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Lebanon Chronology of Key Events
1920 1 September - After the League of Nations grants the mandate for Lebanon and Syria to France, the State of Greater Lebanon is proclaimed. It
includes the former autonomous province of Mount Lebanon, plus the provinces of north Lebanon, south Lebanon and the Biqa, historically part of Syria.
Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek - a well-preserved Roman relic
1926 23 May - Lebanese Representative Council approves a constitution and the Lebanese Republic is declared.
1940
- Lebanon comes under the control of the Vichy French government.
1941 - After Lebanon is occupied by Free French and British troops in June 1941, independence is declared on 26 November.
1943
March - The foundations of the state are set out in an unwritten National Covenant which states that Lebanon is an independent Arab country with ties to the West but which cooperates with other Arab states while remaining neutral. The 1932 census which had shown that Christians were 54% of the population is used as the basis for the distribution of seats in the Chamber of Deputies (later known as the National Assembly) on a ratio of six to five (later extended to other public offices). The president is to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies a Shia Muslim.
Independence
1943
November-December - Free French forces detain members of the recently-appointed government, which had declared an end to the mandate, before releasing them on 22 November, henceforth known as independence day. France agrees to transfer power to the Lebanese government from 1 January 1944.
Beirut's government house was restored after the civil war
2004: Beirut rises from the ruins
1957 - President Kamil Shamun accepts the Eisenhower Doctrine, announced in
January, which offers US economic and military aid to Middle Eastern countries to counteract Soviet influence in the region.
1958
14 July - Faced with increasing opposition which develops into a civil war, President Shamun asks the US to send troops to preserve Lebanon's independence.
1958
15 July - The US, mindful of Iraq's overthrow of its monarchy, sends marines to re-establish the government's authority.
Arab-Israeli war
1967
June - Lebanon plays no active role in the Arab-Israeli war but is to be affected by its aftermath when Palestinians use Lebanon as a base for activities against Israel.
1968
28 December - In retaliation for an attack by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on an Israeli plane in Athens, Israel raids Beirut airport, destroying 13 civilian planes.
1969
November - Army Commander-in-Chief Emile Bustani and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat sign an agreement in Cairo which aims to control Palestinian guerrilla activities in Lebanon.
1973 10 April - Israeli commandos raid Beirut and kill three Palestinian leaders, close associates of Arafat. The Lebanese government resigns the next day.
Civil war begins
Civil war left Beirut in ruins
Conflict erupted in April 1975 after a bus attack by Christian militia
Overthrow of the Christian military government in 1990 marked the end of 15 years of fighting
Conflict claimed more than 150,000 lives
1975
13 April - Phalangist gunmen ambush a bus in the Ayn-al-Rummanah district of Beirut, killing 27 of its mainly Palestinian passengers. The Phalangists claim that guerrillas had previously attacked a church in the same district. (These clashes are regarded as the start of the civil war).
1976 June - Syrian troops enter Lebanon to restore peace but also to curb the Palestinians.
1976
October - Following Arab summit meetings in Riyad and Cairo, a ceasefire is arranged and a predominantly Syrian Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) is established to maintain it.
Israel controls south
1978 14/15 March - In reprisal for a Palestinian attack into its territory, Israel launches a major invasion of Lebanon, occupying land as far north as the Litani river.
1978 19 March - UN
Security Council (UNSC) passes Resolution 425, which calls on Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory and establishes the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to confirm the Israeli withdrawal,
restore peace and help the Lebanese government re-establish its authority in the area.
1978
- By 13 June Israel hands over territory in southern Lebanon not to UNIFIL but to its proxy mainly Christian Lebanese militia under Maj Sa'd Haddad.
Israel attacks
1982 6 June - Following
the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov, Israeli ambassador to Britain, Israel launches a full-scale invasion of Lebanon, "Operation Peace for Galilee".
Syrian tanks in Beirut: Damascus entered the fray in 1976
1982 14 September - President-elect, Bashir al-Jumayyil, is assassinated. The following day, Israeli forces occupy West Beirut, and from 16 to 18
September, the Phalangist militia kill Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut.
1982 21 September - Bashir's elder brother, Amin al-Jumayyil, is elected president.
1982 24 September - The first contingent of a mainly US, French and Italian peacekeeping force, requested by Lebanon, arrives in Beirut.
Buffer zone set up
1983
17 May - Israel and Lebanon sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal, ending hostilities and establishing a security region in southern Lebanon.
1983
23 October - 241 US marines and 56 French paratroopers are killed in two bomb explosions in Beirut, responsibility for which is claimed by two militant Shia groups.
