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98 news for the 9th, 13th, 31st of every month

with the books

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April 13, 1975sunday
A serious incident opposed the Phalange (Kataeb) Party to the Resistance in Ain El Remmaneh causing 31 deaths.
These people were on board of a bus bringing back from Tell El Zaatar members of Palestinian Organizations who had just participated in a Resistance meeting. Because of the incident, tension rose in the Palestinian camp and in many surrounding towns. Authorities and mediators were trying to calm the waters and ask the Phalange Party leader, Pierre Gemayel, to hand over those responsible of the incident to the Lebanese Justice.

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The day began with shootings near the church in Ain al-Rummaneh, where Pierre Gemayel was attending a consecration; his bodyguard Joseph Bou Assi was killed. In the early afternoon Kataeb militiamen fired on a bus returning to Tal al-Za'tar from a rally of the Arab Liberation Front. Most historians count 27 dead (Hanf, Fisk, de Clerck and Malsagne: 27 of 35 passengers); Traboulsi gives 21 and Ménargues 31. According to de Clerck and Malsagne the bus carried Palestinians and Lebanese in equal numbers, all men. Fighting spread that evening across the suburbs of Beirut.

August 31, 1975sunday
Despite the latest events, Demis Roussos sang in Beirut and put some balm on the hearts of the Lebanese people.

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July 13, 1976tuesday
William Hawi, commnander of the Kataeb military forces was shot and killed by a sniper whilst he was inspecting his forces on the edge of the Tel el Zaatar camp.

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Ménargues has William Hawi shot by a Palestinian sniper in June 1976, at the end of the Tal al-Za'tar siege; Traboulsi places it during the siege. Bashir Gemayel succeeded him as Kataeb militia chief.

November 9, 1976tuesday
President Elias Sarkis appointed Colonel Ahmad Hajj commander of the Arab Strike Force.

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Ménargues names only Sami al-Khatib. Traboulsi confirms that the Arab Deterrent Force's first Lebanese commander was Ahmad al-Hajj, who did not gain Syria's favour and was quickly replaced by al-Khatib.

November 9, 1976tuesday
Phase 1of the peace plan assigned to the Arab Strike Force takes effect tonight.
The 'Green Helmets' began their deployment at midnight and headed towards the mountain on four simultaneous axes. This positioning was difficult due to the blind bombings of the residential districts of Beirut.

\_this day in full the books also date it 10 November 1976 \_on this day

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Fisk: Kahhaleh showed white flags and Hazmiyeh's Christians threw rice and rose water at the crews as at least 20 miles of Syrian tanks, guns and troop carriers came down on Beirut from dawn on 10 November.

December 9, 1976thursday
President Sarkis asked Salim El Hoss to form the Government.
The new Cabinet included: Salim El Hoss: Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Trade, Industry and Oil, and Information. Fouad Boutros: Vice-President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, and National Defense. Salah Salman: Minister of Interior, and Housing and Cooperatives. Ibrahim Cheaito: Minister of Health and Hydraulic and Electric Resources. Amine Bizri: Minister of Public Works, Transportation, and Tourism. Michel Doumit: Minister of Plan Assaad Risk: Minster of Social Affairs, National Education and Fine Arts, and Agriculture. Farid Raphael: Minister of Justice, Finance, and Posts and Telecommunications.

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Its members were technocrats and businessmen; the one politician, Fouad Boutros, held both foreign affairs and defence (Traboulsi). Early on, at Syria's behest, it brought in press censorship (Hanf, Fisk); Traboulsi also mentions an order for militias to surrender their arms.

May 13, 1977friday
An Antonov-12 air freighter belonging to the Polish company LOT crashed in the forest of Aramoun. The airplane that was returning from Warsaw carried a shipment of meat and seven crewmembers who perished in the accident.

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July 13, 1977wednesday
Dalida sang in Byblos and charmed the Lebanese.

