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401 news for February, June, September, November

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February 29, 1984wednesday
President Amine Gemayel visited Damascus. The observers expected a normalization soon after. Indeed, the Syrian President approved the opening of new round Israeli-Lebanese negotiations.

\_this day in full the books also date it 24 February 1984, 26 February 1984 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Ménargues gives two different days for this visit: 24 February in his prologue and 26 February in another passage. Hanf and Fisk both give 29 February. Fisk notes a 21-gun salute; Hanf says Gemayel told Assad he was ready to abrogate the 17 May agreement.

June 7, 1984thursday
It was impossible to put an end to the blind shelling. No one, neither a national union government, nor a 4-party military commission, was able to stop the bombardment of the residential areas which started 24 hours ago and had caused 5 dead and 37 injured persons so far.

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June 8, 1984friday
16 French observers positioned on the 888 hill and at Kalaat El Hosn in the mountain.

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June 11, 1984monday
This is one of the most violent days since 1976. No words are enough to describe the ongoing butchery. 90 persons lost their lives and 353 were wounded on this single day.

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June 12, 1984tuesday
While Lebanon was burying its dead, the Parliament voted the confidence by 53 votes against 15, and 3 abstentions. The Chamber extended its mandate for 2 years.

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June 18, 1984monday
As a result of marathon debates launched by Khaddam in Bickfaya, Gemayel, Karameh, Berri and Joumblatt agreed on a global security plan.

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June 23, 1984saturday
54 days after its formation, the Karameh government adopted a new security plan as well as a new defense law. A military council comprising six members was created and Michel Aoun was appointed commander in chief of the Army.
Michel Aoun was born in 1935 in Haret Hreik, in the Southern suburbs of Beirut. He started his military carrier in 1955 when he was 20 years old. He specialized in artillery, and accomplished several military trainings in France and the United States before spending 2 years, from 1978 to 1980, at the Ecole de Guerre (War Academy) in Paris. Back to Lebanon, he was promoted to corporal and, on the 24th of June 1984, he became commander in chief of the Army.

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\_what the books add

De Clerck and Malsagne give 23 June 1984 for Aoun's appointment, which contradicts the '24th of June' in the entry's own biography text. Hanf calls Aoun, commander of the Souk al-Gharb front, well liked by soldiers of both religions, and says the security plan was accepted only once the six-member command council was in place.

June 27, 1984wednesday
The Israeli aviation and navy bombed the Rabbits Island off Tripoli. 15 fishermen were injured.

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September 4, 1984tuesday
Joseph Hachem was appointed Minister of Health and Posts and Telecommunications in replacement of Pierre Gemayel. Malek Salam was appointed president of the Council for Development and Reconstruction. The mandate of Michel El Khoury, Governor of the Central Bank, was extended.

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September 5, 1984wednesday
The Minister Selim El Hoss escaped, one more time, from a car bomb killing attempt in Raoucheh.

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September 6, 1984thursday
At the United Nations, the United States vetoed a Lebanese draft resolution submitted to the Security Council. This draft resolution requested from Israel, the 'occupying force', to respect civil rights in South Lebanon.

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September 15, 1984saturday
The participants in a round-table on Lebanon held in Lausane concluded that '15 billion dollars spread out on 10 years were needed for the reconstruction of Lebanon.' An international association comprising important persons from the world of economics and finance organized this meeting.

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September 16, 1984sunday
The fraud scandal at the baccalaureate exams repeated itself. The exams were cancelled in eight centers in West Beirut.

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September 17, 1984monday
The ministerial 'conclaves' started in Bickfaya in presence of the chief of State. On that same day, Brian Urqhart, United Nations Assistant Secretary General, arrived to Beirut to prepare the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations regarding an Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon.

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September 20, 1984thursday
A car bomb exploded next to the US embassy in Aoukar. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack that caused 11 dead and 96 injured. In Sohmor in the West of the Bekaa, the Army of South Lebanon opened fire on a crowd gathered on the place of the village, killing 24 persons and injuring 96.

