This Month in History In Lebanon
May - Election of Elias Sarkis as President of the Republic of Lebanon
Elias Sarkis was voted President of the Republic under exceptional circumstances. The election session was held at Parliament’s temporary headquarters at the Mansour Palace in Mathaf. Shells and rockets were launched by members affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization at the palace...
April - Lebanon Israel’s Wars on Lebanon: Operation Grapes of Wrath
Israel has waged multiple wars against Lebanon, starting from the Litani Operation in 1978 to the June War of 1982 up to the Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996 and concluding with the July War of 2006. On the twentieth anniversary of the Operation Grapes of Wrath, we reminisce about the facts,...
April - Amendment of Article 73 of the Lebanese Constitution in 11 minutes on April 10, 1976
Much like all the world’s constitutions, the Lebanese Constitution is not a sacred text carved in stone. On the contrary, it undergoes amendments and modifications in compliance with the requirements of national interest. Since it was first promulgated on May 23, 1926, the Lebanese Constitution...
March - First Israeli Invasion of Lebanon and Resolution 425
March 1978 witnessed the first and largest ever Israeli invasion of the Lebanese territory, which was carried out with the stated intent of fending off the perils of the Palestinian organizations in South Lebanon and protecting Israel’s settlements. Yet, the operation’s undeclared objective was...
February - Bombing of the Sayyidat Al-Najat Church
February 1994 was marked by a crucial event whose repercussions are still reverberating today. On February 27, a bombing targeted the Sayyidat Al-Najat Church and the Lebanese Forces were accused of the atrocity as a prelude to accuse its leader, Samir Geagea, and to jail him and thus take him away...
January - The Dennieh Security Incidents : Terrorists or Believers?
The clashes that broke out on the outskirts of Dennieh at the end of 1999 constituted a crucial - military, political and religious- turning point in the history of Lebanon, as they marked the first-ever military confrontation between the Lebanese Army and the Takfiri groups. Several clashes have...
December - Eight Years since the March 8 Forces’ Protest in Downtown
The assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005 plunged the country into a whirlwind of political and security crises and split into two main rival camps: March 8 and March 14 Forces. The assassination itself, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the weapons of the...
November - The Assassination of René Mouawad-Who were the Culprits: Syria or Israel?
On November 22, 1989, which marked the 46th anniversary of Lebanon’s independence, Beirut was a stage for a terrorist operation: the assassination of the President of the Republic René Mouawad, only seventeen days after his election. Today, a quarter of a century later, The Monthly recalls the...
October - 39 Years of Lebanese Dialogue From the National Dialogue Committee to the Baabda Dialogue Committee
Since the eruption of the Civil War in 1975, Lebanese officials and the foreign actors supporting or sponsoring them have deemed the constitutional institutions, from the presidency of the republic to the government to Parliament, incapable of playing an effective role in orchestrating dialogue...
September - The Enigma of Imam Moussa Sadr’s Disappearance -Imam Moussa Sadr would be 86 years old if alive today
On September 12, 1978, the Higher Islamic Shia’a Council reported that it had lost contact since August 31 with its founder and chair, Imam Moussa Sadr, , during his official visit to Libya at the invitation of Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. The statement constituted the beginning of what has...
