The Zahliote Group – ZG (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
: مجموعة زحلوتي , ''Majmueat Zhlouty''), known also as the Groupement Zahliote (GZ) in
French, was a small
Lebanese Christian
Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical Scriptures purport that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Lebanon was ...
militia raised in the
Greek-Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually.
The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...
town of
Zahlé
Zahlé ( ar, زَحْلة) is the capital and the largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 150,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Lebanon after Beirut and Tripoli and the fourth largest taking the whole urban area ...
in the
Beqaa Valley, which fought in the
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
from 1975 to 1981.
Structure and organization
The ZG was led by Aziz Wardah, 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' (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
: سبع عائلات , ''Sabe Eayilat'') coalition headed by the
za'im (political boss)
Joseph Skaff. Wardah's Zahliotes were estimated at about 100-500 fighters equipped with small-arms purchased on the black market or taken from
Lebanese Army depots and
Internal Security Forces
The Internal Security Forces Directorate ( ar, المديرية العامة لقوى الأمن الداخلي, al-Mudiriyya al-'aamma li-Qiwa al-Amn al-Dakhili; french: Forces de Sécurité Intérieure; abbreviated ISF) is the national polic ...
(ISF) Police stations, backed by a few
gun truck
A gun truck is an armored vehicle with
one or more crew-served weapons, typically based on a commercial vehicle. Gun trucks often have improvised vehicle armor, such as scrap metal, concrete, gravel, or sandbags, which is added to a heavy truck ...
s 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)
* Cambridge Technicals
Cambridge Tech ...
(
Willys M38A1 MD jeeps,
CJ-5 Jeep
The Jeep CJ models are a series and a range of small, open-bodied off-road vehicles and compact pickup trucks, built and sold by several successive incarnations of the Jeep automobile marque from 1945 to 1986. The 1945 Willys Jeep was the worl ...
s,
Toyota Land Cruiser (J40)
The Toyota Land Cruiser (J40), is a series of Land Cruisers made by Toyota from 1960 until 2001. Traditional body on frame, most 40 series Land Cruisers were built as 2-door models with slightly larger dimensions than the similar Jeep CJ.
Th ...
and
Land-Rover series II-III pickups, and
Chevrolet C-10/C-15 Cheyenne light pickups) armed with
Heavy machine-guns and
recoilless rifles
A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...
, controlled most of
Zahlé
Zahlé ( ar, زَحْلة) is the capital and the largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 150,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Lebanon after Beirut and Tripoli and the fourth largest taking the whole urban area ...
until 1978, when they were finally absorbed into the
Lebanese Forces.
The Zahliotes in the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1981)
On 28 August 1975, The Zahliote Group militia clashed at
Zahlé
Zahlé ( ar, زَحْلة) is the capital and the largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 150,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Lebanon after Beirut and Tripoli and the fourth largest taking the whole urban area ...
with the predominantly
Maronite Zgharta Liberation Army
The Zgharta Liberation Army – ZLA ( ar, جيش تحرير زغرتا, Jayish Tahrir Zaghrita), also known as Zghartawi Liberation Army or Armée de Liberation de Zgharta (ALZ) in French, was the paramilitary branch of the Lebanese Marada Moveme ...
(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.
Educ ...
, despite the intervention of
Lebanese Army troops in a vain attempt to curb the fighting. Allied with the other rightist
Christian factions in the
Lebanese Front
The Lebanese Front ( ar, الجبهة اللبنانية, ''al-Jabha al-Lubnaniyya'') or ''Front Libanais'' in French, was a coalition of mainly Lebanese Nationalist parties formed in 1976 by majority Christian intellectuals during the Leban ...
, the Zahliotes held their ground successfully against the PLO, the Leftist
Muslim Lebanese National Movement
The Lebanese National Movement (LNM) ( ar, الحركة الوطنية اللبنانية, ''Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya'') or Mouvement National Libanais (MNL) in French, was a front of leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist p ...
(LNM) militias and
Lebanese Arab Army
The Lebanese Arab Army – LAA (Arabic: جيش لبنان العربي transliteration ''Jayish Lubnan al-Arabi''), also known as the Arab Army of Lebanon (AAL), Arab Lebanese Army or Armée du Liban Arabe (ALA) in French, was a predominantly M ...
