Lebanon, 1976 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
On the evening of 11 to 12 March 1976 the Sunni brigadier general Aziz al-Ahdab, the military commander of the Beirut region, attempted a bloodless coup, known as the Television Coup, in the midst of the Lebanese Civil War. Al Ahdab seized the state television station and read Statement Number One live on air, describing his movement as reformist and aimed at saving and reunifying the Lebanese Army, which had disintegrated along sectarian lines during the war, including the January 1976 defection that formed the Lebanese Arab Army. He called on President Suleiman Frangieh to resign within ten days to allow the election of a new president, declared a state of emergency, and imposed a curfew on Beirut.
But the coup gained no support from the combat units, most of which had gone over to other factions, and the army commander stayed silent. Al Ahdab's bid collapsed within hours, his broadcast becoming the first and last statement. Frangieh remained in office, and Lebanon sank deeper into the civil war that would devastate it for fifteen years.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
66003121976- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-660-1976-03-12
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Suleiman Frangieh ignored al-Ahdab's demand to resign and the Television Coup collapsed within hours.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Powell and Thyne
Boston Globe
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →