lebanese war
chronology
1975/1990
\_by Phases
\_by Dates
\_Search

previous page 2 of 3 next

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

November 2, 1982tuesday
Sister Theresa arrived in Beirut for a short visit of several days. She offered housing to 37 young Lebanese, providing them with everything they needed.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 16, 1982tuesday
The Israelis reinforced their control in the Chouf and Aley. The leaders in the mountain called upon Amine Gemayel who seemed determined to speed the settlement of the crisis in the Druze-Christian regions.

\_this day in full the books also date it 14 September 1982 \_on this day

November 20, 1982saturday
The Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party militiamen started a merciless war in the cazas of Aley and the Chouf.

\_this day in full the books also date it 8 November 1982, 23 November 1982 \_on this day

\_what the books add

On 8 November 1982 PSP men attacked a Christian funeral in Kfar Nabrakh, a mixed Chouf village, killing eleven, in reaction to a Lebanese Forces checkpoint set up nearby. Some twenty houses were burned and nine villagers abducted; their bodies were found in a well on 23 November. De Clerck and Malsagne call it the Mountain War's first massacre.

November 21, 1982sunday
In a message addressed to the nation, the chief of State declared : 'Lebanon will recover its independence by all means.'

\_this day in full the books also date it 22 November 1982 \_on this day

November 2, 1983wednesday
At the Geneva conference, the Mai 17 agreement was the main subject of debates. A Gemayel-Frangieh reconciliation took place.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Geneva's leaders agreed on Lebanon's 'Arab identity'. Fisk saw two reconciliations: Camille Chamoun ended five years of silence with Suleiman Frangieh, and Frangieh's public embrace of Amin Gemayel seemed to close their families' feud.

November 4, 1983friday
Participants in the Geneva conference asked President Gemayel to undertake an Arab and occidental tour in order to attempt solving the problem of the May 17 agreement.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 4, 1983friday
A car bomb exploded next to the Israeli headquarters in Tyr causing 29 deaths and 29 injured. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for this killing attempt.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Fisk puts the Tyre bombing's dead at 60, Israelis and Shin Bet prisoners together, and says some Israeli intelligence officers had known of plans against the building at least eleven months earlier.

November 6, 1983sunday
The situation was dramatic in Tripoli. Inter-Palestinian fights claimed 500 deaths and 875 injured.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

The fighting set Fatah dissidents under Abu Musa, Syrian artillery and pro-Syrian Lebanese parties against Arafat's loyalists and the Sunni Tawhid militia. Hanf writes that in early November it took on the character of a Sunni-Alawite civil war, and that Tawhid fighters killed hundreds of communists.

November 17, 1983thursday
The French aviation hit pro-Iranian bases in Baalbeck.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Fourteen Super-Étendards from the carrier Clemenceau attacked the Sheikh Abdallah barracks and the Khawam hotel, used by the Revolutionary Guards and Islamic Amal. The barracks had been evacuated after a leak, and most bombs fell on nearby hills; de Clerck and Malsagne count two dead, an Iranian and a Lebanese shepherd. The raid, code-named 'Brochet', was presented as retaliation for the Drakkar bombing.

November 20, 1983sunday
An Israeli airplane was shut down by the D.C.A. in the Lebanese sky.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 24, 1983thursday
Six Israeli prisoners were exchanged against 4600 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 25, 1983friday
A Syrian-Saudi agreement was reached in Damascus for the evacuation of Palestinians from Tripoli.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 30, 1983wednesday
President Gemayel met with the American President at the White House.

\_this day in full the books also date it 1 December 1983 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf writes that in Washington on 1 December the Americans pressed Gemayel to come to terms with the Druze and Shi'is and ruled out any change to the 17 May agreement.