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Fisk reports that a suicide bomber, claimed by 'Islamic Jihad', blew up the new US embassy, wounding the American and British ambassadors; a British security man had shot the driver first. Sohmor he dates to late September 1984: Druze SLA men, avenging three Druze comrades shot in an ambush, opened fire on the men of the village assembled in its square, killing 13 and wounding 30. This entry's 24 dead and 96 injured may be a copying error, since 96 injured is also the embassy figure.

September 28, 1984friday
Richard Murphy, the American under-secretary of State visited Beirut as part of a regional trip in preparation for the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations.

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November 7, 1984wednesday
A new round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations started in Nakoura, 8 months after the abrogation of the May 17 agreement. These negotiations resumed on November 15. But deep disagreements appeared regarding the roles of the Lebanese Army, the South Lebanon Army and the UNIFL.

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\_what the books add

The original entries do not agree with each other: entry 792 says the talks were to open on 5 November, this entry says 7 November.

November 14, 1984wednesday
The Council of Ministers decided to charge the Military Council with the responsibility of deploying the Army from Tripoli to the Awali river.

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November 25, 1984sunday
The Army took control of Beirut, where 6000 soldiers deployed in the capital but without really controlling the situation.

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February 1, 1985friday
An assault against a mosque in Tripoli caused eight deaths and 66 injuries.

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February 4, 1985monday
Nothing could stop the dollar from rising. For the first time, the green bill was exchanged for over 15 Pounds on the Beirut stock market while the French Franc was quoted at 1.55 Pounds. The Lebanese authorities requested help from Saudi Arabia and asked Rafic Hariri to intercede with King Fahd to grant Lebanon 500 million dollars to boost the economy.

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Annual figures: the pound fell to about 16 to the dollar in 1985 against 6.5 in 1984, with retail inflation of about 70 per cent (Hanf, citing Abou Rjaily and Labaki); de Clerck and Malsagne put the 1985 devaluation at 150 per cent. Hanf notes that rumours of large PLO deposits briefly strengthened the pound in early 1985.

February 7, 1985thursday
Crewmembers of a Cyprus Airways Boeing were held hostages for 5 hours at the Beirut International Airport, by armed elements from Hay El Sellom. As a result, the company suspends its flights to Beirut.

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February 17, 1985sunday
The army made a triumphal entrance in Saida. The transition was smooth and no incident followed the Israeli departure.

\_this day in full the books also date it 9 January 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Traboulsi dates Israel's exit from Sidon to 17 February 1985. Fisk describes Christians and Muslims briefly celebrating together when Lebanese troops arrived.

February 17, 1985sunday
President Gemayel made an unexpected visit to Saida where he was warmly acclaimed. The next day, Islamist women in chador demonstrated in Saida and burnt a Lebanese flag. They also destroyed bars and cafZs, and chanted slogans against the legal authorities.

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Prime Minister Rashid Karami travelled with Gemayel. Hanf records kidnappings of Christians and counter-kidnappings after several thousand Islamists from Beirut rallied in Sidon next day for an Islamic republic while the army stood aside.

February 23, 1985saturday
A security inspector hijacked a Beirut-Paris MEA flight. A passenger was killed and 13 others were injured. The hijacker had wage claims.

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A passenger died on the runway, flung there by the jets' blast, because the hijacker, Fisk writes, made the Larnaca plane take off with its doors open.

June 6, 1985thursday
Israel officially completed its withdrawal from South Lebanon. Nevertheless, several Israeli soldiers continued to occupy the Security Zone. In reality, the last Israeli armored vehicle left Lebanon on June 10 after an accident in which Israel lost 654 deaths and 3890 injured, and four disappeared soldiers.

\_this day in full the books also date it 17 February 1985, 28 December 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Israeli losses: de Clerck and Malsagne count 670 dead and nearly 3,000 wounded between June 1982 and June 1985 (and 721 dead and 3,890 wounded for the whole war); Traboulsi writes of some 500 dead. Israel kept a 'security zone' policed with Lahad's South Lebanon Army.

June 11, 1985tuesday
A Boeing of the Alia airlines was hijacked by a suicide commando called Moussa Sadr, requesting the evacuation of all Palestinian fighters from Beirut. The hostages were freed the next day and the airplane was dynamited at the Beirut International Airport.

