East Beirut canton إقليم شرق بيروت Eqleem Sharq Beyrut | |||||||||
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1976–13 October 1990 | |||||||||
Flag of the Lebanese Forces militia | |||||||||
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Status | Deep state and unrecognized administration in Lebanon | ||||||||
Capital | Jounieh | ||||||||
Common languages | Arabic | ||||||||
Religion | Christianity | ||||||||
Government | |||||||||
• Governed by | Lebanese Forces | ||||||||
Historical era | Lebanese Civil War | ||||||||
• Formation | 1976 | ||||||||
1978 | |||||||||
1982 | |||||||||
1986 | |||||||||
1989–1990 | |||||||||
13 October 1990 | |||||||||
Population | |||||||||
• | 800,000 | ||||||||
Currency | Lebanese Pound | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Today part of | Lebanon |
The East Beirut canton, also known as Kfarshima - Madfoun [1] or Marounistan, [2] was a Christian-dominated geopolitical region that existed in Lebanon from 1976 [3] until its gradual erosion following the Taif Agreement and the end of the country's civil war. [4] It was one of the wartime state-like territories, controlled by the Lebanese Forces (LF) militia, and was separated in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, from Muslim majority West Beirut by the Green Line, extending outside the capital northward to include the region of Keserwan up till the city of Byblos on the western coast and the northern part of Mount Lebanon to the northeast. It bordered the Zgharta region to the north, which was controlled by a rival Christian militia, the Marada Brigade which controlled a canton known as the Northern canton. [5] [6] [7]
East Beirut was a semi-independent region, from which Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon were mostly absent. [8] It had its own security and legal apparatus, with the LF also providing the local population with subsidized services, including public transport, education and healthcare among others. [9] The canton had more than 60% of the country's industrial capacity. [10] In 1976, to finance its war effort, the LF established the "National Treasury" in order to manage its revenue, mainly through direct taxation of the canton's population, among other sources. [11]
As central government authority disintegrated and rival governments claimed national authority, the various parties and militias started to create comprehensive state administrations in their territory. These were known as cantons, Swiss-like autonomous provinces. Marounistan was one of the first cantons to form. The Progressive Socialist Party's territory, which mostly served its Druze community, was the "Civil Administration of the Mountain," commonly known as the Jebel-el-Druze (a name which had formerly been used for a Druze state in Syria). The Marada area around Zgharta was known as the "Northern Canton". [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Relations between the NLP political board and the Tigers' military command soured after the former, headed by Camille Chamoun, supported Syria's military intervention in June that year whereas the latter, now led by Camille's son Dany Chamoun, opposed it. Fearing that its own party's militia was getting out of his control, Camille tacitly allowed its Kataeb rivals to absorb the Tigers' into the Lebanese Forces (LF) under Bachir Gemayel. [17] Dany's adamant refusal of allowing the Tigers to be incorporated led to a Phalangist assault on his militia's headquarters in Safra on July 7, 1980, which resulted in a massacre that claimed up to 500 lives, including civilians and 80 of Dany's men (other source states that the dead toll amounted to 150 Tigers' fighters). [18] [19] [20] [21]
On 1 April 1990, during the War of Liberation, Elias Hrawi’s government mandated Fleet Admiral Elie Hayek to take over LF barracks in the governorate. This was part of an agreement between Samir Geagea and Hrawi whereby the army would militarily and politically take over 2/3 of the canton (the remaining 1/3 being the Northern governorate and Achrafieh in East Beirut), but the militia’s 10,000 strong force would remain intact for the time being. [22]
Michel Aoun, however, had publicly stated that he would not accept the handoff or any alliance between the LF and the Hrawi government. As the Elimination War was ravaging East Beirut and its suburbs (up to the Metn), the handoff actually began in Keserwan district – at the level of Nahr el-Kalb – up to Barbara. [23]
By May, however, the LF had taken over the entire coastline from Jounieh to Beirut from Aoun’s troops, completely cutting off naval supply routes. [24] In addition, Geagea placed Hayek in an LF barrack in Jounieh as a symbol of his willingness to integrate with the government, defying Aoun’s refusal of any Hrawi-LF alliance. [25] These developments, combined with the Syrian army’s support, dramatically shifted the odds in favour of the Taif agreement and its government.
