Twelve months of turmoil

Middle East

A look at the main events since the war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

Last Modified: 11 Jul 2007 21:35 GMT

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Rebuilding work in some of Beirut's suburb since the war has been slow [AFP]

The war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement left more than 1,000 people dead in Lebanon and another 150 in Israel.

Billions of dollars of damage was done to the infrastructure of Lebanon as bridges, roads and buildings were destroyed.

Special report

A series of reports on the Middle East one year after the war in Lebanon

But it was the widespread politicial reprocussions, which are still emerging to this day, that could have the most serious effect on the future of Israel, Lebanon and the wider region.

2006

August 14 - Truce between Israel and Hezbollah comes into effect after 34 days of fighting and the deaths of around 1,000 Lebanese - mostly civilians - and 159 Israelis, mainly soldiers. A UN peacekeeping force, expected to consist of 15,000 foreign troops, begins to deploy along the southern border.

August 21 - The first of a series of protests against Israel's handling of the war is organised by reservists who served in southern Lebanon. They demand the resignation of the government and an independent inquiry.

September 18 - Winograd Commission begins to investigate the Israeli government's conduct beofre, during and after the conflict.

November 12 - All five Shia Muslim ministers in the Lebanese cabinet resign

Pierre Gemayel was shot dead
in his car in broad daylight [AFP]

November 21 - Pierre Gemayel, a Maronite Christian politician and industry minister, is assassinated by unknown gunmen in an attack on his car in Beirut. Huge crowds take to the streets for his funeral days later as politicians from all parties call for unity.

December 1 - One million Lebanese opposition supporters took to the streets and open-ended sit-in begins outside the office of Fouad Siniora, the prime minister.

2007

January 16 - An investigation iss launched into a privitisation scandal allegedly involving Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, while he was finance minister.

January 17 - Dan Halutz, the Israeli military chief of staff, announces his resignation due his "responsibility" for the conflict with Hezbollah.

February 2 - Haim Ramon, Israel's justice minister, is convicted of sexual misconduct for kissing a soldier on duty in a government office against her will.

January 23 - Protesters blocked roads across Beirut with burning tyres and vehicles as a general strike called by the Hezbollah-led opposition took hold. Clashes broke out leaving at least three people dead and more than 100 injured.

February 13- Three people died when bombs tore through two buses in central Lebanon.

February 14 - A day after the latest bomb attacks, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese once again congregate in central Beirut to mark the second anniversary of the assasination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

April 26 - The dead bodies of a Lebanese man and a 12-year-old boy are discovered from families belonging to Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party are found after being kidnapped three days earlier.

April 30 - The preliminary report from the Winograd commission criticised the Israeli prime minister for having no "organised plan" for the war and called his move a "misguided and rash judgment". The report, which covered the years leading up to the war and its first few days also criticised Amir Peretz, the defence minister.

May 2 - Tvipi Lizni, the Israeli foreign minister, urges Ehud Olmert to resign over the Winograd report and said she would stand for the Kadima party leadership if he stepped down.

May 20 - The Lebanese army began to bombard the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Triopli after clashes with the Fatah al-Islam group left dozens dead.

Unifil soldiers were targeted in June [AFP]

May 28 - Peretz loses in the elections for the leadership of Israel's Labour party and steps down as defence minister. He is replaced in both pisitions by Ehud Barak, a former prime minister.

May 30 - The international tribunal to try those suspected of murdering Rafiq al-Hariri is finally officially established. Hariri was killed by a huge car bomb in February 2005. Lebanese political factions are divided over the tribunal.

June 13 - Walid Eido, an MP from the March 14 bloc which supports the Lebanese government, is killed along with nine other people when a bomb explodes on Beirut's seafront.

June 25 - Six Spanish soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping force in the south of Lebanon are killed by a roadside bomb.

June 28 - Lebanese army troops kill six armed men during a raid on a cave as the violence spreads out of the Nahr al-Bared camp.

June 29 - Moshe Katsav, the Israeli president, resigns from office after agreeing to plead guilty to sexual offence charges.

Source:

Al Jazeera

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