Syrian presence
77 events
- January 1976Palestine Liberation Army intervenesIn January 1976, with the fall of Karantina (18 January), units of the Palestine Liberation Army stationed in Syria…
- 14 February 1976Frangieh–Syria settlement
- 25 March 1976Baabda palace shelled; Frangieh moves to Kfour
- 27 March 1976Assad–Jumblatt meeting (the seven hours)
- 9 April 1976Israel's red lines
- 8 May 1976Election of Elias SarkisOn 8 May 1976 parliament, meeting at the Villa Mansour, elected Elias Sarkis president with Syrian support and with the…
- 1 June 1976The Syrian army enters officiallyOn 1 June 1976 the Syrian army entered Lebanon officially with some 12,000 troops and hundreds of tanks, after months…
- 6 June 1976Clashes with the Syrian armyConfrontations between the Syrian army and the leftists and the PLO: on 6 June 1976 the Syrian column advancing towards…
- 12 August 1976Tel al-Zaatar massacreCarried out by the Tigers and the right, with the cooperation of the Syrian and Lebanese armies and the presence of an…
- 26 September 1976Attack on a Damascus hotel
- 18 October 1976Arab ceasefire (Riyadh mini-summit)On 18 October 1976 the Riyadh mini-summit (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Kuwait, Lebanon, the PLO) decided on a ceasefire…
- 16 November 1976Frangieh leaves the Lebanese Front
- 16 March 1977Assassination of Kamal JumblattOn 16 March 1977 Kamal Jumblatt was shot dead by gunmen on the Moukhtara road near Baakline; Syrian intelligence was…
- 17 July 1977The Shtura agreement on applying the Cairo accord
- 7 February 1978Fayadieh attack
- 28 June 1978Syrian retaliation at Qaa
- 1 July 1978The Hundred Days' WarFrom 1 July to 7 October 1978 the Syrian deterrent forces shelled Ashrafieh, Ain el-Remmaneh and East Beirut after…
- 6 October 1978Security Council resolution to halt the Syrian shellingOn 6 October 1978 the Security Council adopted Resolution 436 calling for an immediate ceasefire in Beirut after the…
- 15 October 1978Beiteddine conferenceFrom 15 to 17 October 1978 the foreign ministers of the states taking part in the Arab Deterrent Force met at…
- 18 April 1979The "State of Free Lebanon"
- 12 February 1980Battle of Qnat
- 25 February 1980Abduction and killing of the journalist Salim al-Lawzi
- 22 December 1980Battle of Zahle beginsOn 20 December 1980 the Hanash group, linked to the Lebanese Forces, took over the National Liberals' offices in Zahle,…
- 2 April 1981Bashir Gemayel asks Israel to intervene in Zahle
- 29 April 1981Syria deploys SAM-6 missiles in the BekaaOn 29 April 1981, the day after Israel shot down two Syrian helicopters over Zahle, Syria deployed SAM-6 missile…
- 7 August 1981The Saudi peace initiativeOn 7 August 1981 the Saudi crown prince Fahd put forward an eight-point initiative including Israel's withdrawal to the…
- 1 January 1982Ghazi Kanaan heads Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon from AnjarIn 1982, after the Israeli invasion, Brigadier Ghazi Kanaan was appointed head of Syrian security and reconnaissance in…
- 9 June 1982The Beqaa air battle: Operation Mole Cricket 19On 9 June 1982 the Israeli air force destroyed 17 Syrian SAM batteries in the Bekaa and shot down 29 Syrian aircraft in…
- 10 June 1982Battle of Sultan YacoubOn 10–11 June 1982 an Israeli armoured force ran into the Syrian army near Sultan Yacoub in the West Bekaa, suffered…
- 23 July 1983The National Salvation Front formedOn 23 July 1983 Suleiman Frangieh, Rashid Karami and Walid Jumblatt announced from Damascus the "National Salvation…
- 3 November 1983Battle of Tripoli: the Palestinian dissidents against ArafatFrom 3 November 1983 Fatah al-Intifada (Abu Musa), with Syrian forces, attacked Arafat's positions in Beddawi and Nahr…
- 5 March 1984Lebanon abrogates the May 17 AgreementOn 5 March 1984 the Lebanese government formally annulled the 17 May Agreement after the 6 February uprising and the…
- 19 May 1985The War of the CampsBetween the Amal Movement (backed by Syria and the Lebanese army) and the PLO (backed by the Socialist Party and…
- 28 December 1985The Tripartite AgreementThe appointment of Elie Hobeika (accused of the Sabra and Shatila massacre) as head of the Lebanese Forces, his signing…
- 24 June 1986Syrian commandos enter West BeirutOn 24 June 1986 Syrian commando units, with some 800 soldiers and security men, began calming the fighting around the…
- 22 February 1987The Syrian army enters West BeirutOn 22 February 1987 some 7,000 Syrian troops entered West Beirut at the request of Muslim leaders to end the "flag war"…
- 24 February 1987Fathallah barracks massacreOn 24 February 1987, two days after the Syrian army entered West Beirut, a Syrian force stormed Hezbollah's Fathallah…
- 8 April 1988Gemayel flies to Larnaca to meet Secretary of State Shultz
- 27 May 1988Syrian troops enter the southern suburbs after two weeks of bargaining with IranAfter the fighting of 6 May 1988 between Amal and Hezbollah, the party controlled about 80% of the southern suburbs.…
- 14 March 1989The War of LiberationOn 14 March 1989 General Michel Aoun declared the "War of Liberation" against the Syrian presence from Baabda palace,…
- 22 September 1989The ceasefire that opened the road to TaifOn 22 September 1989 the Arab tripartite committee (Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Algeria) announced a ceasefire between…
- 22 October 1989The Taif AgreementThe signing of the Taif Agreement to end the civil war and strip the presidency of its powers.
