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January 13, 1983thursday
The sixth Lebanese-American-Israeli round of negotiations took place in Kyriet Shmona, Israel. Five points were put on the agenda: 1- Ending the state of war. 2- Reaching security arrangements. 3- Establishing a framework for mutual relations, including matters such as liaison, and end of propaganda... 4- Completing the withdrawal program: conditions for the Israeli withdrawal within the context of a withdrawal of all foreign forces. 5- Giving eventual guarantees
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Lebanese and Israeli delegates met in turn at Khalde, in a repaired beach hotel, and at Kiryat Shmona. De Clerck and Malsagne count 37 meetings over 138 days, from December 1982 to May 1983.
January 15, 1983saturday
The combats intensified in the mountain between the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party. Bombs fell in Broumana and close to Moukhtara.
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January 23, 1983sunday
The American envoy, Philip Habib headed back to Washington empty-handed. Israel continued to impose unacceptable conditions on Lebanon, notably concerning the set up of Israeli pre-alert stations on the Lebanese territory.
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January 25, 1983tuesday
France granted more than 100 millions of French Francs as a back up for Hôtel-Dieu. The hospital was facing great financial difficulties.
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January 28, 1983friday
39 persons were killed and tens of others were wounded following a car bomb explosion parked in front of the 'Fateh' headquarters in Chtaura.
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January 30, 1983sunday
A bomb storm fell on East Beirut. While a constructive beginning of the week was expected, mainly concerning the project of a disarmed and open 'Greater Beirut', blind violence hit again. Following the degradation of the situation in the mountain between the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party, mortar shells, Katiouchas and other Grad fell on East Beirut causing important material damages.
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February 2, 1983wednesday
The aggressions didn't spare the Multinational Force. Reacting to the anti-French attacks, the President of the French Republic, Francois Mitterand, ordered the reinforcement of the French contingent in Lebanon.
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February 5, 1983saturday
A remotely controlled car bomb exploded killing 19 and injuring 136 in front of the Palestinian research center and the Libyan Jana agency, in Caracas street.
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February 7, 1983monday
A 20-point security agreement to pacify the mountain was finally reached between the Lebanese Forces and the Druze, under Israeli aegis.
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February 14, 1983monday
The Army deployed 3800 soldiers and officers in the East between Nahr El Mott, Dora and Hazmieh, by virtue of a decree granting it extended powers.
\_this day in full the books also date it 1 March 1983 \_on this day
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Early in 1983 the Eighth Brigade went into all of Beirut, the east included, under a plan to collect light arms in the city and clear heavy weapons and gunmen from Greater Beirut. The Lebanese Forces resisted, then on 1 March 1983 agreed to return East Beirut and the port's fifth basin to the state.
February 15, 1983tuesday
The Armenian Community in Lebanon gave a grandiose and emotional official farewell to its Patriarch H.S. Khoren 1st Catholicos of the house of Cilicie, dead at the age of 69.
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February 16, 1983wednesday
February 20, 1983sunday
Even the weather seemed to conspire against Lebanon in the beginning of this year. The storm and the cold raging from the coast up to the peaks of Lebanon claimed several victims. 23 cadavers were discovered and tens of persons were reported missing in the region of Dahr El Baydar. Rescue teams had already succeeded in saving 200 persons; but tens of others, trapped in their cars or buried under the snow where they were attempting to find shelter, were fighting death. The final toll reached 60 deaths and tens of isolated villages.
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February 23, 1983wednesday
March 4, 1983friday
A Lebanese Army convoy was attacked near Baalbeck. 6 militaries were killed and 13 injured. The assailants were pro-Iranians fighters.
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March 5, 1983saturday
Rain and snow fell again on Lebanon, thus increasing the risks of flood as the streams and rivers, caused by the rain and the melting snow, were threatening to overflow. The State mobilized its entire means to prevent a catastrophe.
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March 7, 1983monday
The State regained control over the fifth basin of the port.
