October 1989 — A multi-party agreement known as the Taif Accords ends a 15-year civil war that involves Israel, Syria, Palestinians and local sectarian militias. Israeli troops occupy southern Lebanon until withdrawing in 2000. Syria also maintains troops in Lebanon until 2005.
October 1992 — The first elections since 1972 bring a new speaker of Parliament, Nabih Birri, and a new prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
August 1993 — The government bans peaceful demonstrations.
September 1996 — A new media law prohibits the country's independent radio and television stations from broadcasting news and political programs and grants a limited number of broadcast licenses. Critics point out the new law will cause many stations to shut down and awards most of the broadcasting licenses to top government officials and/or their family members.
October 1996 — Finance Ministry Treasurer Raafat Suleiman and a Palestinian accomplice are accused of embezzling 3.8 billion Lebanese pounds (US$2.5 million) in fiscal stamps. Both men die before they can be brought to justice.
May 1998 — The country holds its first municipal elections in 35 years.
November 1998 — Incoming President Emile Lahoud vows to stamp out corruption in the public sector. The cabinet approves the Illicit Wealth Bill, which requires top officials to disclose their personal finances and strips away their official immunity.
March 1999 — Former Energy Minister Shahe Barsoumian and five others are charged with squandering public funds, embezzlement, abuse of power and forging official documents, marking the first time in Lebanon's modern history a former minister is taken into custody on corruption charges. All charges against Barsoumian are dropped in August 2002.
May 1999 — A group of business people, academics, lawyers and economists, in conjunction with Transparency International, forms the Lebanese Transparency Association, the first Lebanese NGO specializing in transparency and anti-corruption.
December 2000 — Former director-general of antiquities, Camille Asmar, his two sons and five others are convicted of embezzling 6 billion Lebanese pounds (US$4 million) in state funds by submitting fake invoices for services and equipment. He is convicted in 2000 and serves one year of a seven-year sentence.
April 2001 — A special investigative committee is created within the Central Bank to pursue money laundering cases.
September 2002 — A television station owned by media magnate Gabriel Murr is shut down by security forces after the publications court rules that Murr illegally used the station during his parliamentary by-election campaign. Subsequent demonstrations protesting the closure are violently suppressed, but in August 2005 Parliament votes to reopen the station.
September 2003 — After recovering a substantial portion of the 530 billion Lebanese pounds (US$350 million) misappropriated by Al-Madina Bank, the Central Bank's special investigative committee and the judicial authorities decline to pursue criminal charges against the bank's managers, who have long been suspected of money laundering.
September 2003 — Former Agriculture Minister Ali Abdullah and 10 senior members of his ministry are accused of embezzlement and squandering public funds provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
August 2003 — Parliament drafts a consumer protection law that improves commercial transparency and competition.
September 2004 — Parliament votes to amend the constitution to allow Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud to stay in office for three more years. Rafik Hariri resigns in protest.
February 2005 — Rafik Hariri is assassinated in Beirut. Syria is suspected of involvement. Massive pro- and anti-Syria rallies in Beirut lead to the resignation of Prime Minister Omar Karami's cabinet. In September, four pro-Syrian generals are charged with the assassination.
April 2005 — After 29 years, Syria withdraws its last troops from Lebanon.
June 2005 — For the first time in 15 years, an anti-Syrian faction, led by Saad al-Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, wins control of Parliament. Hariri ally Fouad Siniora becomes prime minister.
July 2006 — Hezbollah militia capture two Israeli soldiers, prompting Israel to launch a major military offensive against Lebanon. Israeli troops move into southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah launches missiles at northern Israel, killing at least 43 civilians. Israel attacks targets in Beirut causing major infrastructure damage and killing about 1,100 civilians throughout the country. A U.N.-brokered ceasefire takes effect in August, and Israel withdraws. Both Hezbollah and Israel claim victory.
November 2006 — President Emile Lahoud, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and the Shia ministers resign from Lebanon's cabinet shortly before the cabinet approves draft U.N. plans for a tribunal to try suspects in the killing of the former Prime Minister Hariri.
November 2006 — Leading Christian politician and government Minister Pierre Gemayel is murdered.
December 2006 — Cabinet and the U.N. Security Council agree on creating a Special Tribunal of international character which will be responsible for trying those who may be indicted as a result of the investigation of the murder of former Prime Minister Hariri.
June 2007 — Lawmaker Walid Eido, a prominent anti-Syrian member of Parliament, is killed at an attack to his car, in which his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by are also killed.
August 2007 — By-elections to fill the seats of recently assassinated politicians, Pierre Gemayel and Walid Eido, are held. Muhammad al-Amin Itani and Camille Khoury win the elections.
November 2007 — President Emile Lahoud steps down from office, according to schedule. Parliament-led negotiations on the presidential replacement are scheduled to begin in September, but these meetings continue to be rescheduled due to internal politics.
May 2008 — Michel Sleiman is elected president months after the former president stepped down in November 2007. Parliament reschedules the presidential replacement debate 19 times causing the lengthy delay in appointment.
Members of Hezbollah took control of the Beirut Airport in protest of the government's ruling on the illegality of the organization's telecommunications network. The US State Department estimates that about 70 people are killed in the violent protests and fighting as a result of the airport seizure.
Hezbollah-backed opposition fighters demand two radio stations suspend their transmissions for a four-day period surrounding the airport take-over. Even after Future News agrees to temporarily stop broadcasting, opposition fighters entered their offices, cutting transmission wires and burning archived materials.
August 2008 — Two Brazilian correspondents working for the BBC are detained and questioned by Hezbollah officials after the reporters were seen probing in a heavily Hezbollah dominated area in the South of Beirut.
October 2008 — Lebanon and Syria establish diplomatic relations.
June 2009 — The March 14 alliance, Lebanon's pro-Western political group, wins a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections this month.
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