Lebanese forces
| Lebanese forces | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Party leader | Samir Geagea |
| founding | 1977 as a militia, 1990 as a party |
| Headquarters | Maarab , Lebanon |
| Alignment |
National conservatism militarism federalism |
| Parliament seats | 8/128 |
| Website | lebanese-forces.com |
The Lebanese Forces ( Arabic القوات اللبنانية al-Quwwāt al-lubnāniyya , Aramaic ܚܝܠܘܬܐ ܠܒܢܢܝܐ haylawothe lebnanoye , French Forces Lebanaises , FL ) are a political party in Lebanon .
It was as a Christian militia in 1977 by the later elected president and murdered Bachir Gemayel founded and played a major role in the Lebanese civil war ( 1975 - 1990 ). After its end, the FL changed from a military association to a party under the leadership of Samir Geagea , but its activities were severely restricted by the pro- Syrian governments. It was not until the " cedar revolution " directed against the Syrian presence in Lebanon in early 2005 and the subsequent withdrawal of the Syrian troops that the FL also gained the freedom of movement it had longed for.
Content profile
The party regards itself as nationalist and right-wing conservative .
Although the Lebanese forces advocate a secularized state, in the political landscape of Lebanon, in which the parties stand less for political ideologies and more for their Christian or Muslim denomination, the FL represent the Christians who make up around 39% of the population in Lebanon.
Eastern Christian like-minded people and institutions such as the Assyrian Shuraya Party have organized themselves in it .
history
Established 1977–1982
The FL was founded in 1977 by Bachir Gemayel in opposition to the alliance of Palestinian and left-wing, predominantly Muslim militias . The FL thus represented the military complement to the Lebanese Front (Front libanaise), the political representation of the Maronites at the time. The FL formed a rather loose association of several Christian militias, including the Ahrar ("Tiger Militia"), which worked with the National Liberal Party of former President Camille Chamoun , and the Guardians of the Cedars , led by Étienne Saqr , but the FL was mainly dominated by the Phalange des Bachir Gemayel, the military arm of the Kata'ib under Gemayel's father, Pierre Gemayel , which alone soon had 20,000 men under arms.
Bachir Gemayel used the dominance of the Kata'ib to absorb the smaller Christian militias into the FL, without shrinking from acts of violence. In a raid on a property of the former President Suleiman Frangieh in Zgharta in 1978, his son and leader of the Marada Brigade Tony Frangieh and his family were murdered. In a surprise attack on July 7, 1980, the Ahrar , which was a member of the FL, was eliminated by Gemayel's fighters, so that now the FL was the only remaining serious military force in the Christian camp.
Amin Gemayel's term of office 1982–1988
On June 6, 1982 Israeli troops marched into southern Lebanon in order to eliminate Muslim militias operating there. The FL did not officially cooperate with the Israeli army , but there were unofficial contacts, and some FL associations received military training from Israel , which was used as propaganda against the FL in Lebanon's Muslim camp.
On August 20, a multinational force landed in Beirut to guarantee the previously agreed unmolested withdrawal of the PLO from Lebanon. Under their protection, Bachir Gemayel was elected President of the State by parliament with 57 out of 92 votes on August 23, 1982 - the 1926 constitution stipulates that the President of the State must be a Maronite Christian, the head of government a Sunni and the President of Parliament a Shiite Muslim Most Muslim MPs had boycotted the vote - but before taking office on September 23, he and 25 other people were killed on September 14 by an explosion at his headquarters in Achrafieh . The Syrian secret service was held responsible for the crime .
His older brother, Amin Gemayel, was elected president in Gemayel's place, and he was in office from 1982 to 1988. He was considered far less radical and rather sought a compromise with the Muslims, given the occupation of large parts of the country by foreign troops (in the south by Israel , to the north through Syria) and the uncontrolled rule of independent warlords and their militias, however, it was difficult for him to enforce the authority of the constitutional institutions. Meanwhile , the leadership of the FL passed to Fadi Afrem , whose relationship with Amin Gemayel, who was willing to compromise, was distant or frosty. Political pressure from Gemayel led to Frem being relieved of his command in 1984 and replaced by Fuad Abu Nader , Gemayel's nephew. The new FL chief was again unpopular in the ranks of the FL and was soon overthrown by a group led by Samir Geagea and Elie Hobeika . Hobeika had been the leader of the militia responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre .
Hobeika, who himself had ambitions for the presidency, now started negotiations with the Syrian side, which actually led to a first peace agreement on December 28, 1985, which, however, met with resistance from Geagea and other leading FL representatives who fell apart renounced Hobeika. On January 15, 1986, Hobeika's opponents in the FL attacked him at his headquarters in Karantina, where he had holed up. In view of the military superiority of Geagea's associations, Hobeika had to give up, he fled first to Paris and later to Damascus. Now Geagea took over the leadership in the FL, which he reorganized. He also initiated a welfare program that provided the areas controlled by the FL with financial aid. In addition, he sought connections to Iraq, Syria's traditional rival, in order to get weapons for his fight from there.
