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The Lebanese Front
was a right-wing coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in
1976, during the Lebanese Civil War. It was intended to act as a counter force
to the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) of Kamal Jumblatt and others.
Its main participants were the Kataeb Party (Phalange) of Pierre Gemayel,
Suleiman Franjieh and his Marada Brigade, the National Liberal Party (NLP) of
Camille Chamoun and the Guardians of the Cedars of Etienne Saqr. The founders of
the coalition worked fine together for many years until the events of 1978. The
alliance was destroyed after Israel interfered and Bashir Germayel came into the
scene of Lebanese politics and his actions to unify the militias by force.
At the beginning of the war, the then not yet formally established Front totaled
roughly 18,000 militiamen, but this number changed as many elements were non
full-time militiamen.
Suleiman Franjieh's Marada ended its connection with the Lebanese Front in 1978,
the year his son Tony and his family were killed. Bashir Gemayel (son of Pierre)
and the Lebanese Forces unsuccessfully tried to take over the Marada by force.
The Lebanese Forces violently took over their allies' militia component, the
Ahrar Militia (The Tigers) in July 1980. Dany Chamoun who led the Tigers ended
his connection with the Lebanese Front after the collapse of his militia,
although his father Camille adopted a conciliatory position. There were times
where Bashir Gemayel would exercise his powers over his brother Amin and his
men.
The Lebanese Front was a loose political coalition and the strongest force in
lebanon back in its time. The members of this coalition broke off as Bashir
Gemayel tried to absorb all members under his wing which lead to bloody attacks
on his allies. Many believe this caused the breakup of the United Christian
Lebanese Front as Bashir Gemayel also had fall outs with the prominent Christian
families which led to violence which ultimately lead to his assassination. The
members of this coalition created a strong political alliance before the
breakup.
The Lebanese Forces developed since August 1976 as the military wing of the
Front, under the command of Bashir Gemayel .Later in 1986 Samir Geagea became
leader after years of attempts in forcing out other elected LF leaders and
potential LF leadership successors. Then Samir Geagea fought off other LF
members for years with the goal of taking over the LF led them to war with the
General Michel Aoun and the Lebanese Army which led to the disarmament of the
Lebanese Forces. Samir Geagea was found guilty of assassinating his former ally
Dany Chamoun and his family who was also a supporter of Michel Aoun.He was also
charged with other war crimes. The Lebanese Forces is presently a political
party in the Lebanese Parliament. The LF currently hold 5 seats (they control
4.0% in parliament) of the 128 seats available in the Lebanese Parliament.
In the last few years there have been continual attempts to rebuild the
coalition that existed before the incidents of 1978. |
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