Operation חירם ḤIRAM began in the גליל GALIL.

דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION's diary records reports of advances and continuing resistance. The archive's English translation opens:

The action in the north, we’re informed, is proceeding according to plan. Meron, Safsaf, and Gush Halav are in our hands.²

This records information reaching the head of government during the operation. It is not a declaration that the campaign had ended. The entry also records his concern about the timing of the fighting alongside Security Council deliberations and his wish to downplay the operation temporarily.³

The western attack encountered serious trouble. The Defense Ministry's memorial account of Yonatan Abramson describes an unsuccessful attack on Tarshiha and a Druze unit that failed to receive the withdrawal order after entering Yanuh. Qawuqji's forces and some villagers counterattacked in the morning; Abramson was killed. Soldiers of יהודים YEHUDIM and Druze communities' service together belongs within the history of the campaign.⁴

Oren distinguishes the army's military defeat from its complete destruction. His assessment includes:

ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ:

ואולם הוא חדל מלהיות גורם משמעותי

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:

Yet it ceased to be a significant factor.⁵

Oren also records the advance by מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL into Lebanon. Military success and territorial control do not, by themselves, explain what happened to each village's civilians. That requires local evidence about flight, expulsion, remaining residents and subsequent restrictions.⁶

The campaign secured the remaining Upper גליל GALIL against the Arab Liberation Army and restored communications threatened near מנרה MANARA. Its military outcome and its civilian conduct require linked but distinct records: Safsaf, Saliha and Eilabun preserve murders and displacement with their own date limits. The separate al-Dawayima massacre occurred on the southern front, not under the same northern operation. ⁷

Carmel’s October 31 order is evidence of a departure directive, interpreted by Morris as expulsive. Communities nevertheless remained. The order’s existence does not prove every household was expelled or establish a general command to murder. ⁸

The Hula massacre occurred across the international border. The later official legal history records prosecution and a conviction; that qualifies a campaign-wide claim that nobody was punished. ⁹ The November 2 al-Mawasi executions are a distinct aftermath event with a contemporary military-report anchor. ¹⁰

The October 28–29 opening night is distinct from the October 30–31 defeat of the main enemy positions and movement into Lebanon in דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION’s published chronology. JTA’s November 1 report announced a ceasefire effective at 11:00 that day while acknowledging surviving enemy forces. Its ten deaths for the campaign’s latter stages is a wartime estimate for a specified period, not a verified total for all Operation חירם ḤIRAM. ^{11 12}

The placement is 26 Tishrei 5709. The Defense Ministry's account places the Tarshiha and Yanuh attacks during the preceding night and Abramson's death during the following morning, explicitly giving that Hebrew day. TJD's Hebrew-calendar conversion agrees. The date marks the opening fighting; completion notices describe a later stage of the operation.¹³

The October 28 evening start belongs to כ״ו בתשרי ה׳תש״ט 26th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 5709, although the Day 334 civil recap uses כ״ה בתשרי ה׳תש״ט 25th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei, AM 5709. The October 26 planning order is not the launch date. ¹⁴

• Why do northern liberation, individual village murders and a later conviction require separate records?
• How does דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION's diary distinguish the government's knowledge during a campaign from a later account of victory?
• What does the Druze unit's participation reveal about the actual composition of the forces fighting for מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL?