles - street fights, plastic bomb attacks, and fires were reported. The downtown, the heart of the old Beirut, was in fire too, and the heart of the Lebanese full of fear. At night, a cease-fire was announced.

\_this day in full the books also date it 17 September 1975 \_on this day

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De Clerck and Malsagne date the start of fighting in central Beirut to the night of 17-18 September 1975; Hanf and Traboulsi hold the Kataeb responsible for shelling the old souks. A cease-fire and the setting-up of the National Dialogue Committee followed.

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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January 18, 1976sunday
Karantina massacre
Christian forces conquered Karantina, a slum district populated primarily by poor Kurds and Armenians but controlled by a PLO detachment. More than 1000 civilians were massacred.

\_this day in full the books also date it 16 January 1976, 19 January 1976, 20 January 1976, 22 January 1976 \_on this day

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Dates differ between historians: 16 January (Ménargues), 18 January (de Clerck and Malsagne; consistent with Fisk), 19 January (Hanf), 20 or 22 January (Traboulsi). Maslakh, next door, fell at the same time. Most of the district's people were Shi'is, living alongside Palestinians, Kurds and Armenian Lebanese. Haugbolle estimates 150-500 dead, de Clerck and Malsagne 600-1,000; some 30,000 people were driven out to West Beirut and the southern suburbs.

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

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June 18, 1976friday
Palestinian Progressive forces launched attacks against the Syrian forces positioned in Ain Zhalta and Ain Dara in order to stop their advance in the Chouf.

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June 18, 1976friday
President Gerald Ford ordered the US embassy in Beirut to evacuate urgently all US nationals in Lebanon who would like to return home.

\_this day in full the books also date it 16 June 1976 \_on this day

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Barely a tenth of American and British residents accepted the evacuation, Fisk writes. The British went by road, the PLO escorting them through West Beirut and a Libyan officer on to the Syrian lines; a day later a US landing craft took evacuees off from a PLO-guarded bathing club on the Corniche.

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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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.

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.

November 19, 1976friday
After a 5-month break, the Airport was reopened again to air traffic.

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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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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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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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March 19, 1977saturday
An airplane was hijacked between Turkey and Lebanon.
The operation began 50 minutes after a Boeing 727 on the Diarbakin-Ankara route took off with 182 passengers aboard and 6 crewmembers. Two hijackers forced the airplane to head towards Beirut where it landed at 4pm. The Lebanese authorities took charge of the situation and began negotiations with the hijackers. Ultimately, the passengers were released and the police arrested the hijackers.

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

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

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June 19, 1977sunday
After a 19-month interruption, horse races resumed in Beirut hippodrome where 10,000 turfists gathered.

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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.

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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October 19, 1977wednesday
A sensational hold up took place in the Kantari sector. Gangsters attacked a customs wagon and seized a 2 810 000 LP booty.

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October 19, 1977wednesday
In order to deal with the economic recession caused by the two-year crisis and the unbearable increase of the cost of living, the government decided to help both employers and salaried. He raised the minimum wage to 415 LP and granted facilities to the employers.

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March 19, 1978sunday
The Security council adopted the 425 Resolution which stipulated the expedition of 4,000 blue helmets to confirm the withdrawal of the Israeli forces. They had also to assist the Lebanese government in the restoration of its authority in the region.

\_this day in full the books also date it 18 March 1978 \_on this day

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Resolution 425 was adopted with Resolution 426, which set up the force; the USSR abstained (de Clerck and Malsagne). UNIFIL later numbered about 6,000 soldiers, with France providing the largest first contingent (1,290 men).

April 19, 1978wednesday
The Hoss government, formed in December of 1976, resigned. El Hoss himself was soon asked, on April 28, to form the new government.

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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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September 19, 1978tuesday
In Lebanon strikes multiplied.
In East Beirut, a strike was organized to protest against the presence of the 'Green Helmets', while in West Beirut protests were against the mysterious disappearance of Imama Moussa Sadr. Christian leaders did not want to renew the Arab Strike Force's mandate unless it was done under new conditions.

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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

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

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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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January 19, 1979friday
The Israeli army launched a triple air, ground and sea operation against Arnoun, Aichieh and the costal region. These events caused 16 dead, 12 injured and 25 prisoners.
Concurrently, the Security Council renewed the UNIFL mandate until Beirut elaborated a program re-establishing its authority in Southern Lebanon.

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April 18, 1979wednesday
An army battalion deployed in the UNIFL zone in the South, despite bombardments by Saad Haddad’s militias against the Lebanese soldiers. The latter have come all the way from Yarze. The same day, the rebel officer Saad Haddad proclaimed the State of Free Lebanon. He was dismissed from the Lebanese army the following day.

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De Clerck and Malsagne and Picard agree that Haddad declared his 'State of Free Lebanon' at Marjayoun on 18 April 1979, in reaction to the army being sent towards the UNIFIL area under the March 1979 defence law; de Clerck and Malsagne put its size at 250 square kilometres and call it entirely reliant on Israel. Hanf has Haddad's troops stopping the battalion; de Clerck and Malsagne and Picard, Israeli aircraft bombing it; Fisk, Israel letting its militia shell it. Traboulsi dates Haddad's break to his Army of Free Lebanon of June 1976, Ménargues to a secession at the end of 1977. Hanf adds that once Haddad had lost his rank and been dismissed in disgrace, Israel paid his men.

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

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June 4, 1979monday
Pierre Gemayel, Chief of the Phalange Party, escaped a killing attack in Nahr el Kalb.
The explosion slightly injured his head and killed one person and wounded about 10.

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October 4, 1979thursday
A light earthquake shook the region of Saida without any victim.

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October 4, 1979thursday
The Minister of Foreign affairs, Fouad Boutros, called upon the United Nations to end Israeli aggressions in the South, to freeze the activities of the Fedayin, to reinforce the UNIFL, and to dissociate the Lebanese problem from the regional crisis.

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December 19, 1979wednesday
An ongoing manifestation in Tripoli went out of control. The demonstrators protesting against the increase of the cost of living, vandalized Tripoli's seraglio and molested the Mohafez of Northern Lebanon. The administrations and public services clerks in Tripoli decided to stop working for 3 days.

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January 18, 1980friday
A Shiite hijacked an MEA Boeing 707.
This airplane flying from Beirut to Larnaca had 72 passengers and 10 crewmembers onboard. The hijacker surrendered to the Lebanese authorities and claimed, in a press conference, the intensification of the efforts in order to find Imam Moussa Sadr. He also requested the positioning of the Lebanese army in South of Lebanon.

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