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June 30, 1977thursday
On the last day of its full-powers, the Council of Ministers published a series of decree-laws. The most important ones stipulated the revision of certain laws relative to the Lebanese University, the amendment of some press censorship laws, and the adoption of the mandatory car insurance.
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September 8, 1977thursday
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim called upon all conflicting parties in Southern Lebanon urging them to fully participate in the efforts aiming at reaching a cease-fire in the region.
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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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September 20, 1977tuesday
While bombardments and fights were taking place along the border since September 16, Radio Israel announced that Israel had sent a warning to Syria, indicating that no Syrian troop movement will be tolerated in Southern Lebanon.
\_this day in full the books also date it 21 September 1977 \_on this day
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Robert Fisk, who reported from the area, saw Israeli tanks on Lebanese soil near Ibl al-Saqi and Israeli shelling of Christian villages such as Rachaya al-Fukhar, where Palestinian guerrillas had dug in.
September 25, 1977sunday
Following efforts deployed by the American government in Tel Aviv, a cease-fire came into effect in Southern Lebanon. During the past few days, fights reached their maximum intensity especially in the Khyam region.
\_this day in full the books also date it 26 September 1977 \_on this day
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Israel's Christian allies emerged with a slightly wider strip, spanning nearly the whole frontier from sea to Hermon; Fisk dates the tank withdrawal to 26 September.
September 28, 1977wednesday
Demis Roussos was back to Lebanon to give a concert. 'I am glad to be in Lebanon especially after what happened', he declared.
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April 11, 1978tuesday
Violent fights were reported on the axis Chyah-Ain el Remmaneh. The Arab Strike Force intervened, bombing violently Ain el Remmaneh and establishing a 500-meter wide buffer zone.
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By now Syria was fighting on the Palestinians' side. Hanf says the clashes ended once the Arab Deterrent Force's Saudi and Sudanese contingents deployed between Chiyah and Ain el-Remmaneh.
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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April 23, 1978sunday
At the Villa Mansour, the committee of the ' Thirteen ', that included leaders from all parliamentary blocks, adopted a blueprint claiming the end of the Palestinian armed action on the entire Lebanese territory. The Parliament unanimously approved the resolution on the 27th of April.
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Neither parliament nor president could enforce the resolution, Hanf notes. The 74 deputies in attendance passed it without dissent: it reserved arms to the legitimate Lebanese forces, told the Palestinians and 'other parties' to end armed action, and applied Lebanese law to all on Lebanese soil.
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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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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June 6, 1978tuesday
The Lebanese Front stiffened its position.
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.
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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.
June 17, 1978saturday
President Sleiman Frangieh declared that no Phalangist member will stay alive in the North of Lebanon. The vendetta caused the death of tens of persons. Phalangist militiamen were forced to flee towards Batroun then Jbeil.
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Hanf writes that the Lebanese Front was left with an enclave of roughly a tenth of Lebanon once Syrian troops had moved into the northern Christian mountains, Koura, Batroun and the coast as far as the Madfoun bridge. Frangieh gave Kataeb members in the north until the month's end to give up their weapons and quit the party, or else leave.
June 28, 1978wednesday
A massacre of a unique atrocity was perpetrated in the North of the Bekaa region.
Forty persons from the Christian town of Kaa and its surroundings were kidnapped from their homes at night. 26 were executed at dawn, and their bodies were left in a mass grave. The Lebanese population and especially the Greek Catholic community, to which the victims belonged, were terrorized and distressed.
\_this day in full the books also date it 27 June 1978, 29 June 1978 \_on this day
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The Qaa massacre is dated to the night of 27-28 June (de Clerck and Malsagne) or to 29 June (Hanf); Ras Baalbek and Jdeidet al-Fakiha were also raided. De Clerck and Malsagne blame Syrians in civilian clothes, carrying name lists and guided by local Christian members of the SSNP and the Communist Party, and see the killings as revenge for Ehden. Hanf counts 26 dead, de Clerck and Malsagne 32 to 36. The community's Supreme Council asked that a day of national mourning be held.
