Language/Standard-arabic/Culture/Lebanon-Timeline

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Historical Timeline for Lebanon - A chronology of key events
Lebanon-Timeline-PolyglotClub.png

Lebanon-Timeline-PolyglotClub.jpg

Chronology of Lebanon (1943-2012)[edit | edit source]

The key dates for Lebanon since independence and the establishment of the "National Pact" which established a denominational political system distributing powers between Maronites, Sunnis, Shiites, Druze, and Greek Catholics and Orthodox.

  • 1943: under French mandate since 1920, the former province of the Ottoman Empire proclaims its independence. The "National Pact" establishes a denominational political system distributing powers between the Maronites, the Sunnis, the Shiites, the Druze, and the Greek Catholics and Orthodox.
  • 1952-58: Presidency of Camille Chamoun who practices a pro-Western policy.
  • 1958: an insurrection of Arab nationalists favorable to Nasser is put down by an American intervention.
  • 1970-71: driven out of Jordan, the Palestinian fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) set up their bases in southern Lebanon.
  • 1972-73: military operations and reprisals between Israelis and Palestinians on Lebanese territory poison relations between the Palestinians and the Lebanese state.

The Civil War: 1975-1989[edit | edit source]

  • April 13, 1975: 27 bus passengers, mostly Palestinians, were killed by Phalangist militiamen (Maronite Christians). Clashes and reprisals ensue between Palestinians and Phalangists. This event marks the start of the war in Lebanon which will last 15 years.
  • April 75-January 1976: the fighting pits conservative Christian militias against Palestinian-progressive (Palestinians and the Lebanese left). Syria supports the latter, while proclaiming its neutrality.
  • June 1976: Syrian alliance overthrows, sending troops to Lebanon at the request of the Christian camp. Rout of the Palestino-progressives.
  • November 1976: official end of the war. The toll is 30,000 killed and 600,000 refugees. Establishment of the Arab Deterrence Force (ADF), mostly Syrian. The Lebanese army has broken up into rival factions. The territory is under the authority of a multitude of militias and clans.
  • March 1977: assassination of Kamal Joumblatt, leader of the progressive socialist party (PSP, Druze). The reprisals make dozens of Christian victims.
  • March 1978: following a Palestinian attack in Tel Aviv, Israeli troops invade southern Lebanon ("Operation Litani") to create a "security zone". The UN sends an interposition force, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The Israeli army withdrew in June, leaving control of southern Lebanon to the Christian militia of Commander Saad Haddad.
  • July 1978: clashes between Syrian troops and Christian militias.
  • April 1979: Commander Haddad proclaims the independence of the Christian areas of southern Lebanon and gives his militia the name of Army of South Lebanon (ALS).
  • June 1981: clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces bomb Beirut.
  • June 1982: the Israelis invade Lebanon again and besiege Beirut (operation "Peace in Galilee").
  • August 1982: 11,000 PLO combatants are evacuated from Beirut under the supervision of the Multinational Force.
  • September 14, 1982: elected less than a month earlier, President Béchir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut. His brother Amine succeeded him on the 21st. The Israelis enter West Beirut.
  • September 17-18, 1982: the massacre of civilians by Christian militias in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatila, with the passive complicity of the Israeli army, kills 800, according to an Israeli commission of inquiry.
  • April 1983: a Shiite suicide bombing kills 63 at the United States Embassy in Beirut.
