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143 news for the 5th, 15th, 16th of every month

with the books

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February 5, 1975wednesday
The Arab Defense Committee gathered in Cairo, voted 90 million dollars for the defense of Lebanon.

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April 15, 1975tuesday
A cease-fire was reached
After more than three days of anguish, with 120 deaths and many injuries, two suspects were handed over to the Justice. Beirut and its surroundings have been the theater of violent clashes between the Phalange Party and Palestinian militias. Also, Zghortiotes and Tripolitans fought in Tripoli. A cease-fire was declared at night and all parties reached an agreement, the execution of which was entrusted to the Internal Security Forces.

\_this day in full the books also date it 16 May 1975 \_on this day

\_what the books add

After several days of fighting (Hanf; four, says Traboulsi), Pierre Gemayel gave up to the police two militiamen implicated in the Ain al-Rummaneh shooting. Early Syrian mediation failed to stop this round, which de Clerck and Malsagne end with a cease-fire on 16 May 1975; no book confirms a truce on 15 April.

May 16, 1975friday
The Solh Cabinet resigned due to pressures against its members.

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In a heated sitting of parliament Rashid al-Solh resigned, blaming the Kataeb for the fighting. His refusal to deploy the army had led the Kataeb ministers to leave the cabinet, and other Christian ministers had followed them.

August 5, 1975tuesday
Israel launched air, land and sea attacks against Tyr, killing 18 persons and injuring 29.

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November 16, 1975sunday
President Sleiman Frangieh and Prime Minister Rachid Karameh studied the political reform and the secularization of public service.
The Prime Minister presented a plan to redress the economy and curb unemployment. He claimed religious equity in the parliamentary representation and a complete secularization of public service. The government decided to create a shock squad in charge of reestablishing security in the country.

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December 15, 1975monday
After a week of dreadful combats, the first phases of the 18th cease-fire agreement were executed with the evacuation of the towers and big hotels in the capital.

\_this day in full the books also date it 8 December 1975, 9 December 1975 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf has the Murabitun, discreetly backed by the Palestinians, going on the offensive against the Kataeb downtown and around the hotels on 8 December and seizing the Phoenicia and St Georges. Traboulsi places an army attempt to retake the two hotels on 9 December.

January 5, 1976monday
After a delay of three months, the American University of Beirut inaugurated its academic year 1975-1976.

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January 16, 1976friday
For the first time since the beginning of the war, the Lebanese aviation intervened against Palestinian and progressive activists settlements in the Khaldeh and Aramoun regions. Thirty women and children were killed at the entry of Damour.
The airport was closed after three shells hit the runways.

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De Clerck and Malsagne record that the besiegers executed some twenty Damour residents on this day, a first massacre a week after the siege began on 9 January. Whether these are the deaths reported 'at the entry of Damour' is not established.

March 15, 1976monday
Lieutenant Ahmed Khatib, chief of the ' Army of Arab Lebanon ', rejoined Ahdab's reformist movement. Barracks fell in the hands of protesters. 68 deputies signed a petition claiming the departure of Sleiman Frangieh who refused to leave his post, despite all the pressures against him.

\_this day in full the books also date it 11 March 1976, 13 March 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

The deputies' petition demanding Frangieh's resignation is dated 11 March in Traboulsi's chronology and 13 March by de Clerck and Malsagne; Picard and Traboulsi's chronology count 68 signatures out of 99, Traboulsi's narrative 69. On 15 March Syrian-controlled PLA and Saiqa units halted a march on the Baabda palace by the Lebanese Arab Army and al-Ahdab's followers. Within days Khatib's force grew to a few thousand men and held most of the army's heavy weapons.

April 15, 1976thursday
Despite the extension of the truce, several fronts were set ablaze, including those in Beirut.
A new agreement, called the Damascus Agreement, was likely to be applied in the next 48 hours. Syrian and Resistance leaders had signed it. The agreement stipulated ending hostilities, reactivating the 'Supreme Military Committee', refusing the partition of Lebanon, rejecting American arrangements and plans in Lebanon, continuing the Syrian initiative and refusing the internationalization or the 'Arabization' of the Lebanese crisis. Also, an agreement had been reached stipulating the withdrawal of Syrian troops that entered the Bekaa region on April 10, back to the Masnaa borderline.

\_this day in full the books also date it 9 April 1976, 11 April 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Traboulsi's chronology puts the Syrian-PLO accord to restore order in Beirut on 11 April. Around 9 April Syrian army tanks entered the Bekaa at Anjar, Judaydat Yabus and Bayadir al-Adas (Traboulsi), some forty in all according to Yara El Khoury, as Saiqa fighters set about ending the siege of Zahleh.

May 16, 1976sunday
The Lebanese press was in mourning. A sniper's bullet killed Edouard Saab, the chief editor of L'Orient-Le-Jour.

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De Clerck and Malsagne note that Edouard Saab was Le Monde's correspondent too; a sniper shot him dead while he crossed the demarcation line.