November 7, 1984wednesday
A new round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations started in Nakoura, 8 months after the abrogation of the May 17 agreement. These negotiations resumed on November 15. But deep disagreements appeared regarding the roles of the Lebanese Army, the South Lebanon Army and the UNIFL.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

The original entries do not agree with each other: entry 792 says the talks were to open on 5 November, this entry says 7 November.

November 14, 1984wednesday
The Council of Ministers decided to charge the Military Council with the responsibility of deploying the Army from Tripoli to the Awali river.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 25, 1984sunday
The Army took control of Beirut, where 6000 soldiers deployed in the capital but without really controlling the situation.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 10, 1985sunday
Terry Waite, the envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in Beirut to negotiate with the Islamic Jihad the release of the four US hostages. He had a tough and lengthy mission that required a second visit to Beirut on December 20.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Fisk: Waite made three Beirut trips; on the first, invited by Islamic Jihad, he stayed in Terry Anderson's flat, met the kidnappers blindfolded and took their message to Washington.

November 13, 1985wednesday
The Eastern regions went on strike to protest against the suicide truck killing attempt perpetrated against the leaders of the Lebanese Front gathered in the St Georges convent in Awkar. The assault caused 4 dead and 36 wounded, including Elie Karameh, Edouard Honein, and Fouad Ephrame Boustany who were slightly injured.

\_this day in full the books also date it 28 December 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hobeika and President Gemayel escaped injury only because they were not in their cars when these were attacked; Chamoun, Elie Karami and other Lebanese Front leaders were hurt. Hanf places these attempts in a series that, in his view, hardened the confrontation over the Damascus agreement.

November 16, 1985saturday
It is in front of 15,000 persons including 2,000 Lebanese gathered in the St Peter basilica in Rome that Sister Rafka Rayes, a maronite from Lebanon, was declared blessed by Pope John Paul II. Sister Rafka was born in 1832 in Hamlaya.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 19, 1985tuesday
For the first time since 1982, a duel between Israeli and Syrian airplanes took place in the Lebanese sky. Two Syrian Migs were shot down. The Syrians decided after this incident to install Sam-2 ground-air missiles on the Syrian-Lebanese border.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 20 to 24, 1985wednesday
Violent combats opposed Amal and the PSP in West Beirut. Five days of hell followed for the residents of this region. 65 persons were killed and 250 were wounded.

\_this day in full the books also date it 21 November 1985 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf's 'Flag War': on 21 November alone, Shi'i and Druze fighters fought with tanks and artillery, leaving 65 dead and over 400 abducted. PSP militiamen had replaced the national flags Sixth Brigade soldiers put on public buildings for Independence Day with their party banner.

November 2, 1986sunday
An American, David Jacobsen, detained by the Islamic Jihad since the 27th of May 1985, was finally released.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Fisk's account puts the kidnapping on 28 May 1985.

November 5, 1986wednesday
The reactivated and broadened Lebanese Front held its first sittings.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 10, 1986monday
Two French hostages, Camille Sontag and Marcel Coudari were released.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 25, 1986tuesday
The armed conflict between Amal and the Palestinians spread to Maghdoucheh. Ferocious combats took place in this Christian strategic town. Ultimately, it fell partially in the hands of Palestinians and its residents were forced to flee from their homes.

\_this day in full the books also date it 24 November 1986 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf: the PLO took Maghdousheh on 24 November, lost it to Amal on the 25th and retook it on the 26th. De Clerck and Malsagne say the aim was to forestall an attack on Ain el-Helweh; Amal answered by besieging the southern camps and pressing the Beirut ones harder.

November 5, 1987thursday
The CGTL announces an open general strike, followed a few days later by a mass demonstration in Beirut and in other Lebanese regions.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf: the union-backed peace movement peaked in November 1987. Police estimated 60,000 people from East and West Beirut at the Museum crossing, its largest rally; others took place in Tripoli, Jbeil, Sidon and Tyre (see addition 1987-11-museum-demonstration).