Although the canton was not recognized internationally as a sovereign state nor an administrative region, the region still garnered foreign support from namely the United States. [26]
Considered by many analysts as the best organized of all militia "fiefs" in the whole of Lebanon, it was administrated by a network of Phalangist-controlled business corporations headed by "Chef" Boutros Khawand, which included the GAMMA Group brain-trust, the DELTA computer company, and the SONAPORT holding. [27] The latter run since 1975 the legal commercial ports of Jounieh and Beirut, including the infamous clandestine "Dock Five" (French: Cinquième basin), near the Karantina KRF's HQ, from which the Phalange extracted additional revenues by levying taxes and by conducting arms-dealing operations. [28] [29] [14]
Wilton Wynn, a TIME correspondent, visited the Christian canton in 1976, the same year as its foundation. [30] He reported that compared to the villages outside of the canton, in Maronite towns and villages no garbage littered the streets, gas was one-fifth the price charged in West Beirut and the price of bread was controlled to levels comparable to pre-war pricing. [31]
The Canton was also served by a clandestine-built airstrip, the Pierre Gemayel International Airport, opened in 1976 at Hamat, north of Batroun, and had its own radio station, The Voice of Lebanon (Arabic: Iza'at Sawt Loubnan) or La Voix du Liban (VDL) in French, set up in that same year. [32] However, the airport was never used for civilian purposes. Although its heavily damaged runway has been patched, the airfield is currently used only by the Lebanese Air Force with Puma helicopters and Super Tucano light attack aircraft. The airfield is currently also used by the Special Forces school.
The region was defended by the Lebanese Front army brigades of 12,000 men, which was well-equipped by the United States, along with 5,000 militiamen under Samir Geagea and 1,000 belonging to Kataeb Regulatory Forces, supported by Israel. The brigades also included members of the Tigers Militia and the Guardians of the Cedars. [26]
The militiamen were situated in a mountainous region which gave them an upper-hand against Syrian expansion westward of the country. [26]
A play titled "Min Kfarshima lal Madfoun" tells the story of a Maronite woman's journey from Kfarchima to Madfoun, starting from Tabaris in Achrafieh, through the Nahr El Kalb tunnel, then Jounieh and finally to Jbeil. [33] [34]
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The Kataeb Party, officially the Kataeb Party – Lebanese Social Democratic Party, also known as the Phalanges, is a right-wing Christian political party in Lebanon founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936. The party and its paramilitary wings played a major role in the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), opposing Palestinian forces in the country as well as collaborating with Israel. Pierre's youngest son Bachir, the leader of the party's militia, was elected President in 1982, but was assassinated before he could take office. He was succeeded by his older brother Amine, who led the party through much of the war. In decline in the late 1980s and 1990s, the party slowly re-emerged in the early 2000s and is currently part of the Lebanese opposition. The party currently holds 4 out of the 128 seats in the Lebanese Parliament.
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 also led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
Dany Chamoun was a prominent Lebanese politician. A Maronite Christian, the younger son of former President Camille Chamoun and brother of Dory Chamoun, Chamoun was also a politician in his own right. He was murdered on October 21, 1990 at age 56, along with his family.
The Taif Agreement, officially known as the National Reconciliation Accord, was reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon". Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the 15 year-long Lebanese Civil War, reassert Lebanese government authority in southern Lebanon, which was controlled at the time by the Christian-separatist South Lebanon Army under the occupational hegemony of Israel. Though the agreement set a time frame for withdrawal of Syrian military forces from Lebanon, stipulating that the Syrian occupation end within two years, Syria did not withdraw its forces from the country until 2005. It was signed on 22 October 1989 and ratified by the Lebanese parliament on 5 November, 1989.
