121 news for the 3rd, 6th, 19th of every month
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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.
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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Antoine Khuraych headed the Maronite Church from his election on 3 February 1975 (enthronement 9 February) until 1986, styling himself the 'patriarch of dialogue'.
The Imam was 48 years old. His mandate was extended unanimously by the General assembly of the Superior Shiite Council.
\_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.
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.
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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.
Shattered glass fell all over the streets hitting several vehicles. The death toll rose to 50 by the next morning.
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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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.
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.
\_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).
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.
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.
\_this day in full the books also date it 16 October 1978 \_on this day
Concurrently, the Security Council renewed the UNIFL mandate until Beirut elaborated a program re-establishing its authority in Southern Lebanon.
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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).
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Hanf: clashes among the Christian militias grew more frequent after the partial Syrian withdrawal, which removed Syrian checkpoints on the roads into East Beirut and between Achrafieh and the Christian suburbs and gave the militias one unbroken territory for the first time since 1976.
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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Ménargues dates the resignation to March 1980, after repeated deadlock between Hoss and Sarkis over the army; Hoss stayed on as caretaker until Shafiq Wazzan's appointment in late October.
We are far from the excessive cheating reported last year. However, the Minister of National Education had to cancel the Baccalaureate exams in South Lebanon because of the chaotic atmosphere that was prevailing.
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