November 11, 1987wednesday
The explosion of a suitcase-bomb in Beirut Airport provokes panic amongst the travellers, kills 3 persons and wounds 65.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 14, 1987saturday
The attempt against the American Hospital is a first in the annals of terrorism. Tjis is the first time hospitals are attacked. It killed 6 ersons and wounded 37.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

The statement that hospitals had never before been attacked needs qualifying: Fisk records Israeli artillery hitting Beirut's main hospitals, the American University Hospital among them, in the 1982 siege, and Hanf reports pro-Iranian groups attacking vehicles bound for the American University and its clinic.

November 16, 1987monday
Saida city went through a day of combats and bombing, killing according to a first toll, 6 people and injuring fourty. The confrontation was between Palestinian combatants and the Nasserian Popular Organization's militiamen.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 23, 1987monday
President Gemayel, during a trip in Europe, makes a stop in Bonn to ask the German Government for economic help.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 27, 1987friday
November seems to end with a sign of hope for the hostages in Lebanon. Jean-Louis Normandin, kidnapped in March 86, and Roger Auque, kidnapped in January 87, are set free.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 7, 1988monday
General Antoine Lahd, Chief of the 'Army of Southern Lebanon', escapes an assassination attempt by a communist militant, Souha Bechara. She is arrested.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

De Clerck (p. 104) says Soha Bechara was then tortured and jailed for ten years at Khiam. Hanf (p. 321) dates the attempt to December 1988.

November 9, 1988wednesday
Adel Osseirane names General Sami Khatib, former Chief of the Arab Strike Force, Chief Commander of the Army.

\_this day in full the books also date it 10 November 1988 \_on this day

\_what the books add

De Clerck (p. 283) dates the appointment to 10 November and says Hoss made it; Hanf (p. 571) says early November. On 12 November Aoun's cabinet referred al-Khatib to the military court.

November 25, 1988friday
West Beirut was the stage of a fresh outbreak of combats between Amal militiamen and the Hezbollah, despite the Syrian army presence.

\_this day in full the books also date it 28 November 1988 \_on this day

\_what the books add

Picard dates this round to 28 November 1988, Hanf to early December.

November 27, 1988sunday
President Takieddine Solh dies in Paris at the age of 80 following a heart attack.

\_this day in full \_on this day

November 1, 1989wednesday
The five permanent members of the Security Council are in favor of the Taef agreement.

\_this day in full the books also date it 22 October 1989 \_on this day

November 4, 1989saturday
At the last minute, the deputies decided not to return to Lebanon to meet with general Aoun. At 5 o'clock in the morning, Aoun decided to dissolve the Chamber and asked the members of parliament to adjourn their vote.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

Hanf dates Aoun's dissolution, by Decree 420, to 4 November, with elections set for January 1990; Traboulsi places it in September 1989. Raymond Eddé held the decree constitutional; Georges Vedel, the French jurist consulted by Speaker Husseini, found that an interim government could not dissolve parliament.

November 5, 1989sunday
The 'dissolved' National Assembly met at the military base of Kleyate and elected Rene Moawad new President of the Republic. Angry demonstrators invaded the patriarchal office of Bkerke. The Patriarch took refuge in Dimane. He came back later at the request of General Aoun.

\_this day in full \_on this day

\_what the books add

On 5 November, Hanf says, 58 deputies met at the Qlayaat air base, seven kilometres from the Syrian border, 25 of them flown from Paris on Rafic Hariri's private plane. They returned Hussein Husseini as speaker, voted on Taif and chose René Moawad as president: 35 votes on the first ballot, 52 with 6 abstentions on the second. That evening demonstrators broke into the Bkerke patriarchate and made Patriarch Sfeir kiss a portrait of Aoun.

November 8, 1989wednesday
A car bomb explodes on Abou Taleb Street in Hamra one hour before the arrival of President Moawad to West Beirut.

\_this day in full \_on this day

previous page 2 of 3 next