54 news for January, February, May, September, November, December 1981
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January 3, 1981saturday
After its withdrawal from Ain El Remmaneh on October 31, 1980 the Army repositioned on the main road axes in the region.
\_this day in full the books also date it 31 October 1980, 20 November 1980 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Dates differ. De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology has the Lebanese Forces controlling East Beirut from 31 October 1980. Ménargues puts the LF's 48-hour assault on Ain al-Remmaneh, held by Elias Hannouche's Chamounists, ten days after the 10 November car bombs, around 20 November 1980.
January 5, 1981monday
Michel Rocard, member of the French Socialist Party's national secretariat met with President Elias Sarkis, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Chafic Wazzan, as well as with the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat.
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January 8, 1981thursday
The Arab Strike Force withdrew from Zahleh.
\_this day in full the books also date it 22 December 1980, 2 April 1981 \_on this day
\_what the books add
After the December 1980 clashes in Zahleh, Syrian troops gave up their checkpoints inside the town but kept it under blockade (Hanf). Ménargues, however, says ADF checkpoints were still on the town's main roads when Lebanese Forces fighters seized them in the first days of April 1981.
January 9, 1981friday
A new phase of the war started in Lebanon: the war of televisions. The 'Lebanese Forces' wanted to broadcast under the name 'Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation' and the Mourabitun seemed to be willing to give them hard time. As a result, they both emitted on the same channel and thus jammed the image.
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January 18, 1981sunday
Jean Francois Revel, the director of the French weekly magazine L'Express, left Beirut after a 48-hour visit. He declared before his departure: 'The actual drama in Lebanon is the result of the convergence of external factors rather than an internal crisis'.
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January 21, 1981wednesday
20,000 displaced persons from Damour participated in a peaceful walk towards the presidential palace to claim their return home.
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January 23, 1981friday
Combats were raging between militiamen from the Amal movement and the Popular Palestinian Liberation Front (PPLF) in Chyah.
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January 28, 1981wednesday
President Elias Sarkis delivered a speech at the Third Islamic States Summit in Taef, where he headed the Lebanese delegation. He declared: 'Lebanon cannot bear anymore the Palestinian armed presence on its land'.
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January 29, 1981thursday
The Israeli aviation bombarded Saida and Nabatyeh for two days. An artillery duel opposed the 'Common Forces' to the militiamen of Saad Haddad. These Israeli bombardments killed 14 and injured 30 others.
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January 31, 1981saturday
A violent storm hit Lebanon.
50 cars were totally stuck between Sofar and Mdeirej and their occupants spent the night in their vehicles. The Army was able to rescue 200 persons in the mountain.
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February 4, 1981wednesday
February 13, 1981friday
The kidnapping on February 6 in Beirut of the chargé d'affaires of Jordan in Lebanon, remained at the center of preoccupation of the country's leaders. They adopted a series of security measures for the protection of embassies.
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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.
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February 19, 1981thursday
His Beatitude Bishop Maximos V Hakim escaped a killing attempt on the road of Bhamdoun. The aggressors' identity was unknown.
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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.
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May 5, 1981tuesday
The Lebanese Syrian plan outlined three main stages: The national understanding, the settlement of the conflict between Beirut and Damascus, and the organization of the relation with Palestinians.
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\_what the books add
According to Ménargues, Syria's foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam brought a five-page paper to Baabda on 5 May. In effect a Lebanese–Syrian accord on institutions, politics, the economy and culture, down to school curricula, it was rejected by the Kataeb leader Pierre Gemayel.
May 7, 1981thursday
About 7,000 reinforcement Syrian troops were dispatched to the Bekaa region, to prepare against an eventual Israeli offensive.
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\_what the books add
In Ménargues, the 'red line' between Sohmor and Yohmor in the southern Bekaa was occupied on 7 May by 7,000 Syrian troops: two brigades backed by tanks and heavy guns.
May 8, 1981friday
The American envoy Philip Habib began his talks at the Baabda Palace.
\_this day in full the books also date it 4 May 1981 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Ménargues writes that Habib came from Damascus by road on the evening of 7 May, Beirut airport being closed. De Clerck and Malsagne date Reagan's dispatch of Habib to 4 May.
May 9, 1981saturday
Both sectors in Beirut witnessed a day of terror. Blind bombardments caused 21 dead and 98 wounded. The shelling reached Jounieh, Bkerkeh, and Beit Mery.
\_this day in full the books also date it 8 May 1981 \_on this day
\_what the books add
For 8 May, a day of shelling throughout Habib's meetings, Ménargues gives the US embassy toll: 21 dead and 98 wounded.
