●Assad–Jumblatt meeting (the seven hours)

On 27 March 1976 Hafez al-Assad met Kamal Jumblatt in Damascus for seven hours. Jumblatt asked that the National Movement be left to settle the battle militarily after taking control of most of the country; Assad refused, fearing an Israeli intervention on the Christians' behalf, and demanded a halt to the fighting and adherence to the Constitutional Document. Jumblatt left refusing, and the meeting was the point of rupture between Syria and the National Movement that paved the way for the Syrian intervention against it.