previous page 5 of 11 next
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
February 19, 1981thursday
His Beatitude Bishop Maximos V Hakim escaped a killing attempt on the road of Bhamdoun. The aggressors' identity was unknown.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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
\_what the books add
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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
\_what the books add
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).
November 2, 1981monday
The Arab Strike Force launched a security operation in the West of the capital where Palestinian, Libyan and Iranian influence multiplied lately.
\_this day in full the books also date it 11 September 1981 \_on this day
November 27, 1981friday
Gerard Lenorman performed his famous song La ballade des gens heureux at the Casino du Liban in front of a public that still wanted to believe in happiness.
\_this day in full \_on this day
November 30, 1981monday
The Arab Strike Force conducted a spectacular raid in West Beirut. Hundreds of persons were arrested and taken to a barrack for questioning.
\_this day in full \_on this day
January 3, 1982sunday
Twenty days after the resumption of the Iraqi oil pumping to the Tripoli terminal, the pipeline was dynamited. This incident seemed to be part of the Iran-Iraq war.
\_this day in full \_on this day
January 4, 1982monday
The confrontations between Amal militiamen and 'Partisans of the Communist Organization in Lebanon' caused 11 deaths and 4 injuries in West Beirut. These fights resumed on January 6 didn't end until the intervention of the Arab Strike Force.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf describes the Shi'i Amal movement fighting the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front and small communist organisations in West Beirut in the first months of 1982.
January 8, 1982friday
Differences grew between Amal and the National Movement headed by Walid Joumblatt.
Amal accused the NM of trying to replace the State and the Arab Strike Force by putting together a unified militia and instituting 'self-security'. The NM accused Amal of obstructing the execution of the return of order in West Beirut.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf sees Lebanese Muslim opinion turning against Syrian and Palestinian dominance in early 1982, as the Palestinians' Lebanese allies lost support and pre-war moderates regained standing.
January 12, 1982tuesday
During a meeting in presence of Chafic Wazzan, the Moslem conservatives rejected the ' self-security ' principle in West Beirut.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
For Hanf, early 1982 showed Muslim opinion shifting: Beirut's old leaders and clergy closed ranks against the National Movement's district-council elections and outnumbered it on the streets in March.
January 19, 1982tuesday
The specter of a regional war arose when two Israeli airplanes were targeted by two Sam 6 shots over the Lebanese territory.
\_this day in full \_on this day
January 25, 1982monday
The Syndicate of Fishermen in Tyr launched a symbolic 24-hour strike in protest against recurring Israeli aggressions against fishermen.
\_this day in full \_on this day
January 28, 1982thursday
The war between Amal and the National Movement was at its peak. The confrontations resumed and the tension reached Baalbeck and the Southern suburbs of Beirut.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
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.
\_this day in full \_on this day
February 8, 1982monday
Israel reiterated its threats against the South, while Lebanon continued its contacts to eliminate the dangers weighing on the Southern zone and to increase the number of UNIFL soldiers in the area.
\_this day in full \_on this day
February 13, 1982saturday
A car bomb exploded next to the Palestinian camp of Ain El Heloueh killing 6 persons and injuring 12 others.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne, drawing on Ronen Bergman, attribute to Ariel Sharon a series of car bombings from October 1981, carried out under the name 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners' and aimed chiefly at Palestinians, to provoke retaliation that could justify an invasion. They list no individual attacks, so this bombing cannot be matched to their account.
February 17, 1982wednesday
Tension rose in North Lebanon where serious incidents were reported. Armed elements opened fire on a checkpoint of the Arab Strike Force. The combats continued for the following days, killing 18 persons and injuring 40.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf sets this fighting in a contest for Tripoli: with the local Sunni militia on their side, the Palestinians resisted Syria's bid to dominate the north.
February 23, 1982tuesday
Two car bombs killed 4 persons and injured 54 others in Raoucheh.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne, drawing on Ronen Bergman, attribute to Ariel Sharon a series of car bombings from October 1981, carried out under the name 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners' and aimed chiefly at Palestinians, to provoke retaliation that could justify an invasion. They list no individual attacks, so this bombing cannot be matched to their account.