\_this day in full the books also date it 1 March 1983 \_on this day
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De Clerck and Malsagne date the Lebanese Forces' return of the fifth basin to the state to 1 March 1983. Until then its customs receipts, put at 5 million dollars a month, supplied 20% of the militia's revenue. The army held it until 1985, when Samir Geagea took it back.
March 9, 1983wednesday
At the summit of New Delhi, President Amine Gemayel pleaded Lebanon's cause in front of 95 nations. He declared that Lebanon pursued a triple objective in the negotiations: preserve the national consensus, safeguard the State's sovereignty, and maintain the country's credibility among the Arabs.
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March 13, 1983sunday
The negotiations that were taking place in Washington, in view of an Israeli troops withdrawal from Lebanon, seemed to have reached some progress. Back to Lebanon, an attack against an Israeli patrol in Jiyeh provoked the death of three soldiers.
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March 16, 1983wednesday
14 American Marines and Italian bersaglieri were wounded by three attacks perpetrated in less than 12 hours. Washington and Rome declared however that the Multinational Force would continue its mission. The Lebanese Army launched a clean up operation in the Southern suburbs.
\_this day in full the books also date it 17 March 1983 \_on this day
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A caller claimed the attacks for 'Islamic Jihad', then an unknown name; the same voice later claimed the embassy bombing (Fisk). He counts ten Italians, two critically, and five US Marines wounded within 48 hours. De Clerck and Malsagne date these first Islamic Jihad attacks to 17 March.
March 18, 1983friday
During his visit to the region, former American President, Jimmy Carter met with President Gemayel, while the negotiations were frozen binding the return of Philip Habib. These negotiations resumed on March 21.
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March 26, 1983saturday
Following troubles triggered by a series of arrests, the Army reinstated the calm in Bir El Abed. It was the first incident of this kind since the inception of 'Greater Beirut'.
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Hanf dates Amal's first fighting with the army to March 1983, after soldiers had arrested large numbers of Shi'is on dubious charges.
June 14, 1983tuesday
While the bombardments took a dangerous turn in the mountain as they reached residential areas, the Chamber of Deputies approved the ratification of the Mai 17 agreement with 62 votes against 2 and 4 abstentions.
\_this day in full the books also date it 15 June 1983 \_on this day
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Counts differ: Hanf has 64 for, 2 against and 4 abstentions among 70 deputies present (40 of 50 Christian and 24 of 41 Muslim members in favour); Traboulsi has 65 for, 2 against and 4 abstentions; Fisk puts the vote on 15 June. Traboulsi says the government formally renounced the agreement on 5 March 1984, Amine Gemayel never having signed it.
June 16, 1983thursday
Disguised armed elements fired on the crowd in Tripoli, killing 15 persons. The tensioned lasted several days in the capital of the North.
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June 20, 1983monday
Lebanon lost one of its major poets. Nadia Tueni left behind her pages of pure beauty, eternal words, an immortal poetry, a Lebanon on fire, a tearful family, and inconsolable friends.
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June 27, 1983monday
Violent combats were raging in the region of Mansouriet-Bhamdoun between the Lebanese Forces and the PSP militia. The bombs reached the Northern Metn.
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June 29, 1983wednesday
Philip Habib undertook a new tour in the region. The Lebanese officials informed him in Beirut of their opposition to any partial Israeli withdrawal from the mountain.
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September 1, 1983thursday
During the month of September, atrocious massacres were perpetrated against Christian and Druze civilians in the Chouf.
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Massacres were committed on both sides: Druze fighters killed Christians at Bmaryam, Bhamdoun, Ma'asir al-Chouf and many other villages, and Lebanese Forces fighters killed Druze at Kfarmatta and in villages on their line of retreat. For September to December 1983 de Clerck and Malsagne give more than 1,500 Christians and 207 Druze massacred, 324 PSP and 368 Lebanese Forces fighters dead, and over 163,000 Christians driven from the region. Traboulsi gives 62 villages destroyed, Hanf about sixty.
