519 news for January, February, June, September, December
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January 17, 1988sunday
A 'Puma' crashes in the sea next to the Bouar coast with its captain Georges Sadaka on board and his co-pilot Jean Azzi. The search for the two bodies was unsuccessful.
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January 20, 1988wednesday
The camps war, that lasted three years, seems to come close to an end with the deployment of the Syrian army and the Lebanese Army sixth brigade, replacing Amal around Chatila and Bourj-Brajneh.
\_this day in full the books also date it 11 September 1987, 18 January 1988 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf (p. 315) dates the lifting of Amal's blockade of the camps to 18 January 1988. The sources disagree on when the war of the camps ended: September 1987 (Picard's chronology), January 1988 (Picard, Hanf, de Clerck) or late 1988 (Hanf, p. 304).
January 21, 1988thursday
The institute 'Etudes et Consultations Economiques' publishes the results of its annual analysis of the price increase in Beirut. They show an increase of 721% during the year 1987.
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\_what the books add
According to de Clerck and Malsagne (pp. 204-205), inflation peaked in 1987: the pound was devalued by 485% and Beirut consumer prices went up 450%.
January 25, 1988monday
While hail falls on most of the country causing important damages, police patrols go round bakeries that are reducing the 2 kilos 'rabta' of bread, sold regularly at 65 LBP., to 1700grs.
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January 27, 1988wednesday
Ralph Schary is kidnapped in West Beirut. Married to Rana Mounla, a Muslim from Tripoli, he is the third West German national who is kidnapped.
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January 29, 1988friday
The fall of the dollar (400 LBP.) on the market (it had reached 430 LBP.) allows the Minister of Industry and Oil to reduce the price of oil from 1400 LBP. to 1200 LBP. and the ton of fuel from 69,200 LBP. to 52,000 LBP.
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February 2, 1988tuesday
Jacques Merrin, a Frenchman working for the DGSE, is killed by unknown persons in the neighborhood of the Palace of Justice.
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February 3, 1988wednesday
February 4, 1988thursday
The emissary of President Amine Gemayel, Elie Salem, meets with the Secretary of State George Schultz in Washington in the presence of the Sub-Secretary for the Middle East Affairs, Richard Murphy.
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February 12, 1988friday
An explosive charge of 880 grs of TNT is found and diffused in the airplane that has to transport President Gemayel to Sanaa.
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June 3, 1988friday
Nabih Berri, leader of the Amal movement, announces the dissolution of his militia in all regions except for Southern Lebanon.
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June 5, 1988sunday
2,200 tons of toxic waste were illegally brought in Lebanon and kept on waste grounds in the Kesrouan, after being rejected by Italy, Syria and Venezuela.
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\_what the books add
De Clerck (p. 350) places the traffic in 1987 and implicates the Lebanese Forces. Its figures, from Greenpeace: 15,800 barrels and 20 containers from Italy, of which 5,500 barrels went back in 1988-1989; the rest was burned, dumped or buried, partly in the Kesrouan mountains.
June 10, 1988friday
A two hours face-to-face meeting between presidents Gemayel and Assad in Algeria opens a new page in the dialogue between Syria and Lebanon.
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June 27, 1988monday
Chatila falls in the hands of the Palestinian dissidents.
\_this day in full the books also date it 28 June 1988, 8 July 1988 \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck (pp. 170, 576) dates the fall of Chatila to 28 June 1988, after 59 days of shelling; Arafat's fighters were escorted to Ain al-Hilweh.
September 8, 1988thursday
September 13, 1988tuesday
Fire exchanges between units of the Lebanese army and the Lebanese Forces in Sin-el-Fil and Mkalles killed one militiaman and injured another one.
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September 18, 1988sunday
Mikhael Daher, deputy from the North, 'was designated' candidate at the presidential elections in accordance with a Syrian-American agreement. This designation did not please everyone.
\_this day in full the books also date it 15 September 1988 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf (pp. 569-570): the joint US-Syrian proposal came out of three days of talks in Damascus from 15 September, after which Murphy warned the Maronite Patriarch that the alternative to Daher was chaos.
September 20, 1988tuesday
September 22, 1988thursday
A few minutes before the expiration of his mandate, President Amine Gemayel named the Maronite commander of the army, general Michel Aoun, Prime Minister of a military government. According to the constitution, the ministers' council takes over the executive power in case of a vacancy of the presidency. However, the three Muslim Ministers withdraw immediately.
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\_what the books add
Hanf (p. 570) says Gemayel signed the decrees at 23.45, after an ultimatum from Aoun and Geagea, and that the cabinet had six officers from six communities. Traboulsi's postscript dates the end of the term to October 1988, and Picard (p. 155) and Quéméner to August 1988; the other sources agree on 22 September.