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August 9, 1977tuesday
The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias charmed the Lebanese beauties with his beautiful voice.

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October 9, 1977sunday
Charbel Makhlouf was proclaimed Saint of the Catholic Church during a moving religious ceremony that Pope Paul VI presided in the Saint Paul Basilica in the Vatican. Thousands of people attended the ceremony, including some miraculous Lebanese. It was a touching moment for the whole Christian community in Lebanon. The Lebanese Maronite delegation carried gifts to the Saint: markouk bred, wine, fruits from the Kesrouan, a partridge and a cedar. The hermit of Annaya became the first Orient Saint canonized by Rome.

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Once canonised, Saint Charbel stood for 'Maronite identity' and for the protection of a predominantly Christian Lebanon.

November 9, 1977wednesday
Israel launched an assault in the South. An air and sea Israeli bombing of Lebanese towns and Palestinian camps claimed the lives of 110 civilians. The town of Ezzieh was razed.

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May 31, 1978wednesday
A Sarkis-Assad summit was held in Lattaquieh. They discussed the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon, the military cooperation between the two countries, and the difficulties encountered in the pacification process in Lebanon.

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June 13, 1978tuesday
A dramatic event was reported in Zghorta. A chock commando killed Tony Frangieh, deputy and son of the President Sleiman Frangieh, his wife Vera and their daughter Jihane, at their home in Ehden. The murder of Tony Frangieh took place while the conflict between the Phalange Party and the Zghortiotes was at its peak.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 June 1978 \_on this day

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Historians date the Ehden killings to 13 June (de Clerck and Malsagne) or 14 June (Hanf). A unit of some 200 men (Traboulsi) led by Samir Geagea attacked the Frangieh residence; besides Tony Frangieh, his wife and their three-year-old daughter, about thirty relatives and supporters were killed. The Phalange presented the raid as retaliation for the killing of their local leader Jud al-Bayeh in early June; Bashir Gemayel denied ordering the killing of the family. The raid also turned on control of the Chekka cement works. Syrian troops then occupied Ehden and much of the north.

July 31, 1978monday
Lebanese Army units were dispatched to South Lebanon.
They remained there until the end of the year. Christian militias supported by Israel in the South stopped their advance.

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Hanf writes that Major Haddad's forces fired at Kaukaba on the units sent south in early August, men of the 'vanguard' Syria trusted, and drove them into retreat. Haddad later rebelled openly against the army command, and Israel took over paying his men.

August 13, 1978sunday
A bomb destroyed an eight floor building where the offices of the Palestine Liberation Front were located. The explosion killed 150 persons.

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May 9, 1979wednesday
President Elias Sarkis urged the United Nations and the Arabs to assume their responsibilities. The chief of the State violently condemned the repeated Israeli aggressions against Lebanon qualifying them of flagrant challenge to human principles.

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May 13, 1979sunday
Amine Gemayel, deputy of the Northern Metn and member of the Phalange Party's political bureau, escaped from an assassination attempt that nearly cost him his two children's life. A plastic explosive (20 kg of TNT) tied to a 122 mm bomb placed in a trunk of a tree, exploded at the time Amine Gemayel's car went by. He was injured in the face. This incident caused a general strike in the Eastern regions.

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May 31, 1979thursday
At the meeting of the Security Council, Lebanon claimed the reinforcement of the UNIFL. Moreover, Beirut requested the condemnation of Israel and the re-activation of the Armistice Commission.

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August 9, 1979thursday
The Cabinet won the Parliament's confidence by the majority of 54 votes against nine.

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August 13, 1979monday
The Iraqi ambassador was wounded during an attack in Jnah.

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August 31, 1979friday
On the occasion of the first anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr, a general strike paralyzed Beirut. For the first time Sheikh Mohammed Mehdi chamseddine accused the Libyans of his disappearance.