February 24, 1982wednesday
A commando of the partisans of the Imam Moussa Sadr burst into the Beirut International Airport and took control of a Boeing 707 of the Kuwait Airways that had just landed with 195 passengers on board. The negotiations led to the release of the passengers. The commando members surrendered to the Arab Strike Force. After this incident, the Kuwaiti company interrupted its flights to Beirut.
\_this day in full \_on this day
February 25, 1982thursday
February 27, 1982saturday
The explosion of a car bomb killed 4 persons and wounded 26 others in Ouzaï.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne, drawing on Ronen Bergman, attribute to Ariel Sharon a series of car bombings from October 1981, carried out under the name 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners' and aimed chiefly at Palestinians, to provoke retaliation that could justify an invasion. They list no individual attacks, so this bombing cannot be matched to their account.
June 4, 1982friday
Within an hour, the Israeli airplanes inflicted on Beirut the toughest bombing since the Fakahani attack in seven successive rounds. Sixty persons were killed and 270 injured in these air raids against the sectors of the Sports City, Sabra, Chatila, and Bourj Brajneh.
\_this day in full the books also date it 17 July 1981, 3 June 1982 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Abu Nidal's group, an enemy of the PLO leadership, had shot Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador in London, on the night of 3 June; Israel answered with the raids. Robert Fisk notes that the bombs hit a PLO arms dump in the old stadium near Fakhani and a Palestinian children's hospital by Sabra; Palestinian sources gave 50 dead, Lebanese officials 210 civilians. The original's 'Fakhani attack' is the Israeli raid of 17 July 1981.
June 5, 1982saturday
The South was burning. Over 150 persons killed and 250 wounded were reported while the Israeli artillery, navy and aviation bombarded 38 towns and localities.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
A Palestinian Katyusha killed an Israeli motorist in Galilee on 5 June, a day of some 50 Israeli raids by Fisk's count, which left civilians burning in cars on the coast road north of Damour. Picard's chronology and one passage of de Clerck and Malsagne date the start of the invasion to 5 June; the books' main chronologies give 6 June.
June 6, 1982sunday
The Israelis invaded the South along three axes.
The Security Council adopted immediately a resolution requesting the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Israeli forces up to the internationally recognized borderlines. However, this did not stop Israel from reaching Saida and Tyr.
\_this day in full the books also date it 5 June 1982 \_on this day
\_what the books add
The invasion, called 'Operation Peace for Galilee', began on Sunday 6 June: Israeli commandos crossed the border at 1.30 a.m. to attack Beaufort castle (Ménargues), and up to 25,000 troops moved along the coast, through Tibnin and across the eastern sector (Fisk). The government declared a limited aim of a 40-kilometre zone, but Defence Minister Ariel Sharon and Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan kept advancing (Hanf). One overview in de Clerck and Malsagne and Picard's chronology give 5 June.
June 8, 1982tuesday
The Israelis made a surprise breakthrough in the Upper-Chouf in Moukhtara, Barouk, Baakline, up to Ain Zhalta. The Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin sent a message to the Syrian President Hafez El Assad asking him not to intervene in the fights.
\_this day in full \_on this day
\_what the books add
Fisk: on 8 June Israeli paratroopers set up a listening post on the Barouk heights and close to 100 tanks advanced from Baaqlin to Beit Eddine, unopposed by the Chouf Druze. Hanf: Israel told Syria, via American diplomats, that its only target was the PLO.
June 9, 1982wednesday
A gigantic air battle took place over the Bekaa. The Israelis were 10 kilometers away from Beirut.
\_this day in full the books also date it 8 June 1982, 10 June 1982 \_on this day
\_what the books add
On 9 June Israeli aircraft destroyed the Syrian SAM missile batteries in the Bekaa and fought a long air battle with Syrian MiGs. Figures: 22 MiGs downed and 19 batteries destroyed that day (Ménargues); more than 80 planes and all missile batteries lost in five days (Picard). The same evening Israeli paratroopers took Damour, on the coast south of Beirut.
previous page 5 of 11 next