  • May 1983: signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon. Creation of a buffer zone under the authority of the Army of South Lebanon.
  • September 1983: the "mountain war" opposes Christians and Druze. They take control of the Chouf region.
  • October 1983: double suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad against the French (Drakkar, 58 dead) and American (241 dead) contingents of the multinational force.
  • November 1983: a suicide bombing against the Israeli headquarters in Tire claimed 62 lives.
  • November-December 1983: clashes between the PLO and the Syrians in Tripoli, supported by Palestinian dissidents. Yasser Arafat and 4,000 of his supporters were evacuated under French protection.
  • February 1984: the Shiite Amal militia takes control of West Beirut. The Druze of Walid Joumblatt seize the positions of the Lebanese Forces (Christian militia) in the mountains south of Beirut. The American, British and Italian military contingents of the Multinational Force leave Lebanon.
  • March 1984: first in a long series of Western hostage kidnappings. France announces the withdrawal of its UNIFIL contingent. The Council of Ministers decides to abrogate the May 1983 peace treaty.
  • May 1984: formation of a national unity government led by Rachid Karamé.
  • March 1985: a car bomb attack in a Shiite district of Beirut killed 75 people.
  • May-June 1985: first "war of the camps". clashes between the Shiite Amal militia, supported by part of the Lebanese army, and the Palestinians of Sabra and Shatila claim 700 lives in refugee camps.
  • June 1985: end of the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon, with the exception of a buffer zone in the south, left under the control of the Army of South Lebanon by Antoine Lahad.
  • October 1985: agreement for an end to the fighting between the three main militias: Amal (Shiite), PSP (Druze) and Lebanese Forces (Christian). President Gemayel thwarts this agreement.
  • January 1986: clashes between Christian militias in Beirut.
  • May 1986-April 1987: new "war of the camps" between Amal and the Palestinians.
  • February 1987: violent clashes between Druze and Shiite militias in West Beirut. Deployment of 8,000 Syrian soldiers.
  • June 1987: Prime Minister Rachid Karamé is killed in an attack. He is replaced by Salim Hoss.
  • May 1988: the fighting in the southern suburbs of Beirut between Shiite militias Amal and Hezbollah (created in 1982 in southern Lebanon, following the Israeli invasion) left 600 dead in 2 weeks. The Syrian army intervenes.
  • August 1988: the presidential election is postponed, the quorum not being reached. President Gemayel is not replaced at the end of his term in September. He designates the commander of the armed forces, General Aoun, to form a provisional government. The Muslims do not recognize it, and form a parallel government in West Beirut, led by Salim Hoss.
  • March 1989: Michel Aoun launches a "war of liberation" against the 33,000 Syrian soldiers present in Lebanon.
  • October 1989: signature of the Taef Accords which establish a new balance between the communities, provide for the dissolution of the militias, the reinforcement of the powers of the Prime Minister and the formation of a government of national unity. Syria maintains more than 40,000 troops in Lebanon.
  • November 1989: René Moawad is elected president by the signatories of the Taef agreements on the 5th, and assassinated on the 22. Salim Hoss becomes Prime Minister and General Emile Lahoud succeeds Michel Aoun as head of the armed forces.
  • January-March 1990: the war for the control of the "Christian Country" between supporters of General Aoun and the Lebanese Forces of Samir Geagea killed several thousand people. Aoun takes refuge at the French embassy. He went into exile in France in 1991. The Lebanese civil war left more than 140,000 dead in 15 years.

Post-war[edit | edit source]