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An American passenger was hijacked twice in a day, Fisk writes: moved from the Jordanian plane, which Amal gunmen set alight on the runway, onto an MEA Boeing that a Lebanese then seized in protest.

June 14, 1985friday
A car bomb exploded next to a checkpoint belonging to the sixth brigade in Jnah causing 13 dead and 36 injured.
A Boeing 727 from the TWA connecting Athena to Rome was hijacked over Beirut. The hijackers requested the liberation of all prisoners held in Israeli jails. One of the US passengers was shot. Nabih Berri negotiated with the hijackers, and around 40 American hostages were transferred to the Southern suburbs of Beirut. A US naval force headed to Lebanon on June 17. On June 24, Israel released 31 prisoners. On June 30, the US hostages were released. An International Red Cross convoy took them to Damascus where they boarded on a plane going to Frankfurt.

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\_what the books add

Fisk identifies the TWA 847 hijackers as Hezbollah members operating as Islamic Jihad and names Imad Mughniyeh as the planner; the passenger they killed was Robert Stethem, a US Navy diver. Amal moved most of the passengers into the southern suburbs. In the end Syrian officers received the hostages and took them to Damascus, and Israel released its Lebanese Shia prisoners over the next two months.

June 17, 1985monday
The Damascus agreement put an end to the Camps War that caused, in four weeks, 700 deaths and 2,500 injured.

\_this day in full the books also date it 12 March 1985, 19 May 1985, 22 May 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

This ceasefire closed only the first round (May-June 1985) of the 'War of the Camps', also known as the 'Ramadan war'; by the time Syria imposed it, Fisk reports, 600 people had died. Sieges and fighting returned in 1986 and went on until 1987-1988; de Clerck and Malsagne count 2,000 to 3,000 victims in all.

June 20, 1985thursday
As part of the war between Sunni Islamists and the Arab Democratic Party, a car bomb exploded in Tripoli killing 50 persons and wounding 110 others.

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June 27, 1985thursday
Elias Sarkis, former President of the Lebanese Republic, died at 61 years old. He was suffering from a disease that paralyzed his lymphatic and nervous system. Grandiose funerals were organized in Mar Takla church in Hazmieh.

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Elias Sarkis died in Paris (de Clerck and Malsagne).

September 3, 1985tuesday
Beirut was cut into two. There were severe shortages of bread and gas.

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September 4, 1985wednesday
14 dead and 74 injured persons were reported in Zahleh as a result of a car bomb explosion. Three days later, the Syrians invaded the town.

\_this day in full the books also date it 11 August 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Syrian troops entered Zahleh on 7 September after the Lebanese Forces' withdrawal (Hanf).

September 5, 1985thursday
Violent combats opposed Amal and the PSP in West Beirut.

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September 10, 1985tuesday
Syrian observers tried to calm the situation in the Palestinian camp of Bourj Brajneh. Violent combats had opposed Amal to the Palestinians in this camp, causing 40 deaths and 120 injuries.

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September 12, 1985thursday
An isolated incident degenerated into confrontations between the Lebanese Forces militiamen in the Eastern neighborhoods.

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September 16, 1985monday
In Tripoli, ten soldiers from the Lebanese Army were killed and 35 others wounded by shells that fell on the Bahjat Ghanem barracks.

\_this day in full the books also date it 7 October 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

On 7 October, Hanf writes, 20,000 Syrian soldiers entered Tripoli, after pro-Syrian groups had in September 1985 attacked the Tawheed movement then holding the city; some 250,000 civilians fled.

September 18, 1985wednesday
Presidents Chamoun, Frangieh, and Helou met in Smar-Jbeil in order to launch wide Christian sittings.

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September 24, 1985tuesday
A first Lebanese Forces-Amal-PSP meeting was held in Damascus.

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In Hanf's account Berri offered the Christians a choice: a census to reset sectarian proportions, or an end to proportionality. Asked by Jumblatt why Syria dealt with Hobeika, Khaddam reportedly said everyone in Lebanon was a murderer.

September 28, 1985saturday
Another dramatic day in Beirut and its surroundings where artillerymen killed 32 persons and wounded 76 others.

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