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387 news for February, March, September, December

with the books

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December 15, 1984saturday
The Army's deployment plan between Madfoun and the Awali river as well as in the Iqlim El Kharroub was finally executed. The entire population went on strike in South Lebanon to protest against the military operation of December 13.

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

\_what the books add

Hanf dates the army's advance into the Sidon region to 9 January 1985, as Israel began pulling back. Some of the 15 December deployment may have been north of the Awali, which he does not detail. The southern strike is not in the books.

December 20, 1984thursday
The Army deployed its troops in Tripoli.

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December 21, 1984friday
A car bomb killed five persons and wounded 30 others, including 19 children in Ras El Metn.

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December 29, 1984saturday
The parents of hostages divided the capital in two in a protest action.

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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

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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.

March 4, 1985monday
A bomb attack against the Husseiniyeh in Maarakeh killed 11 persons, including two leaders of the Amal movement, and wounded 28 others.

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On 4 March 1985, a day after an Israeli raid, a bomb on the roof of the resistance office above Maarakeh's mosque killed Khalil Jerardi, nominally Amal but a Hezbollah supporter, and Mohammed Saad, an Amal commander in the south. French UN officers who examined it believed the departing Israelis had left it (Fisk's report, not an established finding).

March 6, 1985wednesday
The Lebanese Pound reached a new record, with over a 19 Pounds drop in value. The pound had lost half its value compared to the dollar since the beginning of the year.

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See the note on 4 February: Hanf's yearly table puts the pound at 16 to the dollar for 1985.

March 8, 1985friday
A mass killing took place in Bir El Abed. A car bomb killed 62 persons and wounded 200 others, including a large number of women, children and elderly persons.

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

\_what the books add

Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the target, escaped with his bodyguard Imad Mughniyeh. Fisk dates the car bomb to 9 March and writes of more than 80 dead, nearly all civilians, citing the Washington Post on CIA involvement. De Clerck and Malsagne give 80 dead and 256 wounded and cite confessions by local agents, traced by Hezbollah, that the CIA commissioned it with Mossad help and Saudi funds.

March 9, 1985saturday
Thanks to Syria's intervention, opposition ministers Berri and Joumblatt met in Bickfaya with Presidents Gemayel and Karameh. The smoothing of the relations led to a promise of a cooling down on the Souk El Gharb front. During the meeting, the bombs were continuing to fall on Hazmieh and Achrafieh and kidnappings of innocent civilians were still taking place on various crossing roads in Beirut.

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March 11, 1985monday
The Israelis attacked Zrariyeh claiming tens of victims and huge destructions. Many persons were also arrested.

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A survivor told Fisk an Israeli officer at Zrariyeh shot a Lebanese soldier who had surrendered. Tanks ran over occupied cars; gunmen, women and old men died; and the departing soldiers painted 'This is the revenge of the Israeli army' on the square.

March 12, 1985tuesday
The United States vetoed the adoption by the United Nations Security Council of a Lebanese resolution that condemns Israeli actions against civilians in South Lebanon.

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March 16, 1985saturday
The regional director of the Associated Press, Terry Anderson, was kidnapped in West Beirut. Many other US and British nationals had already been kidnapped. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for these acts.

\_this day in full the books also date it 8 January 1985, 17 March 1985 \_on this day

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Terry Anderson was the AP's Beirut bureau chief. He was seized near the Ain Mreisseh mosque and held for more than six years. Two Britons had been kidnapped in the two days before him; Islamic Jihad claimed all three on 17 March.

March 19, 1985tuesday
A second round of fights between the Lebanese Forces, the Army, and the local militias killed 7 persons and injured 30 others East of Saida.

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Over 20,000 Sunnis fled Sidon after the 12 March revolt, as Lebanese Forces units east of the city, reinforced from the north, shelled its Muslim districts, Ain al-Hilweh camp and army posts near Mieh-Mieh. Nasserites, Palestinians and largely Sunni army units united against them (Hanf, Fisk).