June 15, 1976tuesday
The Lebanese Front approved the application of the solutions of the sub-summit, concerning the dispatch, to Lebanon, of a peace force including Libyan, Algerian, Syrian, Sudanese, Saudi, and Palestinian contingents.

\_this day in full the books also date it 9 June 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Picard (2016) dates to 9 June 1976 the Arab League Council resolution, taken in Cairo, that created an Arab peace force. Hanf has some 2,000 Sudanese arriving first, then Libyans; Picard (2002) says Tripoli sent 500 men in June.

June 16, 1976wednesday
The US ambassador in Lebanon, Francis Meloy, the US economic advisor, Robert Waring, and the driver of the US embassy were assassinated after being kidnapped. They were about to cross the borderline between West and East Beirut.

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Fisk reports that the bodies of Ambassador Francis Meloy, his economic counsellor Robert Waring and their Lebanese driver, abducted near the Museum crossing, were found that evening at Ramlet al-Baida, and that Arafat, once sure of the three Palestinians responsible, sent them to Tyre. De Clerck and Malsagne judge that the murders ended American efforts at a settlement through the Lebanese parties.

July 5, 1976monday
The PLO and their allies launched a massive offensive against the Kura and the Christian town of Chekka north of Beirut.

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Hanf writes that once Jisr al-Pasha fell on 1 July the Palestinians struck in the north, taking coastal Chekka from Tripoli by way of the Koura, with massacres, looting and arson. A Lebanese Front counter-attack with army tanks reached Tripoli's outskirts.

September 15, 1976wednesday
One week before the expiry of his mandate, President Frangieh carried out a spectacular government reshuffling. Rachid Karameh was appointed Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture, Tourism, Housing, and Cooperatives; Camille Chamoun vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Interior, Foreign Affairs, and National Defense; Addel Osseirane Minister of Justice, National Education, and Plan; Magid Arslane Minister of Public Works, Transportation, Hydraulic and Electric Resources, and Health; Ghassan Tueini Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Information, Industry and Oil; and Georges Skaff Minister of Finance, Economy and Trade, and Posts and Telecommunications.

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November 15, 1976monday
Phase 2 of the peace plan started.
The Arab Strike Force including mainly Syrians started to advance on various axes leading to the heart of the capital, as well as the Chouf, the Kesrouan, and Jbeil. 8,000 infantrymen and 250 armored vehicles converged towards the districts of Beirut and the front line.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 November 1976, 16 November 1976 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf puts the entry of about 6,000 Syrian soldiers, in the peace force's green helmets, into East and West Beirut on 14 November. Fisk's report in The Times of 16 November dated their occupation of the whole city to the previous morning, with 6,000 men and hundreds of tanks; the last firing, near the port, ended on 16 November, Fisk recounts.

November 16, 1976tuesday
According to Ghassan Tueni, who was in Geneva asking for help from international organizations, 'In 18 months, the Lebanese war killed 60,000 persons, injured 200 000 others, and made 1.7 million homeless persons.'

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Later estimates for the 'two-year war' are below the figures quoted here. Published death tolls, de Clerck and Malsagne note, run from 15,000 to 40,000, and the displaced numbered at least 200,000. In The Times of 16 November 1976 Fisk reported almost 40,000 dead.

March 16, 1977wednesday
Kamal Joumblatt was assassinated
He was leaving Moukhtara when he and two other passengers were killed. An ambush was set up not far from an Arab Strike Force control post. This assassination aroused a huge wave of disapproval. A call for a strike was immediately issued. The country was in mourning. Chief of the Lebanese left wing, leader of the Druze community, author of several political books, coming from a famous family in the Chouf, Kamal Joumblatt was born in 1917 in Moukhtara, with essentially an eclectic spirit. After he graduated from the Law school in Saint Joseph University in Beirut, he went into politics very young. In 1946 he was elected for the first time Deputy of the Chouf in the Parliament and three years later he was appointed Minister of Economy and Agriculture. In 1949, he founded the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). Three months before his assassination, he had given up politics.

\_this day in full the books also date it 17 March 1977 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Jumblatt was ambushed near a Syrian checkpoint of the Arab Deterrent Force; Fisk places it on the mountain road near Baaqlin. Most historians give 16 March 1977 (Traboulsi, de Clerck and Malsagne, the Confluences authors, and Hanf on one page); Hanf elsewhere and Ménargues give 17 March, which Ménargues ties to the burial. His son Walid took over, and Christians were killed in reprisal in Chouf villages. Hanf writes that most politicians, Muslims above all, took the murder as a warning against defying Syria openly, and that Jumblatt had attacked the Syrian presence in speech and print, in Lebanon and abroad.

April 5, 1977tuesday
The officials were satisfied with the ongoing excavations in the heart of the city where the most damaged sectors were located, for they exhumed valuable Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine vestiges.

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April 16, 1977saturday
The Cairo agreement will be applied progressively. The worried Lebanese have been waiting for a long time for this agreement to be implemented.

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June 15, 1977wednesday
Charles Aznavour was the first star to come to Lebanon during the war. He sang in Byblos in front of a Lebanese audience trying to forget the nightmare of the last two years.

