The Zahliote Group – ZG (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: مجموعة زحلوتي , ''Majmueat Zhlouty'') or Groupement Zahliote (GZ) in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, was a small

Lebanese Christian Christianity has a long and continuous history in Lebanon. Biblical scriptures show that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, leading to the dawn of the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch. As such, Christianity in Lebanon is as old as Chri ...

militia raised in the

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

town of

Zahlé Zahlé () is a city in eastern Lebanon, and the capital and largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 150,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Lebanon after Beirut and Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli and the fourth-largest ...

in the

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

, which fought in the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

from 1975 to 1981.

Structure and organization

The ZG was led by Aziz Wardeh, a wealthy banker and entrepreneur, who formed it in 1975 as a movement of middle-class businessmen who contested the rule of the local feudal clans, gathered in the so-called 'Seven Families' (

: سبع عائلات , ''Sabe Eayilat'') coalition headed by the za'im (political boss)

Joseph Skaff Joseph Elias Tohme Skaf (; 1922–1991) was a Lebanese politician who is considered one of the most prominent personalities of the Skaff family in the city of Zahle. He held several ministerial positions from 1955 to 1988 under 5 different pres ...

. Wardeh's Zahliotes were estimated at about 100-500 fighters equipped with small-arms purchased on the black market or taken from

Lebanese Army The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF; ), also known as the Lebanese Army (), is the national military of the Republic of Lebanon. It consists of three branches, the ground forces, the air force, and the navy. The motto of the Lebanese Armed Forces is ...

depots and

Internal Security Forces The Internal Security Forces (; ; abbreviated ISF) are the national police and gendarmerie of Lebanon. Modern police were established in Lebanon in 1861, with the creation of a gendarmerie force. In April 2005, Ashraf Rifi became head of the I ...

(ISF) Police stations, backed by a few gun trucks or

technicals Technicals may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle often used in civil conflict * TECHNICALS, a clothing brand owned by Blacks Leisure Group See also * Technical (disambiguation) Technical may refer to: * Technical ...

( Willys M38A1 MD jeeps, CJ-5 Jeeps,

Toyota Land Cruiser (J40) The Toyota Land Cruiser (J40), is a series of Toyota Land Cruiser, Land Cruisers made by Toyota from 1960 until 2001. The 40 series Land Cruisers featured a traditional body on frame construction, and most were built as 2-door models with slig ...

and Land-Rover series II-III pickups, and Chevrolet C-10/C-15 Cheyenne light pickups) armed with

Heavy machine-guns A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ta ...

and

recoilless rifles A Recoilless rifle (rifled), recoilless launcher (smoothbore), or simply recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated to "rr" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some fo ...

, controlled most of

until 1978, when they were finally absorbed into the

Lebanese Forces The Lebanese Forces ( ') is a Lebanon, Lebanese Christianity in Lebanon, Christian-based political party and Lebanese Forces (militia), former militia during the Lebanese Civil War. It currently holds 19 of the 128 seats in Lebanon's Parliamen ...

The Zahliotes in the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1981)

On 28 August 1975, The Zahliote Group militia clashed at

with the predominantly

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

Zgharta Liberation Army The Zgharta Liberation Army – ZLA (), also known as Zghartawi Liberation Army, was the paramilitary branch of the Lebanese Marada Movement during the Lebanese Civil War. The militia was formed in the late 1960s by the future President of Lebano ...

(ZLA, a.k.a. the "Marada Brigade") militia led by

Tony Frangieh Antoine "Tony" Suleiman Frangieh (; 1 September 1941 – 13 June 1978) was a Lebanese politician and militia commander during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War. He was the son of Suleiman Frangieh, a former Lebanese president. Tony ...

, despite the intervention of

troops in a vain attempt to curb the fighting. Allied with the other rightist

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

factions in the

Lebanese Front The Lebanese Front was a coalition of mainly right-wing Lebanese Nationalist parties formed in 1976 by majority Christian groups during the Lebanese Civil War. It was intended to act as a reaction force to the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) ...

, the Zahliotes held their ground successfully against the PLO, the Leftist

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Lebanese National Movement The Lebanese National Movement (LNM; , ''Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya'') was a front of Leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War, which supported ...

(LNM) militias and

Lebanese Arab Army The Lebanese Arab Army – LAA (Arabic: جيش لبنان العربي transliteration ''Jayish Lubnan al-Arabi''), also known variously as the Arab Army of Lebanon (AAL) and Arab Lebanese Army or Army of Arab Lebabon or Armée arabe du Liban ( ...

(LAA) attempts to take Zahlé in early 1976. On 14 January that year, they defended their town when it was besieged by PLO – LNM forces in retaliation for the fall of the

Palestinian refugee camp Palestinian refugee camps were first established to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced by the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight during the 1948 Palestine war. Camps were established by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UN ...

Dbayeh Dbayeh () is a city in Lebanon located on the Mediterranean Sea in the Matn District, Mount Lebanon, between Beirut and Jounieh. The majority of the population is Christian(Maronites, and Orthodox), apart from some people from the gulf who lived ...

in the hands of the

's Christian militias earlier that same day. Although the ZG was integrated into the

structure in 1978, its former members certainly played a role in the defence of their town on 20 December 1980, when the Free Tigers militia (a.k.a. the "Hannache Group") managed to seize by force the local National Liberal Party (NLP) offices and again in March 1981, when it was besieged by the

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

during the Battle of Zahleh.Katz, Russel, and Volstad, ''Armies in Lebanon 1982-84'' (1985), p. 8.

Notes

References

*Alain Menargues, ''Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban: Du coup d'état de Béchir Gémayel aux massacres des camps palestiniens'', Albin Michel, Paris 2004. (in

) *Denise Ammoun, ''Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990'', Éditions Fayard, Paris 2005. (in

) �

*Fawwaz Traboulsi, ''Identités et solidarités croisées dans les conflits du Liban contemporain; Chapitre 12: L'économie politique des milices: le phénomène mafieux'', Thèse de Doctorat d'Histoire – 1993, Université de Paris VIII, 2007. (in

) �

*Jean Sarkis, ''Histoire de la guerre du Liban'', Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. (in

) *Joseph Hokayem, ''L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985)'', Lulu.com, Beyrouth 2012. , 1291036601 (in

) �

*R.D. Mclaurin, ''The battle of Zahle'', Aberdeen, MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical memorandum 8-86, 1986. �

*Makram Rabah, ''Conflict on Mount Lebanon: The Druze, the Maronites and Collective Memory'', Alternative Histories, Edinburgh University Press, 2020 (1st edition). *Samuel M. Katz, Lee E. Russel, and Ron Volstad, ''Armies in Lebanon 1982-84'', Men-at-arms series 165, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1985. *Samir Kassir, ''La Guerre du Liban: De la dissension nationale au conflit régional'', Éditions Karthala/CERMOC, Paris 1994. (in

) *Tom Najem and Roy C. Amore, ''Historical Dictionary of Lebanon'', Second Edition, Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Boulder, New York & London 2021. , 1538120437

External links

Chamussy (René) – Chronique d’une guerre: Le Liban 1975-1977 – éd. Desclée – 1978
(in

)
Histoire militaire de l'armée libanaise de 1975 à 1990
(in

) Lebanese Front Factions in the Lebanese Civil War

Structure and organization

The Zahliotes in the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1981)

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links