Marada Brigade

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Logo of today's Marada movement

The Marada Brigade ( French Brigades Marada ) was a Maronite militia during the Lebanese civil war and is now a political party under the name Marada Movement ( French Mouvement Marada ). It is named after the legendary Marada warriors of the early Middle Ages . During its heyday, the group numbered around 5,000 members. It was the personal militia of Suleiman Frangieh , who was President of Lebanon when the war broke out . They were also called the "Zgharta Liberation Army" after Frangieh's hometown of Zgharta in northern Lebanon. The militia had their headquarters there .

history

The Marada Brigade was initially allied with the Kata'ib party. However, after Suleiman Frangieh's son Tony Frangieh was killed in 1978 , Frangieh became pro-Syrian and stopped attending meetings of the Lebanese front . The Phalange had launched an attack on Tony's summer country residence and tried to take Ehden . 35 men, women and children who happened to be on the street were killed, as well as ten of the attackers and Tony Frangieh, his wife and young daughter. Samir Geagea was seriously injured in the attack. Kataeb party members Elie Hobeika and Samir Geagea denied participating in the killings. It was believed that Bashir Gemayel had given the order to attack. But he also denied being responsible for the killings.

With the attack on Ehden the break up of the united Maronite militias began. Suleiman Frangieh swore vengeance for the death of his son and his family. In 1979 Bashir Gemayel's daughter and the bodyguards were killed by a car bomb, and in September 1982 Bashir himself was killed in a large explosion. It is unclear whether the Marada Brigade was involved.

Current situation

After the assassination of Tony Frangieh, the attempt to absorb the Marada Brigade by the Forces Libanaises failed. Although formally no longer a militia, the brigade still exists as the personal protection force of Tony Frangieh's son Suleiman Frangieh II , who is a close political friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a strong representative of Syria. He was Interior Minister of Lebanon when Rafiq al-Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005 in West Beirut on his convoy of vehicles . In the Diab government, in office since January 21, 2020 , the Marada movement is represented by Labor Minister Lamia Yammine .

Web links

Individual evidence

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