Lebanon: Visit by US Secretary of State - timeline
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Timeline
- June 2008. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, makes an unannounced visit to Lebanon to express support for new president Gen. Michel Suleiman and for Lebanon's democratic system.
- May 2008. is elected president on May 25, receiving a total of 118 votes in the 127-member National Assembly (the unicameral legislature).
- February 2008. The Shia Hezbollah movement is dealt a serious blow when Imad Mughniyah, one of its most senior commanders, is killed by a car bomb attack in Damascus (the capital of Syria).
- January 2008. Violence erupts in the mainly Shia southern suburbs of Beirut (the capital) as protesters demonstrate against power cuts.
- December 2007. Brig.-Gen. François al-Hajj, the Lebanese army chief of operations, is killed in a bomb attack in Baabda, a Christian suburb of east Beirut.
- November 2007. Lebanon's bitterly divided political camps fail to agree on a compromise candidate to replace President Emile Lahoud, the pro-Syrian former army chief of staff.
- October 2007. Hezbollah and Israel exchange a prisoner and several bodies in the first such transaction since the two sides had fought a 34-day war in mid-2006.
- August 2007. By-elections are held to fill two seats in the National Assembly (the unicameral legislature) made vacant by recent political assassinations.
- July 2007. Fresh fighting erupts in at the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli between the Lebanese army and members of the militant Fatah al-Islam group.
- May 2007. The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1757 (2007), establishing a Special Tribunal for Lebanon to prosecute the persons responsible for the attack resulting in the death of al-Hariri.
- April 2007. Nabbi Berri, speaker of the National Assembly (the unicameral legislature), locks pro-government members out of the Assembly, refusing to call the legislature into session to approve the formation of an international tribunal to try suspects of the assassination of al-Hariri.
- February 2007. Bombs explode on two commuter buses in the Christian village of Ain Alaq, north of Beirut, killing at least three people and wounding 21 others.
- January 2007. At least three people are killed and around 100 others wounded as thousands of Lebanese opposition supporters take to the streets in a nationwide strike.
- December 2006. Mass pro-Syrian protests against the pro-Western government of Fuad Siniora are held in Beirut.
- November 2006. US President George W. Bush's press secretary, Tony Snow announces that the USA has mounting evidence that Syria, Iran, and the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement are planning to "topple" the government of Siniora. Minister of Industry, Pierre Gemayel, a Christian and prominent opponent of Syrian influence in Lebanon, is assassinated on Nov. 21. Pro-Siniora demonstrations are held.
- October 2006. The Israeli army on Oct. 1 withdraws the last of its forces from south Lebanon.
- September 2006. Israel lifts its air and sea blockade of Lebanon.
- August 2006. Israel continues to attack Lebanon, but ceases hostilities on Aug. 14.
- July 2006. Israel launches a massive offensive against Lebanon following the killing of three Israeli soldiers and the capture of two other by Hezbollah guerrillas.
- June 2006. The UN International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, delivers an interim report to the UN Security Council on June 14.
- May 2006. The Israeli airforce attacks Palestinian bases deep inside Lebanon on May 28 after cross-border clashes erupt when militants fire rockets into northern Israel. The UN Security Council on May 17 adopts Resolution 1680 (2006), which urges Syria to establish full diplomatic relations with Lebanon.
- April 2006. UN investigator Serge Brammertz interviews Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
- March 2006. The UN Security Council on March 29 approves Resolution 1664 (2006), which calls for the establishment of "a tribunal of international character" to try those found responsible for the assassination of al-Hariri.
- February 2006. Shaikh Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of the pro-Syrian Shi'ite Hezbollah movement, and Gen. Michel Aoun, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, on Feb. 6 agree a 10-point "document of joint understanding". Aoun, a Maronite Christian, had launched an unsuccessful "war of liberation" against Syrian forces in Lebanon in the late 1980s. Israeli military aircraft and artillery attack Hezbollah targets near the disputed Shabaa farms area along the Lebanese-Israeli border on Feb. 3 in response to rocket attacks by Hezbollah.
- January 2006. Serge Brammertz is appointed Commissioner of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) into the assassination of al-Hariri.
- December 2005. On Dec. 12 the latest report of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) into the assassination of al-Hariri is presented to the UN Security Council, including fresh evidence suggesting that high-ranking officials of the Syrian intelligence services, in collaboration with their Lebanese counterparts, were behind the killing.
- June 2005. Legislative elections take place amid growing support for the "anti-Syrian opposition" coalition.
- April 2005. Syrian troops and intelligence officials complete their withdrawal from Lebanon on April 26. On April 7 the UN Security Council decides to establish an international independent investigation commission based in Lebanon to assist the Lebanese authorities in their investigation of all aspects of the assassination of al-Hariri.
- March 2005. The Lebanese opposition on March 14 by organises a massive rally in central Beirut to mark one month since al-Hariri's assassination. Some reports say that the size of the protest seems to exceed the pro-Syrian Hezbollah demonstration held on March 8.
- March 2005. Tens of thousands of Syrians march the streets of Damascus on March 9 in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
- February 2005. Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, is killed on Feb. 14 in a massive car bomb explosion.
- October 2004. The UN Security Council on Oct. 19 urges Syria to withdraw its remaining troops from neighbouring Lebanon. Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri on Oct. 20 dissolves his Cabinet , amid a political crisis triggered by intense international pressure on Syria over its influence on Lebanon's political affairs.
- September 2004. The USA and France on Sept. 2 win approval for UN Security Council Resolution 1559 (2004), intended to derail Syrian plans to extend the mandate of the staunchly pro-Syrian Lahoud. The Resolution also calls upon "all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon".
- August 2004. The Lebanese cabinet on Aug. 28 approves a controversial constitutional amendment which provides for a three-year extension to the mandate of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.
