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Lebanon

Lebanon

Timeline

1867   Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship for Algeria

1941   World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.

1943   Lebanon gains independence from France.

1948   Following the demise of the British Mandate of Palestine, Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade the territory partitioned for the Arab state by the British Mandate of Palestine thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

1975   Bus Massacre in Lebanon: Attack by the Phalangist resistance kill 26 militia members of the P.F.L. of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.

1976   Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon.

1978   The Israeli Defense Force invades and occupies southern Lebanon, in Operation Litani.

1978   UN Security Council Resolution 425 is passed, calling upon Israel immediately to cease its military action and withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory (Operation Litani), and establishing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

1978   The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.

1978   Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.

1982   Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.

1982   Lebanese Civil War: a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.

1982   Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon.

1982   Christian militia begin killing six-hundred Palestinians in Lebanon.

1983   A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people.

1983   Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

1983   Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

1983   The Israeli cabinet votes to withdraw troops from Beirut but to remain in southern Lebanon.

1983   Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.

1984   William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.

1984   A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twenty-two people.

1985   A failed assassination attempt on Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon, kills at least 45 and injures 175 others.

1985   Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped in Lebanon (he will not be released until 1991).

1986   In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).

1986   Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine ''Ash-Shiraa'' reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

1987   Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.

1989   In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President Rene Moawad, killing him.

1990   End of the Lebanese Civil War. Syrian forces launch an attack on the free areas of Lebanon removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.

1991   Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

1991   Journalist Terry A. Anderson is released after 7 years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut. He was the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.

1993   Israel launches a massive attack against terrorist forces in Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call Seven-Day War.

1997   En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.

2000   Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.

2000   Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years of it issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.

2000   Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years of it issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.

2001   Pope John Paul II canonizes Lebanon's first female saint, Saint Rafqa.

2005   Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister, Omar Karami, resigns amid large anti-Syria street demonstrations in Beirut.

2005   Cedar Revolution, where hundreds of thousands of Lebanese went into the streets of Beirut to demonstrate against the Syrian military presence in Lebanon and against the government.

2005   Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country ( Syrian occupation of Lebanon ).

2005   Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation.

2005   Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.

2005   Gebran Tueni, Lebanese journalist and politician, is assassinated.