September 10, 1978sunday
Imam Moussa Sadr, a Shiite leader disappeared while visiting Libya. Libyans asserted that he left Tripoli for Rome. Sadr never arrived to Rome, and the Lebanese were worried.
\_this day in full the books also date it 25 August 1978, 13 September 1978 \_on this day
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Musa al-Sadr travelled to Libya on 25 August (de Clerck and Malsagne) at the invitation of the Libyan government (Ménargues) and was never seen again; Hanf dates the disappearance to September. Beirut papers speculated about the Shah's secret police or Libyan intelligence. Fisk writes that he was almost certainly killed in Libya. The loss mobilised the Shi'a and later strengthened Amal.
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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September 23, 1978saturday
After President Sarkis delivered a speech underlining the necessity to maintain the Arab Strike Force and guarantee the forthcoming withdrawal of Syrian forces, about 200 shells hit Achrafieh. The population panicked.
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Schools, hospitals and factories were destroyed in the new bombardment, and Lebanese gendarmes logged 2,000 impacts a day in Achrafieh. Hanf links it to the Camp David agreement reached a few days before.
September 26, 1978tuesday
President Alfred Naccache was dead from pneumonia. He was 91 years old. He was President of the Republic between 1941 and 1943, under the French mandate. After the independence, he was given several ministerial functions, before he retired from politics. He was born in Beirut in 1887 and studied law at Saint Joseph University. He became advisor for the supreme court of appeal, and then headed the appeal court. In 1941, he became President of the Republic until March 18, 1943. He was titular of several honorific distinctions such as the great cordon of the cedar order.
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September 28, 1978thursday
It is the famous ' Black Thursday ' where hundreds of shells hit Achrafieh in a murderous frenzy that did not spare anyone. The Arab Strike Force and the Lebanese Front accused each other of being responsible of this nightmare, while women, children and elderly persons were dying.
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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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December 8, 1978friday
A serious incident was reported in Jounieh.
A Phalangist leader, Elie Hobeika, was arrested at an army checkpoint in Nahr el Kalb. The incident degenerated into fights and the entire region flared up. A helicopter transporting Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and flying over the region was hit by submachine-gun shots. The Saudi ambassador was injured.
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Ménargues writes that when the Moukafaha, Johnny Abdo's own intervention unit, arrested Elie Hobeika for allegedly having the Saudi ambassador's helicopter fired on, Bashir Gemayel had about a hundred army officers abducted; they were traded for Hobeika three weeks later.
December 20, 1978wednesday
April 2, 1979monday
A rocket attack was launched against the American embassy in Beirut. Three missiles were shot from a car. Small damages were reported.
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April 6, 1979friday
A general strike to protest against the insufficient salary increase paralyzed the country. The syndicates granted a delay of 3 months to the government.
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April 8, 1979sunday
The United Arab Emirates called back their "Green Helmets". Syria was the only country running for the next Arabic Strike Force mandate.
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April 10, 1979tuesday
Israel launched a double air strike against military targets in Tyr and Damour. 3 people dead and 15 injured were reported. President Hoss began an Arab tour trying to obtain the renewal of the mandate of the Arabic Strike Force.
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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.
April 21, 1979saturday
The United States reaffirmed through their ambassador in Lebanon, their support to President Elias Sarkis and considered Saad Haddad and his men as rebels.
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April 22, 1979sunday
In a new episode of the vendetta opposing the Zghoriotes to the Phalangists, a massacre was perpetrated in Shmout, in the caza of Jbeil, where the Marada shot 11 Phalangist militiamen.
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April 26, 1979thursday
While Israel was bombing several localities in the South, the Security Council restated its support to the unity and integrity of Lebanon.
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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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June 14, 1979thursday
After having renewed the UNIFL mandate for six months, the United Nations proclaimed the validity of the Armistice Commission. The Security Council deplored Israeli aggressions and asked all parties to cooperate with the blue helmets.
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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
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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.
June 21, 1979thursday
Violent combats with heavy armaments opposed the Lebanese army and the Arab Strike Force at the jurd of Akoura killing 7 Lebanese and injuring 19 persons, 13 of which were militiamen.
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