Note: Taif ended the…
- 2 August 1990Iraq invades Kuwait, Syria joins the coalitionOn 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, and Syria joined the American coalition against Saddam; its implicit price was…
- 13 October 1990Syrian army assault on Baabda palaceAt dawn on 13 October 1990 the Syrian army, with air cover and together with the legitimate Lebanese army, attacked…
- 13 October 1990Dahr al-Wahsh massacreOn 13 October 1990, hours after the fall of Baabda, Syrian forces executed some 240 Lebanese army soldiers who had…
- 28 March 1991Decision to disarm the militiasThe Lebanese Forces, the Amal Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party, with Hezbollah excepted, and Lahd's army…
- 22 May 1991The Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination with SyriaOn 22 May 1991 Hrawi and Assad signed in Damascus the Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination, which…
- 7 June 1991Appointment of forty MPs
- 31 October 1992Rebuilding Beirut
- 23 March 1994Lebanese Forces dissolvedOn 23 March 1994 the cabinet decided to dissolve the Lebanese Forces party and close its offices after the bombing of…
- 21 April 1994Samir Geagea arrestedOn 21 April 1994 Samir Geagea was arrested and charged with the bombing of the Sayidat al-Najat church and the…
- 19 October 1995Elias Hrawi's term extendedOn 19 October 1995 parliament amended the constitution to extend Elias Hrawi's term by three years, by Syrian decision,…
- 1998Raids on Palestinian camps
- July 1998Bashar al-Assad takes the Lebanon file from Khaddam; Shihabi retiresIn 1998 vice-president Abdel Halim Khaddam, the architect of Syrian policy in Lebanon since the 1970s, asked to be…
- 10 June 2000Death of Hafez al-Assad
- 20 September 2000The Maronite bishops' appealOn 20 September 2000 the Council of Maronite Bishops, headed by Patriarch Sfeir, issued an appeal demanding the…
- 16 April 2001Strike on a Syrian radar at Dahr al-Baidar, first on Syrian forces in Lebanon since 1996
- 30 April 2001The Qornet Shehwan gathering
- 3 August 2001Patriarch Sfeir's visit to the Chouf: the Mountain reconciliationOn 3 August 2001 Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir visited the Chouf and Aley and was received by Walid Jumblatt at Moukhtara…
- 7 August 2001The 7 August 2001 crackdown on Free Patriotic Movement and Lebanese Forces activistsBetween 5 and 8 August 2001 Lebanese army intelligence carried out a wave of arrests of between 150 and 250 activists…
- 1 October 2002Rustom Ghazaleh succeeds Ghazi Kanaan at AnjarIn October 2002 Ghazi Kanaan took his leave of Rafik Hariri, and Brigadier Rustom Ghazaleh succeeded him as head of…
- 13 July 2003Collapse of Bank al-Madina; Rustom Ghazaleh accused of siphoning $72mIn 2003 Bank al-Madina collapsed with a gap estimated at between 1.2 and 1.65 billion dollars. Its chairman Adnan Abou…
- 12 December 2003The Syria Accountability ActThe Congressional "Syria Accountability Act", for Syria's failure to take part in the war on terror.
- 2 September 2004Resolution 1559The Security Council adopted Resolution 1559, calling for the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon and the…
- 8 March 2005The "thank you Syria" speechOn 8 March 2005 Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed hundreds of thousands in Riad al-Solh Square, thanking Syria for its…
- 14 March 200514 March: the "Cedar Revolution"The Christian parties of the Qornet Shehwan gathering took to the streets after the Future Movement and the Progressive…
- 11 April 2005Families of Lebanese detained in Syria begin their sit-in at ESCWAOn 11 April 2005, as the Syrian withdrawal began, the committee of families of detainees in Syrian prisons, with the…
- 26 April 2005The Syrian army withdraws from LebanonOn 26 April 2005 the last Syrian soldiers left Lebanon after 29 years of military presence, in application of…
- 12 October 2005Ghazi Kanaan found dead in his Damascus office: "suicide"
- 4 December 2005Mass graves near the former Syrian intelligence headquarters at AnjarAt the start of December 2005, eight months after the Syrian withdrawal, the remains of some 26 people were found in…
- 30 December 2005Khaddam defects: Bashar threatened HaririAfter resigning as vice-president at the Baath congress in June 2005, Abdel Halim Khaddam told al-Arabiya from Paris on…
- 1 August 2008Assassination of Brig. Gen. Mohammad Suleiman, Bashar's aide and Hezbollah liaison
- 13 August 2008Sleiman in Damascus: embassies exchanged with SyriaOn 13 August 2008 President Michel Sleiman visited Damascus and agreed with Assad on establishing diplomatic relations…
- 18 July 2012Damascus crisis-cell bombing kills Assef Shawkat, Dawoud Rajha and Hassan TurkmaniOn 18 July 2012 a bombing targeted a meeting of the "crisis management cell" in the National Security building in…
- 9 August 2012Michel Samaha arrested carrying explosives from Ali Mamlouk for bombings in LebanonOn 9 August 2012 the Information Branch arrested the former minister Michel Samaha after seizing explosives he had…
- 24 April 2015Rustom Ghazaleh dies in Damascus after a beating
- 14 May 2020Cabinet orders seizure of goods smuggled to Syria: subsidised fuel and flour