  • May 1991: signing of a Treaty of friendship with Syria, which enshrines the preponderant role of Damascus.
  • October 1992: billionaire Rafic Hariri is appointed Prime Minister. Legislative elections partially boycotted by Christians (20% participation rate).
  • April 1996: Following Hezbollah rocket attacks against northern Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres launches Operation Grapes of Wrath in retaliation. 102 civilians who took refuge in a UN camp in southern Lebanon were killed by Israeli bombs. Creation of a tripartite monitoring committee (Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli), under the alternate presidency of the United States and France: Israel and Hezbollah undertake to refrain from targeting civilian targets on both sides. other from the Israeli-Lebanese border and shoot from populated areas.
  • October 1998: Parliament elects the army commander-in-chief, Emile Lahoud, as President of the Republic. A month later, he ousted Rafic Hariri from the post of Prime Minister and appointed Salim Hoss in his place.
  • 2000
    • February: Intensification of clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
    • March 5: The Israeli government approves Prime Minister Ehud Barak's proposal for the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon before July 2000.
    • May: The desertions which multiply in the ranks of the SLA lead to the precipitous withdrawal of the Israeli army.
    • August 27-September 3: the result of the legislative elections constitutes a snub for Prime Minister Salim Hoss. This election marks the return of his predecessor, Rafic Hariri.
    • October: Hezbollah captures three Israeli soldiers in the disputed sector of Chebaa, on the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
  • 2001
    • June: partial withdrawal of Syrian troops from Beirut and its surroundings. Under the Taëf Agreement (1989) which ended the civil war, the Syrian army should have withdrawn from Beirut to the Bekaa plain in 1992.
    • August: wave of arrests of anti-Syrian Christian activists, accused of conspiracy against the security of Lebanon.
    • November: The United States releases a list of terrorist groups including Hezbollah and asks Beirut to freeze its assets. The Lebanese government, which regards Hezbollah as a resistance organization, rejects this request.
  • 2002
    • January 24: Former Christian warlord Elie Hobeika is killed in a car bomb near Beirut. He was considered to be one of those responsible for the massacres of Sabra and Chatila.
  • 2004
    • May 11: the United States imposes economic sanctions against Damascus and demands the withdrawal of the Syrian expeditionary force.
    • August 28: The Lebanese government announces a draft amendment to the Constitution to extend the term of President Lahoud. Two days earlier, the Syrian president had summoned Prime Minister Rafic Hariri to signify Damascus's will to him.
    • September 2: at the initiative of Paris and Washington, the UN Security Council adopts resolution 1559 calling for respect for the sovereignty of Lebanon and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from its soil, implicitly targeting Syria.
    • September 6: opposed to the amendment of the constitution, four ministers resign from the government.
    • September 21: Druze deputy Walid Joumblatt launches a petition questioning the extension of President Lahoud's mandate.
    • September 20-29: redeployment of 3,000 Syrian soldiers returning to Syria.
    • October 20: resignation of Rafic Hariri. Pro-Syrian MP Omar Karamé forms a new government.
    • December 13: for the first time since 1975, all the opposition parties launch a common program denouncing Syrian tutelage.
  • 2005
    • February
      • 14: Rafic Hariri is killed in Beirut, in an explosive attack that kills 18. The next day, the UN Security Council asks Kofi Annan for a report on the circumstances of the death of the former prime minister and calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
      • 16: start of daily opposition demonstrations against the Syrian presence.
      • 23: more than two hundred Syrian personalities call, in an open letter, President Bashar al-Assad to withdraw the Syrian army from Lebanon.
  • 28: Omar Karamé's government resigns.
    • March
      • 8: At the call of the Shiite Hezbollah and Amal parties, nearly 400,000 people demonstrate in Beirut in favor of Syria and against the interference of Washington and Paris.
      • 14: nearly a million people demonstrate in Beirut, in an unprecedented rally, to demand the truth about the assassination of Rafic Hariri and the departure of the head of state Emile Lahoud.
    • April
      • 3: Syria and the UN reach an agreement on the withdrawal of all Syrian troops deployed in Lebanon before April 30.
      • 7: the United Nations Security Council decides to create an independent international commission to investigate the assassination of Rafic Hariri.
      • 26: the departure of the last Syrian soldiers marks the official end of Damascus's presence in Lebanon.
    • May 4: justice cancels the proceedings concerning three charges against General Michel Aoun, former Christian Prime Minister, exiled in France for fifteen years. He returned to Lebanon on May 7.