(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
Camps are set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to accommodate Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestinian e ...
of
Dbayeh
Dbayeh ( ar, ضبية) 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, apart from some Gulf Arab Muslims who live there during th ...
in the hands of the
Lebanese Front
The Lebanese Front ( ar, الجبهة اللبنانية, ''al-Jabha al-Lubnaniyya'') or ''Front Libanais'' in French, was a coalition of mainly Lebanese Nationalist parties formed in 1976 by majority Christian intellectuals during the Leban ...
's Christian militias earlier that same day.
Although the ZG was integrated into the
Lebanese Forces 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 during the
Battle of Zahleh
The Battle of Zahle (Arabic: معركة زحلة) took place during the Lebanese Civil War, between December 1980 and June 1981. During the seven-month period, the city of Zahle (Arabic: زحلة) endured a handful of political and military set ...
.
[Katz, Russel, and Volstad, ''Armies in Lebanon 1982-84'' (1985), p. 8.]
See also
*
Lebanese Arab Army
The Lebanese Arab Army – LAA (Arabic: جيش لبنان العربي transliteration ''Jayish Lubnan al-Arabi''), also known as the Arab Army of Lebanon (AAL), Arab Lebanese Army or Armée du Liban Arabe (ALA) in French, was a predominantly M ...
*
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
*
Lebanese Forces
*
Lebanese Forces – Executive Command
The Lebanese Forces – Executive Command or LFEC (Arabic: القوات اللبنانية - القيادة التنفيذية , ''Al-Quwwat al-Lubnaniyya – Al-Qiyada Al-Tanfeethiyya''), was a splinter group from the Lebanese Forces led by Eli ...
*
Lebanese Front
The Lebanese Front ( ar, الجبهة اللبنانية, ''al-Jabha al-Lubnaniyya'') or ''Front Libanais'' in French, was a coalition of mainly Lebanese Nationalist parties formed in 1976 by majority Christian intellectuals during the Leban ...
*
Lebanese National Movement
The Lebanese National Movement (LNM) ( ar, الحركة الوطنية اللبنانية, ''Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya'') or Mouvement National Libanais (MNL) in French, was a front of leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist p ...
*
List of weapons of the Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multi-sided military conflict that pitted a variety of local irregular militias, both Muslim and Christian, against each other between 1975 and 1990.
A wide variety of weapons were used by the different armies and ...
*
Tigers Militia
The Tigers militia ( ar, نمور الأحرار, transliterated: ''Numūr'' or ''Al-Noumour''), also known as NLP Tigers ( ar, links=no, نمور الأحرار , ''Numur al-Ahrar'') or PNL "Lionceaux" in French, was the military wing of the ...
*
Zgharta Liberation Army
The Zgharta Liberation Army – ZLA ( ar, جيش تحرير زغرتا, Jayish Tahrir Zaghrita), also known as Zghartawi Liberation Army or Armée de Liberation de Zgharta (ALZ) in French, was the paramilitary branch of the Lebanese Marada Moveme ...
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
French)
*Denise Ammoun, ''Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990'', Éditions Fayard, Paris 2005. (in
French)
*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
French)
*Jean Sarkis, ''Histoire de la guerre du Liban'', Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. (in
French)
*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
French)
*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
French)
*R.D. Mclaurin, ''The battle of Zahle'', Aberdeen, MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical memorandum 8-86, 1986.
Further reading
* Fawwaz Traboulsi, ''A History of Modern Lebanon: Second Edition'', Pluto Press, London 2012.
* Rex Brynen, ''Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon'', Boulder: Westview Press, Oxford 1990.
*
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stan ...
, ''Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War'', London: Oxford University Press, (3rd ed. 2001).
* William W. Harris, ''Faces of Lebanon: Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions'', Princeton Series on the Middle East, Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton 1997. , 1-55876-115-2
{{refend
External links
Chamussy (René) – Chronique d’une guerre: Le Liban 1975-1977 – éd. Desclée – 1978(in
French)
Histoire militaire de l'armée libanaise de 1975 à 1990(in
French)
Lebanese Front
Factions in the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese factions allied with Israel