March 22, 1985friday
The Islamic Jihad kidnapped the French vice-consul, Marcel Fontaine, and another diplomat, Marcel Carton, in Beirut.
A new wage increase was decided, raising the minimum salary to 1475 Lebanese Pounds.

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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

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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

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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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September 29, 1985sunday
The Beirut International Airport was bombed and some installations were destroyed.

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September 30, 1985monday
Three diplomats from the Soviet embassy and the chancellery's doctor were kidnapped in West Beirut. One of them was killed later, while the three others were released on October 30. Twelve Western nationals remained held hostages by Islamist organizations.

\_this day in full the books also date it 1 October 1985 \_on this day

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Fisk dates it 1 October 1985, de Clerck and Malsagne September. Arkady Katkov was killed. Fisk thinks Sunni fundamentalists wanted Moscow to make Syria halt its Tripoli offensive against Tawheed. The others' release is credited probably to the KGB and Syria by de Clerck and Malsagne, to Syrian mediation by Hanf.

December 3, 1985tuesday
For the first time since the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, the Israeli Army carried out an important military operation outside the Security Zone. A base belonging to Ahmed Jibril's Popular Palestinian Liberation Front was destroyed in the Region of Rachaya El Wadi.

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December 11, 1985wednesday
A new security plan was executed in West Beirut. The army and the Internal Security Forces were controlling the public order, with the help of the Amal-PSP military police.

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December 28, 1985saturday
The Lebanese Forces, the PSP and Amal signed an agreement in Damascus, putting an end to the Lebanese war.
The year ended with some hope for the Lebanese, following the signature of the tripartite agreement, while the economy was agonizing and hundreds of Lebanese and foreign hostages were living in horrifying daily conditions.

\_this day in full the books also date it 12 March 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Signed in Damascus by Elie Hobeika (Lebanese Forces), Nabih Berri (Amal) and Walid Jumblatt (PSP) under Syrian sponsorship. It provided for Christian-Muslim parity during a transition towards the end of political sectarianism, a stronger prime minister and cabinet, a senate, and 'strategic complementarity' with Syria. It did not end the war: President Gemayel refused it and, in January 1986, Samir Geagea's forces drove Hobeika out of East Beirut. Its provisions were largely taken up in the Taif Agreement of 1989.

February 1, 1986saturday
A delegation from the Union of Independent Maronite Deputies visited Damascus in an effort to reestablish the dialogue between the Christians and Syria.

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February 3, 1986monday
Death hit once again. A bomb hidden in a suitcase exploded in Jdeideh killing four persons and wounding 22 others.

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February 12, 1986wednesday
A bomb exploded in Ain El Remmaneh next to the entrance of a building where a Phalange Party office was located. Two persons lost their lives and 17 others were injured.

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February 18, 1986tuesday
President Gemayel met French President Miterrand and Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. He also met King Hassan II of Morocco.

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February 24, 1986monday
Islamists killed a communist leader, Souheil Tawileh, in Mazraa. Four days earlier, another communist leader, Khalil Nous, was assassinated. Meanwhile, terrorist-killing attempts continued in the Eastern regions. A car bomb exploded on the Salomeh intersection, causing 4 dead and 16 injured.

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Picard places the wave of killings of Communist and pro-Iraqi Baath leaders in January 1986.

March 4, 1986tuesday
Artillery duels were raging between the Eastern and Western sectors of the capital, killing tens of persons, and wounding hundreds.

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March 5, 1986wednesday
The Islamic Jihad announced the execution of Michel Seurat. The French sociologist was kidnapped on the 22nd of May at the same time as the journalist Jean-Paul Kauffmann.

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Seurat and Kauffmann were taken on the airport road on 22 May 1985. Fisk says Seurat died of cancer in captivity, his kidnappers claiming an 'execution' with a photograph of the body. Imad Mughniyeh is suspected of a direct role (Aurélie Daher, in Confluences); Hezbollah's leaders always denied it.

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