Lebanese front
The Lebanese Front (LF; Arabic الجبهة اللبنانية, French Front Libanaise ) was a right-wing coalition of predominantly Christian parties that was formed in 1977 during the Lebanese Civil War . One of the co-founders of the Lebanese Front was former UN General Assembly President Charles Habib Malik .
It was intended to act as a counterforce to the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) of Kamal Jumblat , the then leader of the Druze and others.
In recent years there have been attempts to renew the coalition.
Members
Its main participants were the Kata'ib Party of Pierre Gemayel , Suleiman Frangieh and his Marada Brigade , the National Liberal Party (NLP) of Camille Chamoun and the Guardians of the Cedars by Etienne Saqr . The founders of the coalition worked together for a few years until the events of 1978. The alliance was destroyed by Israeli influences and by the appearance of Bachir Gemayel on the political stage and his actions against his father's Christian allies.
At the beginning of the war the not yet formally established front numbered roughly 18,000 militiamen, but this number fluctuated. The Phalange Militia was the largest with 8,000 men, followed by the Tiger Militia (NLP) and the Marada Brigade with 3,500 men each. The Tanzim militia with 1,500 men, the Guardians of the Cedars with 1,000 and the Order of the Maronite Monks with 200 fighters made up the rest.
In the civil war
The Lebanese Front was a loose political coalition and the strongest Christian force. Suleiman Frangieh's Marada Brigade ended their involvement in the Lebanese Front in 1978 when Tony Frangieh and his family were killed and Bachir Gemayel (the son of Pierre Gemayel) and the Forces Libanaises tried unsuccessfully to take over the Marada Brigade by force. The Forces Libanaises, however, took over the Tigers Militia (also Ahrar militia) in the early 1980s. After the violent incident, the Chamoun family cut ties with the Lebanese front.
The members broke with the coalition when Bachir Gemayel attempted to absorb their members' militias , leading to bloody attacks on his allies. Some believe that the coalition breakup and falling out with prominent Christian leaders ultimately led to his assassination.
Individual evidence
- ↑ About Charles Malik on "www.lebaneseforces.com" ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