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September 16, 1977friday
15 cholera cases were reported in Lebanon.
The officials in the Health and Education departments recommended putting off the re-opening of schools to November 10.

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November 5, 1977saturday
An odious murder was committed against Abdel-Hamid Ahdab. He was a strong defender of an inter-Lebanese dialogue in favor of an absolute allegiance to the country. The powerful explosion placed in Ahdab's residence killed his daughter and seriously injured him and his spouse. This criminal act was perpetrated against democracy, freedom of speech and reconciliation between the Lebanese.

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November 15, 1977tuesday
The performance of Joe Dassin at the Casino du Liban conquered the Lebanese.

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March 15, 1978wednesday
According to a report issued by the Ministry of Finance, the losses in the public sector were estimated at 7.5 billion Lebanese Pounds.

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June 5, 1978monday
Ghassan Tueini proposed, at the UN General Assembly, an 'international neutrality to protect Lebanon, because this country has no longer any other future besides explosion or invasion'. A UN force would take in charge the protection of the territory, while the army would devote its efforts to internal security and reconstruction.

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November 16, 1978thursday
According to a study done by the national federation of syndicates, the cost of living had increased by 90% in four years.

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December 5, 1978tuesday
The Arab tripartite committee including Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and a Syrian general, met in Baabda in presence of the chief of State. The committee excluded any immediate resort to the army.

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January 5, 1979friday
Lebanon entered a complacency phase.
All sides seemed decided to wait for important regional developments to unfold in order to re-evaluate the situation and define the course of action. The situation was very tense in the South where the Israelis were shelling the Hasbaya region.

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January 16, 1979tuesday
The disappearance of the Imam Sadr was back on the news. Seven young Lebanese Shiite militiamen hijacked the MEA Boeing 720, in order to attract the world's attention on the sequestration of the Imam. The militants affirmed that General Kadhafi, who was vigorously opposed to the Palestinian settlement in Lebanon, detained Imam Moussa Sadr. The hijackers surrendered to the Lebanese justice at night.

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February 5, 1979monday
New identity cards bearing no mention of religion, were also due to be released soon.

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May 15, 1979tuesday
The Phalange Party and the LNP merged under the sign of cooperation with the State.

\_this day in full the books also date it 12 May 1979 \_on this day

\_what the books add

De Clerck and Malsagne date the start of the fighting between Kataeb and National Liberal Party militias to 12 May 1979, at Furn el-Chebbak; clashes recurred in various places until July 1980.

May 16, 1979wednesday
The Hoss cabinet resigned.

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June 16, 1979saturday
After murderous combats, the Lebanese authorities decided to send the army to Ain el Remmane at the beginning of the week.

\_this day in full the books also date it 12 May 1979, 18 June 1979 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Bashir Gemayel's men fought a bloody battle with army units sent, at Pierre Gemayel's and Camille Chamoun's request, to separate the Kataeb and National Liberal militias, at war since 12 May. De Clerck and Malsagne call it the first serious armed clash between the army and a Lebanese militia, dating it once to 14 June and once to 18 June.

July 16, 1979monday
Two months after the resignation of the Hoss Cabinet formed at the end of the 75-76 war, Selim El Hoss announced the formation of his second Cabinet. The ministerial team included:
Selim El Hoss: Prime Minister - Fouad Boutros: Vice-president of the Council and Minister of Foreign affairs - Charles Helou: Minister of State - Bahige Takieddine: Minister of Interior and Tourism - Joseph Skaff: Minister of Defense and Agriculture - Anouar Sabbah: Minister of Resources and Industry - Ali El Khalil: Minister of Finance - Nazem Kadri: Minister of Social Affairs - Boutros Harb: Minister of Education and Public Works - Talal Merhabi: Minister of Health and Economy - Youssef Germanos: Minister of Justice and Information

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August 16, 1979thursday
The Lebanese weightlifter Mohammed Traboulsi won several gold medals during the 11th Asian championship of weightlifting that was taking place in Tokyo.

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September 15, 1979saturday
Several hundreds of women gathered at the Arts and Crafts garden and head towards the office of the Prime Minister. Most of them were originally from the South and they were claiming peace.

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November 16, 1979friday
The dollar registered its highest level in Beirut, reaching 347 Lebanese Pounds, something that never happened before.

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February 5, 1980tuesday
Mgr Elias Audeh was elected the Greek Orthodox Metropolite of Beirut.

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March 5, 1980wednesday
In a message addressed to the Nation, the President of the Republic proclaimed the State's Arab and internal options. He rejected the Camp David agreements, and underlined the coordination between Lebanon and Syria wile respecting the sovereignty of both countries. Furthermore, he refused the idea of creating mini-states and reassured his attachment to freedom.

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\_what the books add

Probably the text Picard lists as President Sarkis's 'Fourteen Points' (March 1980), one of the drafts that fed into the Taif Accord. Traboulsi notes that in that same month an American spokesman called on Lebanon to sign up to the Camp David accords.

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