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60 news for January, May–July, September, December 1981

with the books

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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
Militiamen led by the dissident officer Saad Haddad bombarded the locality of Hasbaya, causing important damages.

\_this day in full \_on this day

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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

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 19, 1981monday
Three blue helmets of the UNIFL were assassinated East of Tyr.

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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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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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_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.

\_this day in full \_on this day

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 12, 1981tuesday
The Lebanese stock exchange market panicked as the dollar's exchange rate increased up to 4.45 LP.

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May 13, 1981wednesday
A car bomb exploded in Chyah killing 6 and injuring 32 in addition to important material damages.

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May 16, 1981saturday
The Soviets and the Americans reinforced their military presence in the Mediterranean.

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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?

\_this day in full \_on this day

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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June 1, 1981monday
Blind bombardments hit the seaside resorts of Maameltein, Ouzaï and Manara. 18 people were killed and 270 were wounded.

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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.

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June 5, 1981friday
A generalized blaze of fire in Beirut and its suburbs kept spreading death.

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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 9, 1981tuesday
The American envoy Philip Habib began a new round of visits in the region.

\_this day in full the books also date it 10 June 1981 \_on this day

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.

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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.

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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).

July 2, 1981thursday
The Sodeco crossing way was officially opened to traffic. But the calm didn't last for more than 2 days, as snipers were back into action.

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July 4, 1981saturday
The Arab Foreign Affairs Ministers met in Beiteddine. However, no concrete measure was taken, it was a total impasse.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Ménargues lists the participants as Syrian foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, the Arab League's representative and the Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors, Ali Chaër and Abdel Hamid Bouayajane. That day a general strike against the Syrian presence shut down the Christian regions.

July 8, 1981wednesday
The chief of State Elias Sarkis, met with Bechir Gemayel and Pierre Gemayel. He announced after the meeting that he was given guarantees concerning the rupture of the relations with Israel.

\_this day in full the books also date it 6 July 1981 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Bashir Gemayel's pledge took the form of a letter to President Sarkis dated 6 July, which Sarkis never published (Ménargues).

July 10, 1981friday
In retaliation to an air raid launched by Israel in Southern Lebanon, the Palestinians bombarded Kyriat Shmona injuring 14 Israelis.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Ménargues counts 6 dead and 20 wounded in the two raids, on Democratic Front sites at Habbouch (near Nabatiyeh) and Ghaziyeh (near Sidon). Hanf dates the Israel–PLO 'Fourteen Day War' from them.

July 16, 1981thursday
Within a few hours, the Israeli aviation destroyed 9 bridges in Southern Lebanon cutting off the supply roads of the Palestinian forces. 32 persons were killed and 97 were injured in just one day.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Ménargues counts six bridges over the Awali and Litani destroyed in the raids. The Palestinians replied the same day with some 2,000 shells and rockets on Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona.

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