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March 9, 1986sunday
The black series continued. Terrorism hit this time Jeetaoui where a car bomb killed 3 persons and wounded 40 others.
Four French journalists from Antenne 2 were kidnapped in Bir El Abed.
\_this day in full the books also date it 8 March 1986 \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne date the kidnapping of the Antenne 2 crew to 8 March 1986. It was claimed by the "Revolutionary Justice Organisation".
March 21, 1986friday
A sad gift for mother's day in the mountain: shells fell on 20 villages in the Metn and the Kesrouan. Violent combats were reported in the mountain, killing 3 and injuring 21 persons on this 'usual' day.
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March 26, 1986wednesday
A car stuffed with explosives and inflammable material exploded in Achrafieh, while a timing bomb ravaged a Phalangist office in Tahouita. Together, the two explosions killed 10 persons and wounded 80 others. The bombardment of the Eastern regions continued in the meantime.
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March 27, 1986thursday
After the Fatah claimed responsibility for the Katioucha shots on Kiryat Shmona, the Israeli aviation attacked the camps of Mieh Mieh and Ain El Heloueh. Ten persons were killed and 30 others were wounded.
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September 2, 1986tuesday
The first meeting of the Dialog Committee was held at the Beirut racecourse. The ten members of the government met for the first time since November 1985. The Ministers decided to elaborate a new National Pact.
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\_what the books add
The meetings produced no agreement (Hanf).
September 4, 1986thursday
The war against Westerners had new targets now. It was the turn of UNIFL soldiers to be aggressed. Three French Blue Helmets were killed in Jouaya in South Lebanon. The UN Security Council called for urgent security measures in favor of the UNIFL.
\_this day in full the books also date it 23 September 1986 \_on this day
September 10, 1986wednesday
The Islamic Jihad kidnapped Frank Reed, director of the Lebanese International College and Victor Kanho, governor of the Lion's Club in Lebanon and Jordan.
\_this day in full the books also date it 9 September 1986 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Fisk dates Frank Reed's kidnapping to 9 September.
September 12, 1986friday
Another US national, James Cicippio was kidnapped on the AUB campus, therefore raising the number of Americans kidnapped to 6.
\_this day in full the books also date it 9 September 1986 \_on this day
September 18, 1986thursday
While a terrorist vague submerged France, the French military attaché, Christian Goutierre was assassinated in Mar Takla.
\_this day in full the books also date it 17 September 1986 \_on this day
\_what the books add
He was shot in the head 25 m from the ambassador's office, a day after the rue de Rennes attack in Paris (7 dead, 55 wounded).
September 25, 1986thursday
The UNIFL Blue Helmets repositioned themselves; they occupied three out of the 32 positions they were initially occupying.
\_this day in full the books also date it 23 September 1986 \_on this day
September 27, 1986saturday
500 fighters led by Elie Hobeika entered Achrafieh where they fought ferociously with Geagea's men. The Lebanese Forces and the army rebuffed the infiltration. 65 persons lost their lives in the operation while 200 others were wounded.
\_this day in full the books also date it 26 September 1986, 29 September 1986 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Dates differ: 27 September (de Clerck and Malsagne), 29 September (Hanf), or by 26 September (Ménargues). Hanf has the Lebanese army halting an attack launched across the green line from West Beirut, after which former comrades killed a few hundred of Hobeika's men.
September 29, 1986monday
Colonel Khalil Kanaan was assassinated in his home in Hazmieh. A French journalist, Jean-Marc Sroussi, was kidnapped in the Southern suburbs of Beirut.
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December 2, 1986tuesday
A general strike paralyzed the country. The Lebanese were unable to cope with the increase in prices. The leaders couldn't find any solution to the crisis. The popular discontent was on the rise.
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December 5, 1986friday
Abou Melhem died. The great TV comedian, whose real name was Adib Haddad, became famous for playing, for many years, the character of a villager famous for his common sense. The grandfather of all the Lebanese had disappeared.
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December 13, 1986saturday
The Camps Car continued. After ten hours of violent combats, the Chatila camp was 90% destroyed and tens of deaths were reported.
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Typhoid broke out in besieged Chatila during this third camps war.
December 19, 1986friday
Violent combats opposed in Tripoli the Syrian Army to Islamist militiamen. The fights made 12 dead and 35 injuries. The Syrian Army launched an Islamists hunting at the end of which one of the major leaders of the Islamic Unification Movement was arrested.
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Picard puts the toll of the December 1986 Syrian bombardment of Tripoli at more than 100 dead.
December 24, 1986wednesday
Aurel Cornea, one of the Antenne 2 journalists kidnapped on June 21, was released by the Organization of Revolutionary Justice.
\_this day in full the books also date it 8 March 1986 \_on this day
\_what the books add
The Antenne 2 crew was kidnapped on 8 March 1986 (de Clerck and Malsagne), not on 21 June.