    • May 27: General Aoun announces his candidacy for the legislative elections. He chooses to ally himself with Liege men from Damascus.
    • May 29 - June 19: legislative elections. the anti-Syrian coalition led by Saad Hariri, the son of the former prime minister, wins 72 of the 128 seats.
    • June 2: the journalist and anti-Syrian opponent Samir Kassir is assassinated in a car bomb attack.
    • June 21: the former leader of the Communist Party, Georges Hawi, close to the anti-Syrian opposition, is killed in a car bomb attack in Beirut.
    • July 19: Fouad Siniora, a former ally of Rafic Hariri, forms a new cabinet including Hezbollah.
    • September 1: The Attorney General initiates legal proceedings against the head of the Lebanese presidential guard and three former officers linked, according to the investigation, to the assassination of Rafic Hariri.
    • October 20: publication of a report by the UN commission of inquiry, headed by German judge Detlev Mehlis, which implicates Syria.
    • December 12: the journalist and Christian deputy Gebrane Tuéni is killed in the explosion of a car bomb.
  • 2006
    • July 12: Israel launches a vast air and sea offensive on Lebanon, after the kidnapping at its border of two soldiers and the death of eight others. The operation has been claimed by Hezbollah. Israel bombs Beirut and South Lebanon, causing severe infrastructure damage. Hezbollah retaliates with rocket fire at northern Israel. Israel imposes an air and sea blockade on Lebanon.
    • August 12: The Security Council adopts resolution 1701 calling for the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon. The resolution provides for providing additional resources and personnel to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), to support the Lebanese armed force of 15,000 men that the government has committed to deploying in South Lebanon.
    • August 14: entry into force of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. In one month, the war left nearly 1,200 dead and 900,000 displaced in Lebanon; 150 dead and 400,000 displaced in Israel.
    • August 17: start of the deployment of the Lebanese army in South Lebanon.
    • August 25: The Europeans undertake to provide more than 7,000 men to UNIFIL. France announces the deployment of 2,000 soldiers.
    • November 11: The ministers of Hezbollah and the Amal movement leave the government after the failure of the formation of a government of national unity in which they would have had a blocking minority.
    • November 21: Pierre Gemayel, Minister of Industry, is assassinated by bullets in Beirut.
    • December: Shiites and supporters of Christian general Michel Aoun start a sit-in near the offices of head of government Fouad Siniora, whose resignation they demanded.
  • 2007
    • January: the opposition calls a general strike which degenerates into clashes between Shiites and Sunnis in the Muslim neighborhoods of the capital.
    • January 25: around forty countries and international organizations meeting in conference in Paris, promise 7.6 billion dollars in support of the Lebanese economy.
    • May 17: the United States, France and Great Britain submit to the Security Council a draft resolution for the creation of an international tribunal to try the assassins of Rafic Hariri.
    • End of May: Heavy fighting broke out between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, an Islamist militia entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli, in the north of the country. The army did not regain control of the camp, which was in ruins, until September. The battle left nearly 400 dead. Some of the militiamen would have managed to escape.
    • May 30: The UN Security Council adopts resolution 1757, which requires the creation of an international tribunal to try those responsible for the assassination of Rafic Hariri, and the attacks that have bloodied Lebanon since October 2004.
    • September 18: A car bomb killed eight people, including the anti-Syrian Christian deputy Antoine Ghanem.
    • September 25: the session of Parliament called to elect the President of the Republic is adjourned. Majority and opposition fail to agree on the formation of a government of national unity and the amendment of the electoral law for the next legislative elections.
    • December 12: General François El-Hadj is killed in a car bomb attack in Beirut. He was tipped to replace the army chief Michel Sleïmane, candidate for the presidential election.
  • 2008
    • February 12: assassination in Damascus (Syria) of Imad Moughnieh, Hezbollah security chief, wanted by Interpol for attacks and kidnappings for 20 years.
    • Early May: Deadly clashes broke out between the majority and the opposition, following the dismissal of the head of the airport security services, a prosyrian Shiite officer and the outlawing of Hezbollah's telecommunications network. The Shiites launch a campaign of civil disobedience. In Beirut, the movement degenerated into a street battle and Hezbollah took control of the western districts of the city; the fighting, which claimed more than 60 victims, spread to Tripoli and the Chouf. On May 14, the government overturns the two decisions taken against Hezbollah. Thanks to the mediation of the Arab League and Qatar, an agreement was reached in Doha providing for the immediate election of the President of the Republic, the formation of a government of national unity and the lifting of the sit-in installed by the opposition since the end of 2006 in the center of Beirut.
