Suleiman Frangieh

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Suleiman Frangieh

Suleiman Kabalan Beik Frangieh , family name also written Frangié , Franjieh or Franjiyeh ( Arabic سليمان فرنجية Sulayman Farandschiya ; * June 15, 1910 in Zgharta ; † July 23, 1992 in Beirut ), was President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976. His presidency marked the beginning of the Lebanese civil war , which lasted from 1975 to 1990, as well as the military occupation by Syria , which lasted until 2005.

Education and early career

Frangieh attended De La Salle School in Tripoli , Saint Joseph School in Zgharta and Aintoura College in Kisrwan before graduating from the Jesuit University of Beirut. Afterwards he devoted himself to the management of an import and export company.

Suleiman Frangieh was threatened with arrest in 1957 after he was accused of murdering several members of a warring family clan. He fled to Syria and made the acquaintance of Hafiz al-Assad , who later became Syrian president. The charges against him were soon dropped and after his brother Hamid Beik Frangieh's retirement from politics in 1957, Suleiman Frangieh returned to Lebanon in 1960 and succeeded him as a member of the National Assembly for Zgharta. Frangieh was re-elected in 1964 and 1968. During that decade he held a number of ministerial offices; he was Minister of Post, Telegraphy and Telephone, Agriculture, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Justice, Minister of Economy and Minister of Public Works.

1970 presidential election

In the narrowest and possibly most controversial presidential election in Lebanon's history , the National Assembly elected Frangieh as president on August 17, 1970. He owes his victory over his future successor Elias Sarkis to a last-minute change of opinion from Kamal Jumblat . As a compromise candidate, Frangieh received support from both left and right religious groups; There was little agreement among his followers on this, except to support his promise to maintain the semi-feudal system that concentrated power in the hands of local clan leaders, so-called zaʿīms , a system that was replaced by the Shihabist reforms of previous President Fuad Shihab (1958– 1964) and Charles Hélou (1964–1970) had been undermined. Sarkis wanted to continue this. Frangieh's victory is also due to the fact that after the third ballot, with a tie of 49:49, armed men led by his son Tony Frangieh broke into the parliament building and forced the parliamentary speaker to cast his casting vote in favor of Frangieh , contrary to custom use.

Civil War Years

When the Lebanese civil war began, Frangieh ran a militia , the Marada Brigade , under the command of his son Tony. Initially he was involved in the Lebanese Front , a mostly Christian coalition of political and military leaders from the right wing, but early in 1978 he broke with them because of their collaboration with Israel and his own pro-Syrian leanings. In June 1978, Tony was killed by gunmen from the Phalange militia along with his wife and young daughter . Frangieh swore revenge and after a few months the daughter of Bachir Gemayel , who was accused of having given the order to kill, and in 1982 Gemayel himself was killed in an attack.

Frangieh remained an ally of Syria. He made a comeback attempt in 1988, but the National Assembly, although his election was certain, missed a quorum due to a boycott of some Christian parliamentarians enforced by the Forces Lebanaises . Frangieh died on July 23, 1992, two years after the end of the civil war.

Private life

Frangieh was the second son of Kabalan Suleiman Frangieh, who was a Member of Parliament , and his wife Lamia Raffoul. His grandfather Kabalan Frangieh was a district governor. Frangieh had five children with his Egyptian- born wife Iris Handaly . After the death of his brother Hamid in 1981, Suleiman succeeded him as head of the Maronite Frangieh clan. His grandson Suleiman Frangieh II was Minister of the Interior from 2004 to 2005 and was a possible candidate to succeed Émile Lahoud in 2007.