December 26, 1986friday
The dollar crossed the 80 Lebanese Pounds threshold. It continued its rise to reach the fateful three digit numbers. According to statistics, consumer products had increased by 204% in a year and the Lebanese Pound had depreciated by 365%.
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\_what the books add
Historians give lower figures for 1986: retail inflation of 162 per cent (Hanf, after the central bank) or a 95 per cent rise in Beirut consumer prices, and a 134 per cent devaluation of the pound (de Clerck and Malsagne).
February 1, 1987sunday
The MEA suspended its flights therefore causing a de facto closing of the Beirut International Airport, while the few companies that were still flying into the airport (Soviet, Czech, and Bulgarian) decided to cancel their flights.
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February 6, 1987friday
The Lebanese Pound recorded a historic decline compared to the dollar which had almost reached the 100 LBP threshold. This fall worried the population.
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\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne call 1987's currency crisis the gravest since independence, the pound losing up to 90 percent of its value; on Banque du Liban figures (Hanf), it fell from about 35 to the dollar in 1986 to some 520.
February 7, 1987saturday
The confrontations intensified around the Palestinian camps of Chatila and Bourj Brajneh. The risk of escalation intensified.
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\_what the books add
By late 1986, say de Clerck and Malsagne, Chatila was 90 percent destroyed, yet 500 to 1,000 Palestinians held out inside. In the winter of 1987, Picard writes, many Palestinians in the besieged Beirut camps died of hunger.
February 12, 1987thursday
While the Lebanese Pound continued to fall, the chief of State Amine Gemayel, arrived in Bruxelles to request a social and economic help from the European countries.
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February 15, 1987sunday
A vast military confrontation between Amal and the PSP erupted in West Beirut. It was a prelude to the entrance of 12,000 Syrian soldiers in this region. However, they didn't deploy in the Southern suburbs.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf has the PSP and its leftist allies overrunning Amal's Murr Tower headquarters and taking Hamra after five days of what he calls West Beirut's worst fighting, its destruction on the scale of the 1982 siege. The size of the Syrian force differs by source: 12,000 soldiers plus Special Forces (de Clerck and Malsagne), 8,000 (Quéméner), two brigades (Hanf), the re-formed 85th Brigade (Fisk). The troops entered on 22 February according to most sources (see addition 1987-02-22).
March 6, 1987friday
A decision that appeared anachronistic in a country dominated by insecurity was taken: motorcycles were prohibited in West Beirut. This decision was motivated by the need to strengthen security in the region.
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March 28, 1987saturday
An anti-Syrian assault in Ramlet El Baida constituted the most serious incident since the entry of Syrian troops in West Beirut on February 22nd.
\_this day in full the books also date it 22 February 1987 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf writes that in June 1987 Walid Jumblatt was forced to surrender to Syria several men of the PSP intelligence branch, his security chief among them, who had joined in hit-and-run attacks on Syrian forces in West Beirut.
September 1, 1987tuesday
President Gemayel arrives in Quebec to request, in front of the Francophony Summit, the creapour demander, the creation of Special Support Funds in Lebanon.
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September 5, 1987saturday
September 20, 1987sunday
700 PSP combattants PSP and about 100 activists from the Communist Party get ready to go to Lybia in order to fight with the Lybians against the Army of Tchad.
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\_what the books add
The numbers differ: about 800 PSP fighters (de Clerck and Malsagne, after the Washington Post of 21 September 1987) or about 1,000 Druze militiamen and 300 fighters of leftist organisations (Hanf). Hanf adds that the parties received a share of their pay and sees the episode as a sign of resignation after the Syrian return.
September 23, 1987wednesday
As the Minister of Education, Selim Hoss asks universities to organize admission competotion and exams since the Baccalaureat exams couldn't be presented.
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September 24, 1987thursday
Father Andre Masse is assassinated close to Saida. He was head of the USJ (Saint-Joseph University) section in South-Lebanon.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Not long before he was killed, Masse remarked that the foreign press passed over much of Lebanon's cultural, economic and political life; Picard quotes him.
December 2, 1987wednesday
While credits are unblocked to buy fuel and service stations are reopened, Victor Cassir, Minister of Industry and Oil, authorizes private companies to import fuel subject to a previous authorization by the Ministry of Oil.
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December 8, 1987tuesday
The storm is raging in the country. Floods provoke important damages and kill 5 persons. On the other hand, electric power becomes rare.
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December 28, 1987monday
Charles Malek dies at the age of 82 ans following a long period of illness. The news of the death of the former Council's Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs saddens the political, as well as the academic and intellectual sets. The American President Ronald Reagan addresses an emotional tribute to the memory of the academic, the philosopher and the politician.
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