    • May 25: Michel Sleimane, commander-in-chief of the army, is elected President of Lebanon after 18 months of political crisis.
    • July 11: Prime Minister Fouad Siniora forms a cabinet of national unity. Sixteen portfolios are attributed to the anti-Syrian majority, eleven to the opposition led by the Shiite Hezbollah party, three other members of the cabinet being appointed by the head of state, Michel Sleiman, and the president of the Parliament, Nabib Berri.
    • July 16: exchange of prisoners and mortal remains between Israel and Hezbollah.
    • July-August: new deadly intercommunal clashes in Tripoli.
    • September 16: opening of a national dialogue between the leaders of the fourteen political parties that signed the Doha inter-Lebanese agreement in May 2008. Discussions focus, among other things, on relations between the army and Hezbollah militiamen.
    • October 15: Lebanon establishes official diplomatic relations with Syria in accordance with the announcement made by the two countries in July.
  • 2009
    • March 1: opening in The Hague of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon responsible for trying the alleged perpetrators of terrorist attacks perpetrated since 2004.
    • April 29: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon orders the release of four senior officers, detained since August 2005 as part of the investigation into the attack perpetrated against former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
    • June 7: the majority wins the legislative elections. Saad Hariri is in charge of forming a government.
    • August 2: Walid Joumblatt announces that he is leaving the March 14 coalition.
    • September 24: Saad Hariri, who gave up forming a government on September 10 for lack of agreement with the opposition, is again instructed by President Sleiman to try to form one.
    • November 3: the Israeli navy arrests in the Mediterranean a ship carrying weapons, coming from Iran, according to the Israeli media, and apparently destined for the Lebanese Hezbollah.
    • November 9: after five months of deadlock, Saas Hariri announces the formation of a government of national unity.
    • November 19-20: historical visit of Saad Hariri to Damascus. The Lebanese Prime Minister meets Bashar al-Assad, whom he accused of having had his father killed.
  • 2010
    • February: Israel increases warnings against Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria.
    • April: the discovery of an offshore hydrocarbon field stirs up tension between Lebanon and Israel.
    • May: The Israeli government accuses Syria of delivering Scud missiles to Lebanese Hezbollah.
    • July 4: death of Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, long considered the mentor of Hezbollah.
    • July: Tension on the rise after the announcement by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that members of his party would be implicated by the UN tribunal in the assassination of leader Rafic Hariri.
    • August: Four Lebanese - three soldiers and a journalist - and an Israeli lieutenant-colonel are killed in crossfire at the Israeli border.
    • October: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pays a controversial visit to Lebanon. He is warmly welcomed in South Lebanon. The tension, linked to the investigation led by the UN tribunal into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, is exacerbated by possible questioning of members of Hezbollah and by the issuance of arrest warrants in Syria against relatives of the Lebanese Prime Minister.
  • 2011
    • January: the government coalition collapses after the resignation of ministers of Hezbollah and its allies, plunging the country into crisis linked to the investigation of a UN tribunal into the assassination of leader Rafik Hariri.
    • On the 25th, the Parliament, after the change of alliances of several parties, gave its support to Najib Mikati, Hezbollah candidate, for the post of Prime Minister.
    • June: on the 13th, Najib Mikati forms a government after 5 months of negotiations. 19 wallets go to Hezbollah and its allies, including the Christian Michel Aoun, and the leader of the Amal movement, Nabih Berri. The eleven other portfolios go to personalities close to the President of the Republic, Michel Sleiman, to the Prime Minister himself, and to the Druze leader Walid Joumblatt.
    • On the 30th, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon handed the prosecutor in Beirut an indictment and four arrest warrants for the assassination of leader Rafic Hariri.
  • 2012
    • May-August: sporadic clashes between Lebanese hostile or favorable to the Syrian regime cause several in Tripoli
    • October: A deadly attack in Beirut kills the chief of police intelligence, Wissam al-Hassan, a general hostile to Damascus, and seven others.

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