1998 - 2002

1998, November 24 - Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Emile Lahhud, is sworn in as president, succeeding Ilyas al-Hirawi.

1998, December 4 - Salim al-Huss becomes prime minister heading a cabinet, which includes no militia leaders, and only two ministers from the previous administration.
1999, 3 June - The South Lebanon Army (SLA) completes its withdrawal from the Jazzin salient (north of the "security zone") occupied since 1985.

2000, March 5 - The Israeli cabinet votes for the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon by July 2000.

2000, April 18 - Israel decides to release thirteen Lebanese prisoners held without trial for over 10 years, but the detention of Shaykh Abd-al-Karim Ubayd and Mustafa Dib al-Dirani is extended.

2000, May 24 - After the collapse of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and the rapid advance of Hezbollah forces, Israel withdraws its troops from southern Lebanon, more than six weeks before its stated deadline of 7 July.

2000, May 25 - Lebanon declares 25 May an annual public holiday to be called "Resistance and Liberation Day".

2001, March - Lebanon begins pumping water from a tributary of the River Jordan to supply a southern border village despite opposition from Israel.

2002, January 14 - Elie Hobeika, a key figure in the massacres of Palestinian refugees in 1982, dies in a blast shortly after disclosing that he held videotapes and documents challenging the Israeli version of the story of the massacres.

2002, September - Serious row erupts over Lebanon's plans to divert water from a border river shared by Lebanon and Israel. Israel says it cannot tolerate the diversion of the Wazzani, which provides 10% of the country's drinking water, and threatens the use of military force.