Antoine Lahd led now-disbanded South Lebanon Army
SLA was led by Lebanese Christians
Force was financed, trained by Israel
2000: Analysis - Role of the SLA
1985
- By 6 June most Israeli troops withdraw but some remain to support the mainly Christian South Lebanon Army (SLA) led by Maj-Gen Antoine Lahd which operates in a "security zone" in southern Lebanon.
1985 16 June - A TWA plane lands in Beirut after having been hijacked on a flight from Athens to Rome by two alleged members of Hezbollah demanding the release of Shia in Israeli jails. The crisis is
resolved with the help of Syrian mediation.
1987 21 May - Lebanon abrogates the 1969 Cairo agreement with the PLO as well as officially cancelling the 17 May 1983 agreement with Israel.
1987
1 June - After Prime Minister Rashid Karami is killed when a bomb explodes in his helicopter, Salim al-Huss becomes acting prime minister.
Two governments, one country
1988
22 September - When no candidate is elected to succeed him, outgoing President Amin al-Jumayyil appoints a six-member interim military government, composed of three Christians and three Muslims, though the latter refuse to serve. Lebanon now has two governments - one mainly Muslim in West Beirut, headed by Al-Huss, the other, Christian, in East Beirut, led by the Maronite Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Gen Michel Awn.
Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon's 200,000 Druze
Smaller Druze communities live in Israel, Syria
Religious system is kept under wraps, known only to an elite
Conversion, inter-marriage are not allowed
Lebanon's religious red lines
1989 14 March - Awn declares a "war of liberation " against the Syrian presence in Lebanon.
1989
28 July - Shaykh Abd-al-Karim Ubayd, Hezbollah leader in Jibshit, is abducted by Israeli forces.
1989
22 October - The National Assembly, meeting in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, endorses a Charter of National Reconciliation, which reduces the authority of the president by transferring executive power to the cabinet. The National Assembly now has an equal number of Christian and Muslim members instead of the previous six to five ratio.
1989 November - President-elect Rene Mu'awwad is assassinated on 22 November and succeeded by Ilyas al-Hirawi on 24 November. The following day, Salim al-Huss becomes prime minister and Gen Emile
Lahoud replaces Awn as Commander-in-Chief of the Army on 28 November.
Civil war ends
1990 13 October - The Syrian air force attacks the Presidential Palace at B'abda and Awn takes refuge in
the French embassy. This date is regarded as the end of the civil war.
1990 24 December - Umar Karami heads a government of national reconciliation.
1991
- The National Assembly orders the dissolution of all militias by 30 April but Hezbollah is allowed to remain active and the South Lebanon Army (SLA) refuses to disband.
1991
22 May - A Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination is signed in Damascus by Lebanon and Syria and a Higher Council, co-chaired by their two presidents, is established.
1991
1 July - The Lebanese army defeats the PLO in Sidon so that it now confronts the Israelis and the SLA in Jazzin, north of the so-called "security zone".
1991
26 August - The National Assembly grants an amnesty for all crimes committed during the civil war, 1975-1990. Awn receives a presidential pardon and is allowed to leave for France.
1991
30 October - Lebanon participates in the Middle East Peace Conference launched in Madrid.
1992
16 February - Shaykh Abbas al-Musawi, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, is killed when Israeli helicopter gunships attack his motorcade on a road south-east of Sidon
Ex-PM Rafik Hariri was killed by a car bomb in 2005
2004: Hariri - A hard act to follow
2005: Obituary - Rafik Hariri
By 17 June all Western hostages held by Shia groups have been released.
1992
20 October - After elections in August and September (the first since 1972), Nabih Birri, secretary-general of the Shia Amal organisation, becomes speaker of the National Assembly.
1992
31 October - Rafik Hariri, a rich businessman, born in Sidon but with Saudi Arabian nationality, becomes prime minister, heading a cabinet of technocrats.
1993
25 July - Israel attempts to end the threat from Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) in southern Lebanon by launching "Operation Accountability", the heaviest attack since 1982.
1994 21 May - Mustafa Dib al-Dirani, head of the Believers' Resistance, a breakaway group from the Shia Amal organisation, is abducted by Israeli commandos from his house in eastern Lebanon.
Israel bombs Beirut
1996 11 April - "Operation Grapes of Wrath", in which the Israelis bomb Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon, the southern district of Beirut and the Biqa.
1996 18 April - An Israeli attack on a UN base at Qana results in the death of over 100 Lebanese refugees sheltering there.
1996 26 April - US negotiates a truce and an "understanding"
under which Hezbollah and Palestinian guerrillas agree not to attack civilians in northern Israel, and which recognises Israel's right to self-defence but also Hezbollah's right to resist the Israeli occupation of
southern Lebanon. Lebanon and Syria do not sign the "understanding" but the Israel-Lebanon Monitoring Group (ILMG), with members from the US, France, Israel, Lebanon and Syria, is set up to monitor the
truce.
1998 1 April - Israel's inner cabinet votes to accept UN Security Council Resolution 425 of 1978 if Lebanon guarantees the security of Israel's northern border. Both Lebanon and Syria reject
this condition.
Lahoud is president
1998 24 November - Army head Emile Lahoud is sworn in as president, succeeding Ilyas al-Hirawi.
Israeli withdrawal
1978:
First Israeli invasion
1982: Second Israeli invasion
1985: Israel pulls back to self-declared security zone
May 2000: Israel pulls out of south Lebanon
On This Day 2000: Hezbollah celebrates Israeli retreat
2000: Q&A - Leaving Lebanon
2001: Analysis - Legacy of Israel's withdrawal
1998 4 December - Salim al-Huss
becomes prime minister heading a cabinet which includes no militia leaders and only two ministers from the previous administration.
1999
3 June - South Lebanon Army (SLA) completes its withdrawal from the Jazzin salient (north of the "security zone") occupied since 1985.
2000
5 March - Israeli cabinet votes for the unilateral withrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon by July 2000.
2000
18 April - Israel releases 13 Lebanese prisoners held without trial for more than 10 years but extends the detention of Shaykh Abd-al-Karim Ubayd and Mustafa Dib al-Dirani.
Israeli withdrawal
2000 24 May - After the collapse of the SLA and the rapid advance of Hezbollah forces, Israel withdraws its troops from southern Lebanon, more than six weeks before its stated deadline of 7 July.
2000
25 May - 25 May declared an annual public holiday, called "Resistance and Liberation Day".
HEZBOLLAH
'Party of God' sees itself as defender of southern Lebanon
Who are Hezbollah?
2000 October - Rafik Hariri takes office as prime minister for a second time.
2001 March - Lebanon begins pumping water from a tributary of the River Jordan to supply
a southern border village despite opposition from Israel.
2002
January - Elie Hobeika, a key figure in the massacres of Palestinian refugees in 1982, dies in a blast shortly after disclosing that he held videotapes and documents challenging Israel's account of the massacres.
2002
September - Row with Israel over Lebanon's plan to divert water from a border river. Israel says it cannot tolerate the diversion of the Wazzani, which provides 10% of its drinking water, and threatens the use of military force.
2003 August - Car bomb in Beirut kills a member of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. Hezbollah and a government minister blame Israel for the blast.
2004
September - UN Security Council resolution - aimed at Syria - demands that foreign troops leave Lebanon. Syria dismisses the move.
Parliament extends President Lahoud's term by three years. Weeks of
political deadlock end with the unexpected departure of Rafiq Hariri - who had at first opposed the extension - as prime minister.
Hariri assassinated
2005 February - Former prime minister
Rafik Hariri is killed by a car bomb in Beirut. The attack sparks anti-Syrian rallies and the resignation of Prime Minister Omar Karami's cabinet. Calls for Syria to withdraw its troops intensify.
Syrian troops pulled out under international pressure
2005: Syrian troops leave Lebanese soil
2005 March - Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese attend pro- and anti-Syrian rallies in Beirut.
Days after his resignation, pro-Syrian former PM Omar Karami is asked by the president to form a new government.
2005
April - Omar Karami resigns as PM after failing to form a government. He is succeeded by moderate pro-Syrian MP Najib Mikati.
Syria says its forces have left Lebanon, as demanded by the UN.
2005
June - Prominent journalist Samir Qasir, a critic of Syrian influence, is killed by a car bomb.
Anti-Syrian alliance led by Saad al-Hariri wins control of parliament following elections. New parliament
chooses Hariri ally, Fouad Siniora, as prime minister.
George Hawi, anti-Syrian former leader of Lebanese Communist Party, is killed by a car bomb.
2005
July - Lebanese PM Siniora meets Syria's President Assad; both sides agree to rebuild relations.
2005
September - Four pro-Syrian generals are charged over the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri.
2005 December - Prominent anti-Syrian MP and journalist Gibran Tueni is killed by a car bomb.
2006 February - Denmark's embassy in Beirut is torched during a demonstration against cartoons in a Danish paper satirising the Prophet Muhammad.
2006
July - Israel launches an assault in southern Lebanon and imposes an air and sea blockade after Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group captures two Israeli soldiers.
Source: BBC
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