De Clerck (p. 350) places the traffic in 1987 and implicates the Lebanese Forces. Its figures, from Greenpeace: 15,800 barrels and 20 containers from Italy, of which 5,500 barrels went back in 1988-1989; the rest was burned, dumped or buried, partly in the Kesrouan mountains.

De Clerck (pp. 170, 576) dates the fall of Chatila to 28 June 1988, after 59 days of shelling; Arafat's fighters were escorted to Ain al-Hilweh.

Hanf (pp. 569-570): the joint US-Syrian proposal came out of three days of talks in Damascus from 15 September, after which Murphy warned the Maronite Patriarch that the alternative to Daher was chaos.

Hanf (p. 570) says Gemayel signed the decrees at 23.45, after an ultimatum from Aoun and Geagea, and that the cabinet had six officers from six communities. Traboulsi's postscript dates the end of the term to October 1988, and Picard (p. 155) and Quéméner to August 1988; the other sources agree on 22 September.

De Clerck (p. 104) says Soha Bechara was then tortured and jailed for ten years at Khiam. Hanf (p. 321) dates the attempt to December 1988.

De Clerck (p. 283) dates the appointment to 10 November and says Hoss made it; Hanf (p. 571) says early November. On 12 November Aoun's cabinet referred al-Khatib to the military court.

Picard dates this round to 28 November 1988, Hanf to early December.

Hanf: Aoun told the Tunis meeting he could settle Lebanese differences himself once Syria withdrew; Hoss and Husseini put reform first.

Hanf cites estimates of 15,000 troops under Aoun and 10,000 militiamen, both sides heavily armed by Iraq, and dates the outbreak of heavy army-Lebanese Forces fighting to 10 February, Aoun accusing the militia of plotting a coup. De Clerck and Malsagne date the first clash to 14 February.

De Clerck and Malsagne date the first army-LF clash to 14 February: after 18 hours of fighting the army had the upper hand. Hanf dates the start to 10 February.

De Clerck and Malsagne have a truce under the Maronite Patriarch's patronage from 17 February. Hanf says Aoun accepted a ceasefire once the militia agreed to hand over Dock Five of the port and the Bourbara checkpoint.

Hanf reports that within a week the dollar dropped from LL502 to LL450 and that state customs income rose quickly, though the Lebanese Forces honoured their February 1989 undertaking only in part. The army received Dock Five, the country's main customs post, and the Barbara checkpoint (Hanf spells it 'Bourbara').

The committee was set up at the Arab summit in Casablanca, which opened on 23 May 1989 (Hanf).

According to Hanf and Fisk, the embassy closed after demonstrations by Aoun's supporters. A first youth protest at the embassy, against Western 'silence', took place in April 1989.

Hanf says Kadri had lobbied deputies to press for Syria's withdrawal from the Bekaa before Taif. He groups the killing with those of Bashir Gemayel, Kamal Jumblatt, Hassan Khaled and Mohammed Shukair, all of which, in his view, plainly benefited Syria.

The dates differ: Picard ends the 'war of liberation' on 22 September; de Clerck and Malsagne say the ceasefire took effect on 23 September. Hanf dates the troika's new plan to 13 September (de Clerck and Malsagne say 17 September). Aoun accepted it, urging the deputies to insist on a timetable for Syrian withdrawal.

The meeting date of 30 September was already part of the troika's 13 September proposals (Hanf). De Clerck and Malsagne say 63 of the 73 surviving deputies gathered in Taif on 30 September. Hanf dates the formal opening to 1 October.