- August 2003. Hezbollah fighters on Aug. 8 attack Israeli military positions around the disputed Shabaa Farms area, on the slopes of Mt Hermon, ending a year of relative peace.
- September 2002. A dispute between Lebanon and Israel over access to fresh water supplies in the former Israeli occupation zone of south Lebanon heightens tensions between the two countries.
- January 2002. Elie Hobeika, aged 45, one of Lebanon's most notorious militia commanders from the civil war of 1975-90, is killed by a car bomb in Beirut on Jan. 24. Israeli officials on Jan. 24 dismiss claims that Israel had assassinated Hobeika as "rubbish" and "a complete lie".
- June 2001. Syria pulls a number of troops out of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in mid-June, but Syrian troops remain stationed elsewhere in the country.
- April 2001. Israel on April 15 carries out an air attack on a Syrian radar station in Lebanon in the first Israeli attack on a Syrian target since April 1996. Israel announces that it launched the raid in response to an April 14 attack by guerrillas from the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah.
- March 2001. In mid-March a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over access to fresh water supplies in the former Israeli occupation zone of south Lebanon heightens tensions between the two countries. On March 14 the Liberal National Student Grouping holds a series of anti-Syrian demonstrations in educational establishments in the capital, Beirut.
- December 2000. On Dec. 11 Syria releases 48 Lebanese political prisoners, the majority of them Christians who had been imprisoned toward the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war.
- October 2000. On Oct. 23 President Gen. Emile Lahoud appoints Rafiq al-Hariri as Prime Minister designate.
- September 2000. Rafiq al-Hariri emerges as the front runner for the position of Prime Minister following the second round of legislative elections.
- August 2000. The first round of voting in legislative elections takes place on Aug. 27. On Aug. 9 a combined Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces (ISF) unit of 1,000 troops is deployed in the area of South Lebanon vacated by Israeli occupation forces in May.
- May 2000. Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon ends on May 24 when the last of its troops depart its self-declared "security zone" in southern Lebanon. At least 900 Israelis had died in south Lebanon since Israel had first invaded the country in 1978. The Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah had lost 1,276 fighters since it had started its resistance activities in 1982. Large numbers of Lebanese civilians, Palestinians and others had also died in southern Lebanon.
- June 1999. Israel carries out a series of air-strikes against infrastructure targets in central and southern Lebanon on June 24. Israel states that it carried out the air-strikes in revenge for recent attacks by Hezbollah fighters on northern Israel.
- November 1998. Gen. Emile Lahoud is sworn in as Lebanon's new President on Nov. 24.
- April 1998. On April 1 the Israeli security Cabinet votes unanimously to accept UN Security Council resolution 425 (of 1978) calling for an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. However, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insists that a withdrawal is conditional upon adequate guarantees that Lebanon would deploy its army southwards to prevent cross-border attacks into Israel by Hezbollah and other militia groups. The Lebanese and Syrian governments swiftly dismiss the Israeli declaration.
- April 1996. Israel undertakes its most extensive military action in Lebanon since 1993.
- July 1993. Israel responds to the killing of a number of its troops by Hezbollah and Palestinian fighters in southern Lebanon in early July by launching a week-long bombing campaign against guerrilla and civilian targets, the largest Israeli action in Lebanon since its 1982 invasion.
- October 1992. President Elias Hrawi appoints Rafiq al-Hariri Prime Minister, inviting him to form a new government.
- May 1991. President Hrawi and President Hafez al-Assad of Syria sign a historic "treaty of brotherhood, co-operation and co-ordination" in Damascus.
- April 1991. The Lebanese Cabinet sets an April 30 deadline for the disarming of the country's militias. However, Hezbollah, claiming it is not a militia but a legitimate army at war with Israel, and the South Lebanon Army (SLA) does not disband.
- July 1991. In July the Lebanese government continues with its Syrian-sponsored plan to extend its authority throughout the whole of Lebanon, deploying its army in force in the Palestinian-controlled areas of the south despite having failed to reach an agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
- October 1990. Syrian and Lebanese troops finally succeed in expelling Gen. Aoun, the self-declared interim Premier of Lebanon, from his East Beirut stronghold in mid-October.
- December 1988. The failure to elect a successor to President Gemayel leads to the establishment of rival Muslim and Christian regimes, leading to further civil conflict.
- February 1987. Following factional fighting, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad sends troops into Beirut in an attempt to maintain a ceasefire.
- June 1985. Amidst continued factional fighting, Israel withdraws most of its troops from Lebanon. 241 US Marines and 60 French soldiers are killed when a truck filled with military explosives is driven into their compound.
- May 1983. Lebanon and Israel agree to end conflict, but Syrian troops remain in Lebanon.
- June 1982. Israeli forces invade Lebanon, forcing the Syrian army to withdraw from several areas.
- June 1978. Israeli troops invade Lebanon.
- October 1976. Syrian troops invade Lebanon, which is in the grip of civil war.
- April 1975. Serious fighting in Beirut erupts between Phalangists and Palestinians. The clashes are widely seen as the beginning of the civil war.
- December 1969. Conflict between government forces and Palestinian guerrillas, which had persisted throughout the 1960s, continues.
- July 1958. US marines are sent to Lebanon in response to an urgent appeal from President Chamoun for help in ending civil conflict.
- May 1948. The state of Israel is declared on May 14. Palestinian refugees flee to Lebanon
- January 1944. Lebanon gains full independence on Jan. 1.
- March 1943. Autonomous governments are established in Lebanon and Syria.
- November 1941. Lebanon proclaims its independence from France on Nov. 26.
- July 1940. Lebanon and Syria come under the control of the Vichy government of Nazi-occupied France.
