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December 5, 1978tuesday
The Arab tripartite committee including Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and a Syrian general, met in Baabda in presence of the chief of State. The committee excluded any immediate resort to the army.
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December 8, 1978friday
A serious incident was reported in Jounieh.
A Phalangist leader, Elie Hobeika, was arrested at an army checkpoint in Nahr el Kalb. The incident degenerated into fights and the entire region flared up. A helicopter transporting Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors and flying over the region was hit by submachine-gun shots. The Saudi ambassador was injured.
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Ménargues writes that when the Moukafaha, Johnny Abdo's own intervention unit, arrested Elie Hobeika for allegedly having the Saudi ambassador's helicopter fired on, Bashir Gemayel had about a hundred army officers abducted; they were traded for Hobeika three weeks later.
December 20, 1978wednesday
February 12, 1979monday
Brian Urqhart, the assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, examined with Lebanese officials the modalities of the Army's deployment in the South next to the UNIFL Israel nevertheless rejected the program.
\_this day in full the books also date it 18 April 1979 \_on this day
February 28, 1979wednesday
Saudi troops decided to withdraw from the Arabic Strike Force. The Lebanese tried to dissuade them.
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The Saudis announced their departure in March 1979 (Ménargues). Picard has Syria's partners, among them Saudis, Sudanese and Emiratis, leaving two years after the 1976 summits; de Clerck and Malsagne call the ADF wholly Syrian from 1979.
May 1, 1979tuesday
A big scientific study was concluded with 888 Lebanese who are 16 to 22 years old. The results were as follows: 73% of the Lebanese youth were interested in politics 91% read everyday one or two political newspapers 56% sympathized with parties 34% adhered to parties 32% had fought One girl out of eight carried arms
74% of the youth conceived their future in Lebanon only 40% were optimistic 37% saw their death directly tied to war
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May 6, 1979sunday
The Israeli aviation, aiming at a Palestinian target, killed five innocents and injured 15 others in a wedding ceremony in the Akkar. All the victims were Lebanese with, among them, several kids.
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May 8, 1979tuesday
Power cuts became more and more frequent in the country. The Director of the Electricité du Liban recommended to the population to save power.
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May 9, 1979wednesday
President Elias Sarkis urged the United Nations and the Arabs to assume their responsibilities. The chief of the State violently condemned the repeated Israeli aggressions against Lebanon qualifying them of flagrant challenge to human principles.
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May 13, 1979sunday
Amine Gemayel, deputy of the Northern Metn and member of the Phalange Party's political bureau, escaped from an assassination attempt that nearly cost him his two children's life. A plastic explosive (20 kg of TNT) tied to a 122 mm bomb placed in a trunk of a tree, exploded at the time Amine Gemayel's car went by. He was injured in the face. This incident caused a general strike in the Eastern regions.
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May 15, 1979tuesday
The Phalange Party and the LNP merged under the sign of cooperation with the State.
\_this day in full the books also date it 12 May 1979 \_on this day
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De Clerck and Malsagne date the start of the fighting between Kataeb and National Liberal Party militias to 12 May 1979, at Furn el-Chebbak; clashes recurred in various places until July 1980.
May 31, 1979thursday
At the meeting of the Security Council, Lebanon claimed the reinforcement of the UNIFL. Moreover, Beirut requested the condemnation of Israel and the re-activation of the Armistice Commission.
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December 1, 1979saturday
A total shortage of fuel paralyzed the capital, as well as the mountain and the South; the reasons for this shortage remained unknown.
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December 7, 1979friday
For the first time in Lebanon, a particularly delicate surgical intervention was successfully undertaken. Professor Wafic Sinno performed an implantation of an artificial crystalline at the Hotel-Dieu hospital.
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December 19, 1979wednesday
An ongoing manifestation in Tripoli went out of control. The demonstrators protesting against the increase of the cost of living, vandalized Tripoli's seraglio and molested the Mohafez of Northern Lebanon. The administrations and public services clerks in Tripoli decided to stop working for 3 days.
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December 26, 1979wednesday
February 3, 1980sunday
Arab Strike Force units stationed in Beirut projected to withdraw towards Aley in the next few days. The decision surprised the government and the chief of State presided a meeting to study how to fill the gap.
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Historians describe the Syrian pull-back from Beirut in 1980 as a redeployment to the Bekaa and to mountain positions overlooking the capital, with a garrison kept in West Beirut (Hanf). The Lebanese army could not replace the departing Arab Deterrent Force everywhere (Picard).
February 7, 1980thursday
The most beautiful blue eyes in the world visited Lebanon. Alain Delon arrived at the Beirut International Airport and charmed the Lebanese.
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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.
May 2, 1980friday
A high-ranking Shiite religious dignitary, Imam Hajje Hassan Chirazi was assassinated in Beirut, on the Ramlet el Bayda Corniche, onboard of a taxi.
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May 8, 1980thursday
A seaside resort called 'Bella Mar' collapsed while still under construction. Eight persons lost their lives in the accident.
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May 15, 1980thursday
Following artillery duels between the Lebanese Forces and the Syrian National Social Party in the Upper-Metn, an army buffer force deployed in the region.
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May 20, 1980tuesday
In a verbal message transmitted through the US ambassador John Gunther Dean, President Elias Sarkis urged the US President Carter to stop Lebanon's agony.
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May 23, 1980friday
The Northern Lebanese front flared up again. Militiamen from the Marada launched an attack against the Phalangist positions. In the jurd of the Batroun region, five persons were killed and 20 others wounded.
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May 27, 1980tuesday
Violent confrontations burst between Shiite militiamen from Amal and a coalition including the Communist Party and the Resistance. The confrontations lasted three days, claiming a big number of victims. The Arab Strike Force mediated between the belligerent parties. A normalization and demilitarization agreement was signed in Damascus with the participation of the PLO.
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De Clerck and Malsagne list Amal's opponents once Nabih Berri led it, from 1980: the Communist Party, the Communist Action Organisation, the Iraqi Baath, Fatah and the Army of Arab Lebanon. Traboulsi notes frequent fighting between Amal and the Palestinian groups and National Movement up to June 1982.
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