September 23, 1988friday
General Aoun and Selim Hoss were fighting for the international recognition. The country was from now on divided in two regions run respectively in the 'East' by general Aoun and in the 'West' by Selim Hoss.
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December 7, 1988wednesday
On the fifth day of a blockade imposed by the closure of the Museum-Berbir junction, the only supply road for fuel and food products, the bank of Lebanon gives up to the pressures and unfreezes credits for the West Beirut sector for direct importation of flour.
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December 13, 1988tuesday
An agreement takes place between the employers and the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers. The minimum wage is thus increased to 25,000 LBP.
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December 20, 1988tuesday
Four days after the liberation of the R.C.I.C. Swiss delegate, Peter Winkler, kidnapped in Southern Lebanon on November 17 and released on December 16, the Red Cross International Committee decides to suspend its operations in Lebanon immediately and to repatriate its delegates.
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December 29, 1988thursday
Two French little girls (Marie-Laure and Virginie Valente) kidnapped 13 months earlier are delivered by the Libyan authorities to a French government emissary. The year ends in a very tense climate. The Lebanese are wondering about their future.
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January 8, 1989sunday
After the fightings in Beirut, the Amal movement and the Hezbollah continue their bloody fightings in the Iqlim-el-Touffah.
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January 10, 1989tuesday
The extraordinary conference of Arab ministers of Foreign Affairs was held in Tunis without the Lebanese delegation although the conference covered primarily the Lebanese crisis.
\_this day in full the books also date it 12 January 1989 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Hanf: Syria, isolated among Arab states, reluctantly accepted the Lebanon commission the Arab League's Council of Ministers set up on 12 January under Kuwait's foreign minister. Iraq launched it to check Syria.
January 18, 1989wednesday
The great Lebanese poet and drama author, Georges Schehade, dies at the age of 81 in his Parisian house. Georges Schehade wrote in French.
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January 20, 1989friday
The chief of the National Liberal Party, Dany Chamoun, met with Walid Joumblatt, chief of the Progressive Socialist Party, in Deir el Kamar. Moreover, Beiteddine was busy organizing the return of the refugees.
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\_what the books add
In January 1989 Walid Jumblatt made his strongest appeal yet for displaced Christians to return to the Chouf and Aley. Dany Chamoun attended the conference Jumblatt held; Samir Geagea did not. According to Hanf, few displaced people returned.
January 30, 1989monday
Following negotiations conducted in Damascus, the pro-Syrian Amal movement and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah sign an agreement putting an end to their armed conflict that cost the life of 400 persons in 10 months.
\_this day in full the books also date it 25 January 1989 \_on this day
\_what the books add
The dates differ: Hanf says Amal and Hezbollah suspended their war on 25 January, and also writes that the Syrian-Iranian ceasefire took until the spring. De Clerck and Malsagne date the ceasefire to February 1989. Picard names Syria and Iran as sponsors. Death tolls depend on the source and the period: some sources put civilian deaths at about 2,000 for 1988-1990 (de Clerck and Malsagne); an al-Nahar-based count gives 635 dead across 147 incidents between 1985 and 1991; Georges Corm estimated 2,000 dead for 1988-1989.
February 1, 1989wednesday
Presidents Hoss, Husseini, and General Aoun did not come up with an agreement in Tunis.
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\_what the books add
Hanf: Aoun told the Tunis meeting he could settle Lebanese differences himself once Syria withdrew; Hoss and Husseini put reform first.
February 9, 1989thursday
Anouar Fatayri, high official of the Progressive Socialist Party and his bodyguard Mohammed Saïd Abou Mehdi are assassinated in an ambush at the entry of the Jahlieh village in the Chouf.
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February 10, 1989friday
Confrontations are taking place between the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Forces in Jdeideh.
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\_what the books add
Hanf cites estimates of 15,000 troops under Aoun and 10,000 militiamen, both sides heavily armed by Iraq, and dates the outbreak of heavy army-Lebanese Forces fighting to 10 February, Aoun accusing the militia of plotting a coup. De Clerck and Malsagne date the first clash to 14 February.
February 14, 1989tuesday
New confrontations between the army and the L.F. were taking place in Monteverde and next to the Justice Palace in Beirut, which created a general mobilization on both sides.
\_this day in full the books also date it 10 February 1989 \_on this day
\_what the books add
De Clerck and Malsagne date the first army-LF clash to 14 February: after 18 hours of fighting the army had the upper hand. Hanf dates the start to 10 February.
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