Aouns term of office 1988–1990
When Amin Gemayel's term in office ended in 1988, a constitutional crisis loomed as the divided parties could not agree on a successor. Shortly before his resignation, Gemayel declared the (Christian) head of the Lebanese army , General Michel Aoun , prime minister and, if the president was vacant, the incumbent head of state, defying the tradition that the office of head of government should be reserved for a Muslim was supposed to, which was not fixed in the actual constitution. Thereupon the Muslims proclaimed a counter-government in West Beirut under Selim al-Hoss , who had already been Prime Minister 1976–1980 and had held office again since 1987, but had been ousted by Gemayel.
Since April 1978 the Lebanese army had been at war with Syria, whose troops Aoun wanted to drive out of the country. In the Christian camp, FL chief Geagea was critical of the chances of success of Aoun's concept of a "war of liberation" directed against the Syrian occupying power in the north and refused to support it. A confrontation soon ensued, as Aoun, as head of the Lebanese army, demanded military command over all troops, including the 10,000 men in the FL. While the peace process between Christians and Muslims made progress and culminated on October 24, 1989 in the Taif Agreement (Saudi Arabia) (it reaffirmed the old denominational division of the highest state offices), tensions between FL and FL increased in Christian East Beirut Lebanese army, which erupted in fierce street fighting in 1989 and 1990. Hardly a tenth of the Beirut population remained in the city, and around a million people had fled the capital from the fighting.
Following the Taif agreement, Syria argued that the Aoun government was unconstitutional; Initially, the moderate Maronite René Moawad was appointed the new (counter) president in November 1989, but he was murdered after only 17 days. His successor was Elias Hrawi , who finally prevailed and was able to officiate until 1998 . After Aoun's most important ally, Iraq, lost its value as an internationally isolated pariah in August 1990 as a result of the second Gulf War, the Syrian army finally succeeded on October 13, 1990 in forcing Aoun to surrender in the presidential palace in Baabda. This essentially ended the long civil war. The basis of the restored state order was the Taif Agreement, but above all the presence of the Syrians, to whom Hrawi had to undertake on May 22, 1991 to pursue a "brotherly" policy and not against it to act on Syrian interests.
In post-war Lebanon
In accordance with the demands in the peace agreements, the FL militia was dissolved and converted into a political party. The FL was offered a government participation, but this refused. The monopoly of military security in the country was now officially held by the Lebanese army and the Syrian occupying power. The FL chief Geagea was accused of trying to maintain the FL as a military association and thereby undermine the peace process. He defended himself by having to defend the interests of Christians against the repressive, pro-Syrian and pro-Muslim policies of the state leadership. The clashes intensified until Samir Geagea was imprisoned in 1994 and he and other FL members were tried. Geagea had refused to leave the country to the last, although he had many possibilities of exile.
The accused were charged with illegal activity in a militia, incitement to acts of violence and, above all, several political murders during the civil war, including Prime Minister Rashid Karami in 1987 and leader of the National Liberal Party Dany Chamoun in 1990. The trial ended with Geagea's conviction to death (converted into lifelong solitary confinement). It was judged by observers to be one-sided and politically motivated, on the one hand, because the involvement of the accused could not be proven beyond doubt and, on the other hand, such attacks in the civil war were part of the agenda and were carried out by all sides. Given the political dominance of the pro-Syrian leadership, many FL members chose exile to avoid repression and arrests in Lebanon. Nevertheless, the FL u. a. surprisingly good results in the 1998 local elections. Meanwhile , the office of president went from Hrawi to Émile Lahoud , who ruled until November 2007.
The political situation finally changed radically after the attack on the vehicle convoy of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on February 14, 2005. In Lebanon, the Syrian occupation forces were blamed for the assassination attempt and there were mass demonstrations, which also boosted the FL gifts. This “ cedar revolution ” ultimately not only resulted in the Syrian troops actually having to leave Lebanon on April 30th, the pro-Syrian forces in Lebanon also fell completely on the defensive and had to leave the field to their opponents. In the parliamentary elections in May and June 2005 , the FL joined the anti-Syrian Alliance of March 14 , a coalition led by Saad Hariri , son of the murdered man, which clearly won the election with 72 of the 128 seats. As a result, Aoun returned from exile and headed the CPL (or the Free Patriotic Movement ) in Lebanon. At the same time, Geagea was released from prison after eleven years of imprisonment and celebrated by his supporters. The restrictions on the political activities of the FL became obsolete after the withdrawal of the Syrians.
Current situation
The FL are led by an eleven-member council, whose president Dr. Joseph Gebeily is. Hanna Atik was elected Secretary General.
In the 2005 elections, the FL achieved around 4.5% of the vote and holds five seats in the current parliament . The Kata'ib , which broke away from the FL after the power struggle between Geagea and Hobeika in the late 1980s, was also a member of the victorious party alliance of 2005 and achieved six seats (in alliance with other smaller parties).