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February 7, 1980thursday
Confrontations occurred between the Phalangists and the Zghortiotes in Knat, killing ten persons. Many fights opposing the two parties followed. Shells hit several villages in the cazas of Batroun, Koura, and Jbeil and over 10,000 civilians flew the combats. Finally, the Arab Strike Force entered Knat, and order was reestablished in the region on February 18.
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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
February 23, 1980saturday
Criminal madness was unleashed in Lebanon. An odious assault was reported in the Sursock district. A car bomb killed 8 persons including Maya, Bechir Gemayel's 20 months old daughter, and injured 20 others. This explosion was aimed at the chief commander of the Lebanese Forces.
\_this day in full the books also date it 21 February 1980 \_on this day
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Ménargues writes that Bashir Gemayel usually took Maya to her grandmother's on Saturdays but, sick after the sea crossing from Jerusalem the day before, had her governess and his bodyguards take her in his car, which was blown up less than a kilometre from his home. He blames the Palestinians there; later he says an inquiry into Aman el-Mandoubine, a network run by a Fatah intelligence officer, led to the arrest of two Christians who planted the bomb. One annex dates the attack 21 February.
February 24, 1980sunday
Selim Laouzi, owner of the Hawadess, a local newspaper, was kidnapped on the Beirut International Airport road. The kidnapping of this eminent figure of the Lebanese press provoked strong emotions in the political environment and the Editors Syndicate decided to call for a strike.
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Officially no killer was named, but al-Lawzi's murder was widely blamed on his criticism of Syrian rule (Fisk; Picard). Fisk: he was seized near a Syrian army checkpoint heading for the airport.
June 3, 1980tuesday
Violent combats were reported in Saida.
Soldiers from the Lebanese Army clashed with armed elements from the Resistance, acting under the name of officer Ahmed Khatib's Army of Arab Lebanon. The confrontation started by an ambush in Remeile against a military convoy. The town of Saida observed a strike in protest against these incidents.
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June 6, 1980friday
Selim el Hoss resigned from office. President Sarkis accepted his resignation on June 16.
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Ménargues dates the resignation to March 1980, after repeated deadlock between Hoss and Sarkis over the army; Hoss stayed on as caretaker until Shafiq Wazzan's appointment in late October.
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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June 15, 1980sunday
Violent confrontations between the Army of Arab Lebanon and Amal were reported in the Bekaa region. The Arab Strike Force evacuated Ahmed Khatib, who was isolated in Nabi Chit.
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June 17, 1980tuesday
While the UNIFL mandate was extended for another 6 months, a car bomb exploded in Raouche killing one person and wounding 35 others.
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June 19, 1980thursday
The first official exams since the beginning of the war were held as usual.
We are far from the excessive cheating reported last year. However, the Minister of National Education had to cancel the Baccalaureate exams in South Lebanon because of the chaotic atmosphere that was prevailing.
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June 30, 1980monday
The Israelis attacked a base belonging to the Arab Liberation Front in Kasmieh. This operation killed 11 persons and injured 29 others.
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September 26, 1980friday
An assault was launched against the US embassy in West Beirut. Two missiles were fired on the chancellery hitting the second and fourth floors. The aggressors remained unidentified.
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February 4, 1981wednesday
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 14, 1981saturday
February 18, 1981wednesday
The Council of Ministers centered part of its deliberations to the Sodeco region that was catching fire on a daily basis. Chafic Wazzan pledged to cease the fire.
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February 19, 1981thursday
His Beatitude Bishop Maximos V Hakim escaped a killing attempt on the road of Bhamdoun. The aggressors' identity was unknown.
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February 24, 1981tuesday
Shells from different calibers fell on the Eastern residential neighborhoods, spreading destruction, fires, and terror. The population wondered why these blind bombardments were perpetrated and until when would they continue.
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June 1, 1981monday
According to a study by Maroun Baghdadi , more than 80 parties and political organizations were disputing the power or bits of the power in Lebanon. Among them organizations, committees, unions more or less homogeneous, more or less ephemerals, more or less clandestine; some were born with the war, others had disappeared because of it.
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June 8, 1981monday
The Arab Vigilance Committee, ending its meetings in Beiteddine, took note of all the parties' commitment to respect the cease-fire on the Lebanese territory. On the other hand, the Committee announced that it would meet again on June 23 in Saudi Arabia and on July 4 in Beiteddine.
\_this day in full the books also date it 4 June 1981 \_on this day
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The meeting was called after Begin told the Knesset on 4 June of his promises to Lebanon's Christians. The Arab envoys asked Bashir Gemayel to break with Israel; he demanded guarantees in return (Hanf, Ménargues).
June 23, 1981tuesday
While sporadic combats continued between the Army and the Arab Strike Force in Beirut, the city of Zahleh was under heavy bombardment.
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June 23, 1981tuesday
The Arab Vigilance Committee resumed its meetings in Ryad at the level of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
The meetings ended in June 24 with a press release emphasizing the necessity of consolidating the cease-fire. The same day however, Zahleh and Beirut were the scene of blind bombardments.
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June 30, 1981tuesday
95 militiamen from the Lebanese Forces were evacuated from Zahleh with their individual weapons after having surrendered their heavy weapons to the Arab Strike Force and to the Internal Security Forces. An Internal Security Forces unit was positioned in the neighborhoods of Zahleh.
\_this day in full the books also date it 1 July 1981 \_on this day
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Ménargues has some 600 Internal Security Forces gendarmes entering Zahleh on 30 June, ending the siege, and the 95 fighters from outside the town leaving by bus over a mountain road behind a Syrian colonel's car, past Syrian troops posted along it; Hanf says they left under Saudi escort. Siege toll: 200 dead and over 2,000 wounded (Ménargues), over 200 and 2,000 (de Clerck and Malsagne), 300 and 3,000 by the Phalange's count (Fisk).
September 3, 1981thursday
A first encounter between Syrian officials and members of the Phalange Party in Baabda under the aegis of the Arab Committee resulted in the reopening of the roads.
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In Ménargues's account the Saudi and Kuwaiti foreign ministers proposed Syria–Lebanese Forces talks after seeing Khaddam in Beirut on 3 September. Next day at Baabda, Bashir Gemayel accepted the opening of crossing points. The Vigilance Committee's evening statement reserved arms imports to legal forces and set up a body to police the coast and ports; Bashir and the Lebanese Front rejected it.
September 4, 1981friday
The French ambassador, Louis Delamare, was cowardly assassinated 100 meters away from the Résidence des Pins.
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The 59-year-old ambassador was shot in his locked car at about 1.55 p.m., some 60 metres from a Syrian checkpoint (Malsagne), while heading home near the Résidence des Pins. Malsagne blames a pro-Syrian Shiite commando; the next ambassador, Paul-Marc Henry, saw a botched kidnapping ordered by Iranian intelligence. France was then moving closer to the PLO.
September 5, 1981saturday
Hamid Frangieh, one of the major figures of the Lebanese independence, died. Born in Ehden in 1907, he was the first Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Lebanese Independent State, in the 1943 cabinet of Riad Solh. He was deputy of Zghorta from 1943 to 1957. He negotiated in February 1948 the monetary convention with France. It was a big loss for Lebanon.
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According to Picard, Hamid Frangieh negotiated Lebanon's financial agreements with France, which she places in 1943 rather than 1948.
September 11, 1981friday
The Museum roadway was officially reopened after several days of shilly-shallying.
\_this day in full the books also date it 12 September 1981 \_on this day
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Ménargues sets the agreement at the Vigilance Committee meeting of 11 September, where Syria's Mohammad Ghanem came out for deploying the Lebanese Army from Sodeco to the port. The Museum crossing, almost completely shut for five months, reopened on 12 September.
September 15, 1981tuesday
The axes longing the downtown's ruins up to Berjaoui and Sodeco were on fire since 7 o'clock in the morning. Several bombs fell on residential areas.
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September 17, 1981thursday
Two explosive attacks killed 29 persons and injured 116 in Chekka and Saida. Terrorism spread its tentacles to the entire country.
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About 300 people died in bombings from 17 September to 2 October 1981, which de Clerck and Malsagne, citing Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, put down to the 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners', formed by Israeli officers against the Palestinians and their allies.
September 21, 1981monday
A car bomb in Hamra and an attack in Tripoli proved that horror was still haunting Lebanon. It seemed that it would never end.
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September 28, 1981monday
Terrorism continued to spread in Lebanon. A car bomb exploded at Zrariyeh in the South killing 15 persons and injuring 50 others.
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February 1, 1982monday
The inflow of heavy Israeli weapons on the Lebanese territory continued. These weapons were installed in the borderline enclave controlled by Saad Haddad.
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February 4, 1982thursday
The investigation conducted in Italy on the vanishing of the Shiite Imam Moussa Sadr ended. The Italians were convinced that the Imam never left Libya.
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