May 11, 1981monday
Once again, the civil population of East and West Beirut was under siege. The criminal violence claimed the lives of 18 persons and injured another173. A war psychosis haunted the Bekaa region where the residents were fleeing from the areas next to the SAM anti-aircrafts missiles deployed by the Syrian forces, fearing a Syrian-Israeli confrontation.
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May 12, 1981tuesday
SAM missiles were launched against Israeli spy airplanes.
\_this day in full the books also date it 14 May 1981 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Ménargues's run of drone losses begins on 14 May, when a Syrian SAM-6 downed an Israeli reconnaissance drone over the Bekaa; more were lost on 19, 22 (two) and 25 May.
May 16, 1981saturday
Washington advocated a fast resolution of the missile crisis to avoid a worsening of the situation. Beirut was hit by one bomb every three seconds. Twenty-seven persons were evacuated from Zahleh during a lull period.
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May 17, 1981sunday
Words were no longer enough to describe the horror of the war. How to describe the endless artillery duels, the depression of civilians buried in shelters, the magnitude of destructions? The guns didn't stop for 9 continuous hours on both sides of the dividing lines; 25 persons were killed and 118 wounded. What was at stake in this endless battle of Beirut?
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May 18, 1981monday
While the civilian population continued to pay the high price of Man's madness, a Saudi solution plan was put into place. It stipulated the maintenance of SAM missiles in the Bekaa region, the progressive withdrawal of the Arab Strike Force from Lebanon, the limitation of Palestinian activities in the South and the reinforcement of the Lebanese central authority.
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May 22, 1981friday
While the US envoy Philip Habib continued his trips between the different belligerents, the missile question seemed to be far from being settled as the parties concerned toughened their positions.
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May 28, 1981thursday
Following the departure of the American envoy, the Israeli aviation bombarded Palestinian bases in Damour causing hundred of dead or injured victims.
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May 29, 1981friday
According to the American information service, 150 Libyan soldiers were in Lebanon for some time. Arafat declared that the Palestinian Resistance detained SAM missiles.
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September 3, 1981thursday
A first encounter between Syrian officials and members of the Phalange Party in Baabda under the aegis of the Arab Committee resulted in the reopening of the roads.
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\_what the books add
In Ménargues's account the Saudi and Kuwaiti foreign ministers proposed Syria–Lebanese Forces talks after seeing Khaddam in Beirut on 3 September. Next day at Baabda, Bashir Gemayel accepted the opening of crossing points. The Vigilance Committee's evening statement reserved arms imports to legal forces and set up a body to police the coast and ports; Bashir and the Lebanese Front rejected it.
September 4, 1981friday
The French ambassador, Louis Delamare, was cowardly assassinated 100 meters away from the Résidence des Pins.
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\_what the books add
The 59-year-old ambassador was shot in his locked car at about 1.55 p.m., some 60 metres from a Syrian checkpoint (Malsagne), while heading home near the Résidence des Pins. Malsagne blames a pro-Syrian Shiite commando; the next ambassador, Paul-Marc Henry, saw a botched kidnapping ordered by Iranian intelligence. France was then moving closer to the PLO.
September 5, 1981saturday
Hamid Frangieh, one of the major figures of the Lebanese independence, died. Born in Ehden in 1907, he was the first Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Lebanese Independent State, in the 1943 cabinet of Riad Solh. He was deputy of Zghorta from 1943 to 1957. He negotiated in February 1948 the monetary convention with France. It was a big loss for Lebanon.
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\_what the books add
According to Picard, Hamid Frangieh negotiated Lebanon's financial agreements with France, which she places in 1943 rather than 1948.
September 11, 1981friday
The Museum roadway was officially reopened after several days of shilly-shallying.
\_this day in full the books also date it 12 September 1981 \_on this day
\_what the books add
Ménargues sets the agreement at the Vigilance Committee meeting of 11 September, where Syria's Mohammad Ghanem came out for deploying the Lebanese Army from Sodeco to the port. The Museum crossing, almost completely shut for five months, reopened on 12 September.
September 15, 1981tuesday
The axes longing the downtown's ruins up to Berjaoui and Sodeco were on fire since 7 o'clock in the morning. Several bombs fell on residential areas.
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September 17, 1981thursday
Two explosive attacks killed 29 persons and injured 116 in Chekka and Saida. Terrorism spread its tentacles to the entire country.
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\_what the books add
About 300 people died in bombings from 17 September to 2 October 1981, which de Clerck and Malsagne, citing Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, put down to the 'Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners', formed by Israeli officers against the Palestinians and their allies.
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