September 4, 1983sunday
Taking the Lebanese authorities by surprise, the Israeli Army began its withdrawal from the Chouf and Aley leaving face to face the militia of the PSP and the LF in a merciless battle. The combats raged mainly around Bhamdoun, Souk El Gharb and Kabr Chmoun. A dramatic situation unfolded in the mountain where thousands of people were forced out of their homes. 30 000 people found temporary shelter in Deir El Kamar. The rehousing of the displaced persons caused a complicated problem for the officials.
\_this day in full the books also date it 3 September 1983 \_on this day
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The Lebanese army had under 24 hours' warning, Fisk writes, before Israeli troops began leaving Aley and the Chouf on the evening of 3 September; by the morning of the 4th they had gone. De Clerck and Malsagne count more than 10,000 Christians from over 60 villages sheltering in Deir el-Qamar.
September 18, 1983sunday
Emir Magid Arslane died at the age of 79. Hero of the independence, deputy since 1931, and several times minister, Emir Magid became very early a true national leader, a perfect incarnation of the generation of men who have shaped the coexistence aspect of Lebanon.
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September 19, 1983monday
The American warships pounded the anti-governmental forces in the mountain confirming the American support to the legal authority.
\_this day in full the books also date it 18 September 1983 \_on this day
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From 19 September the destroyer John Rodgers, then the cruiser Virginia, shelled Druze positions at Souk el-Gharb. Washington cited US personnel's safety; Fisk and Hanf see entry into the civil war. Only the frigate Bowen had fired before, on 8 September, at a Druze battery hitting the Marine compound.
September 22, 1983thursday
It was the turn of the French to react. The super-standards bombarded the artillery positions in Dhour Choueir while a bomb shower fell on Greater Beirut.
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September 26, 1983monday
Prime Minister Chafic Wazzan presented the resignation of his government to the chief of State, who refused it.
\_this day in full the books also date it 5 February 1984 \_on this day
January 2, 1984monday
The year started like the previous one ended : everyone was talking about a new security plan for the mountain and the Southern suburbs of Beirut. Nevertheless, the fights continued intermittently in these regions between the Army and the Lebanese Forces on one side and the Progressive Socialist Party and Amal on the other.
\_this day in full the books also date it 29 January 1984 \_on this day
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On 29 January the Druze resumed attacking the army at Souk al-Gharb, after Shi'i militia sniping at the army and French troops from mid-January, Hanf's next escalation.
January 4, 1984wednesday
A double Israeli raid in the region of Baalbeck caused tens of victims and buried many persons under the debris. In Beirut, the electric power was severely rationed by the EDL due to damaged installations in the Iqlim El Kharroub. The acts of resistance against the Israeli occupation continued in South Lebanon. Until the end of 1984, not a single day passed without one, two or three killing attempts perpetrated against Israeli troops or the local militias that they created.
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Counts of attacks on the Israeli army vary by source and period: Fisk reports 15 ambushes a week on average by February 1984 and a hundred attacks in December 1984; de Clerck and Malsagne put suicide attacks at about a hundred a month in 1984.
January 9, 1984monday
An anti-French killing attempt at the Résidence des Pins killed a paratrooper and wounded two others. Attacks against US and French troops of the Multinational Force continued until their departure in March.
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January 12, 1984thursday
One person was killed and many others were wounded in Achrafieh in a blind bombardment of residential areas. These bombings continued until July 4, causing thousands of deaths and injuries. Meanwhile, the dollar broke a new record in Beirut, reaching 5.55 LP.
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Sources differ on when the shelling stopped: the original entry has it continuing until the security plan of 4 July, while de Clerck and Malsagne date the systematic bombardment of Christian residential districts from the 17 May 1983 agreement to its abrogation on 5 March 1984.
January 15, 1984sunday
Ships from the sixth US fleet were positioned off Beirut. They were retaliating to the bombing of Marines' headquarters in the capital.
\_this day in full the books also date it 9 January 1984 \_on this day
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