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A 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.
Land of antiquity: Ruins of Baalbek
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1926 23 May - The 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
to be called the National Assembly) on a ratio of 6 to 5 (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 Shi'i Muslim.
Independence
1943 December - France agrees to the transfer of power to the Lebanese government with effect from 1 January 1944.
1957 - President Kamil Sham'un 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 Sham'un asks the United
States to send troops to preserve Lebanon's independence.
1958 15 July - The United States, 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 - The Commander-in-Chief of the
Army, Emile Bustani, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
Chairman Yasir 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
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 cease-fire 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 - The United Nations 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 the United
Kingdom, Israel launches a full-scale invasion of Lebanon, "Operation
Peace for Galilee".
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 Shi'i groups.
Land of antiquity: Ruins of Baalbek
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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 Shi'is 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.
Land of antiquity: Ruins of Baalbek
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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 Lahhud replaces Awn as Commander-in-Chief of the Army on 28
November.
Civil war ends
1990 13 October - The Syrian airforce 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
By 17 June all Western hostages held by Shi'i groups have been released.
1992 20 October - After elections in August and
September (the first since 1972), Nabih Birri, Secretary-General of the
Shi'i Amal organization, becomes speaker of the National Assembly.
Prime Minister al-Hariri
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1991 31 October - Rafiq al-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 Shi'i Amal
organization, is abducted by Israeli commandos from his house in
eastern Lebanon.
Israel bombs Beirut
1996 11 April - The start of "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 - The United States negotiates a
truce and an "understanding" under which Hezbollah and Palestinian
guerrillas agree not to attack civilians in northern Israel, and which
recognizes 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 representatives from the United States, France, Israel,
Lebanon and Syria, is established to monitor the truce.
1998 1 April - Israel's inner cabinet votes to
accept United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 425 of 1978 if
Lebanon guarantees the security of Israel's northern border. Both
Lebanon and Syria reject this condition.
Lahhud is president
1998 24 November - Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Emile Lahhud, is sworn in as president, succeeding Ilyas al-Hirawi.
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.
Exit: Israeli troops withdraw from Lebanon
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1999 3 June - The South Lebanon Army (SLA)
completes its withdrawal from the Jazzin salient (north of the
"security zone") occupied since 1985.
2000 5 March - The Israeli cabinet votes for the unilateral withrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon by July 2000.
2000 18 April - Israel decides to release
thirteen Lebanese prisoners held without trial for over 10 years but
the detention of Shaykh Abd-al-Karim Ubayd and Mustafa Dib al-Dirani is
extended.
2000 24 May - After the collapse of the South
Lebanon Army (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 - Lebanon declares 25 May an annual public holiday to be called "Resistance and Liberation Day".
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 the
Israeli version of the story of the massacres.
2002 September - Serious row over Lebanon's plan
to divert water from a border river shared by Lebanon and Israel.
Israel says it cannot tolerate the diversion of the Wazzani, which
provides 10% of the country's drinking water, and threatens the use of
military force.
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