\_this day in full the books also date it 25 August 1978 \_on this day

February 9, 1980saturday
Bahige Takieddine, Minister of Interior and Tourism, and deputy of the Chouf, died from a heart attack.
The Presidency of the Republic ordered national funerals and three days of mourning. Bahige Takieddine was born in 1909 in Baakline in the Chouf. He studied at the French Lycée then went to the Law School at Saint Joseph University. He was minister several times since 1974.

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February 13, 1980wednesday
The Phalangist deputy from Jezzine, Edmond Risk was kidnapped, causing a rising tension in the region.

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March 9, 1980sunday
Edmond Rizk who had been kept hostage in Zghorta since February 13, was released.

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March 13, 1980thursday
Fights opposed Amal to the Fateh, killing seven persons in the Ouzaï-Aramoun region. Leaders of the National Movement started to mediate between the two parties to end the dispute.

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Hanf: early in 1980 Amal fought the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front in Beirut's suburbs while Fatah tried to mediate, as relations between Shi'is and Palestinians grew worse; the fighting later reached the south.

April 9, 1980wednesday
The Council of Ministers raised the wages in the private sector by 29%. The ceiling of the raise was fixed at 625 Lebanese Pound, while the floor of the raise was fixed at 150 Lebanese pounds. The minimum salary increased therefore from 525 to 675 Lebanese Pounds.

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May 31, 1980saturday
The Lebanese championship of athletics was held for the first time since 1975.

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June 13, 1980friday
The European Community called upon all parties in her meeting in Venice, inviting them to end all actions that might harm Lebanon's independence and sovereignty.

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July 9, 1980wednesday
The employees of the civil aviation launched an open strike at the Beirut International Airport.

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July 13, 1980sunday
A bomb exploded in a movie theater at Mazraa killing 5 persons and injuring 18.

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August 9, 1980saturday
President Takieddine Solh announced that he will suspend his efforts to form a new Cabinet. 'It is still not possible to put together a government of active forces,' he said.

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Ménargues attributes Solh's failure to a Syrian veto.

August 13, 1980wednesday
President Sarkis rejected, in front of Gaston Thor, the President of the Council of Ministers of the EEC, the settlement of the Palestinians in Lebanon as part of the global settlement of the Middle East problem.

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October 31, 1980friday
The Lebanese army evacuated Ain el Remmaneh and gathered on the Damascus road and on major Streets.

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De Clerck and Malsagne date Lebanese Forces control of East Beirut to this day; Ménargues dates the final takeover of Ain el-Remmaneh to late November. See the note on 27 October.

November 9, 1980sunday
Three young men from Hammana were killed in awful conditions. Their bodies were found in a well in the Chouf.

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December 31, 1980wednesday
A Syrian-Israeli air fight took place in the Lebanese sky. Damascus admited that its two Migs were hit and that two Israeli airplanes were shot down. Tel-Aviv denied this information.

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January 9, 1981friday
A new phase of the war started in Lebanon: the war of televisions. The 'Lebanese Forces' wanted to broadcast under the name 'Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation' and the Mourabitun seemed to be willing to give them hard time. As a result, they both emitted on the same channel and thus jammed the image.

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January 31, 1981saturday
A violent storm hit Lebanon.
50 cars were totally stuck between Sofar and Mdeirej and their occupants spent the night in their vehicles. The Army was able to rescue 200 persons in the mountain.

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February 13, 1981friday
The kidnapping on February 6 in Beirut of the chargé d'affaires of Jordan in Lebanon, remained at the center of preoccupation of the country's leaders. They adopted a series of security measures for the protection of embassies.

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February 13, 1981friday
A Syrian-Israeli air duel took place in the sky of the Bekaa region.

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March 13, 1981friday
A Lebanese Army unit positioned in the Kantara locality following an agreement with the UNIFL commandant. On March 15, 50 soldiers deployed in the village of Chaqra. However, Saad Haddad was opposed to the reinforcement of the Army in the South.

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