Samir Farid Geagea is a Lebanese politician and former Resistance commander who has been leading the Lebanese Forces party and dissolved Lebanese Forces militia since 1986.
The Marada Movement is a Lebanese political party and a former militia active during the Lebanese Civil War named after the legendary Marada warriors of the early Middle Ages that fought on the external edge of the Byzantine Empire. Originally designated the Marada Brigade, the group initially emerged as the personal militia of Suleiman Frangieh, president of Lebanon at the outbreak of the war in 1975, which also had a Parliamentary wing known as the Frangieh Bloc. They were also initially known as the Zgharta Liberation Army, after Frangieh's hometown of Zgharta in northern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese Christian-based political party and former militia during the Lebanese Civil War. It currently holds 19 of the 128 seats in Lebanon's parliament and is therefore the largest party in parliament.
The Tigers militia, also known as NLP Tigers, Tigers of the Liberals or PNL "Lionceaux" in French, was the military wing of the National Liberal Party (NLP) during the Lebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1990.
The War of Liberation was a sub-conflict within the final phase of the Lebanese Civil War between 1989 and 1990, in which the Lebanese Army loyal to General and Prime Minister Michel Aoun, appointed by previous President Amine Gemayel and headquartered in eastern Beirut, fought against the western Beirut-based Syrian Armed Forces and the Lebanese Army loyal to President Elias Hrawi and Prime Minister Selim Hoss, appointed by the Taif Agreement. Aoun launched several offensives against the Lebanese Forces in an attempt to establish his authority over East Beirut. The conflict culminated on 13 October 1990, when the Syrian Army stormed Baabda Palace and other strongholds of Aoun, killing hundreds of Lebanese soldiers and civilians and ousting Aoun, marking the end of the Lebanese Civil War. Aoun survived and moved to France to live in exile.
Fouad Abou Nader is a Lebanese Christian politician and former leader of the Lebanese Forces. A grandson of the Kataeb Party founder Pierre Gemayel, Abou Nader became a Kataeb party activist and head of the elite Kataeb troop called the "BG" and later on head of the Lebanese Forces after the union of various Christian military groupings. After an internal revolt in the Lebanese Forces led by Elie Hobeika and Samir Geagea against his leadership, he relinquished his power to them refusing to what he considered a fratricide venture.
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 1967 by the future President of Lebanon and za'im Suleiman Frangieh as the Marada Brigade seven years before the war began. The force was initially commanded by Suleiman Franjieh's son, Tony Frangieh. It operated mainly out of Tripoli and Zgharta, but it also fought in Beirut. The ZLA fought against various Palestinian and Lebanese Muslim militias as well as the Lebanese Forces in Bsharri and Ehden.
The Tyous Team of Commandos – TTC or simply Tyous for short, was a small far-right Christian militia which fought in the 1975–78 phase of the Lebanese Civil War.
The 7th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon) is a Lebanese Army unit that fought in the Lebanese Civil War, being active since its creation in June 1983.
The 8th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon) is a Lebanese Army unit that fought in the Lebanese Civil War, being active since its creation in January 1983.
The Kataeb Regulatory Forces – KRF or Forces Régulatoires des Kataeb (FRK) in French, were the military wing of the right-wing Lebanese Christian Kataeb Party, otherwise known as the 'Phalange', from 1961 to 1977. The Kataeb militia, which fought in the early years of the Lebanese Civil War, was the predecessor of the Lebanese Forces.
The Mountain War, also known as the War of the Mountain, was a subconflict between the 1982–83 phase of the Lebanese Civil War and the 1984–89 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, which occurred at the mountainous Chouf District located south-east of the Lebanese Capital Beirut. It pitted the Lebanese Forces Militia (LF) and the official Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) against a coalition of the Lebanese National Resistance Front (LNRF) led by the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), allied with the Palestinian National Salvation Front (PNSF) and backed by Syria. Hostilities began when the LF and the LAF entered the predominantly Druze Chouf District to bring back the region under government control, only to be met with fierce resistance from local Druze militias and their allies. The PSP leader Walid Jumblatt's persistence to refuse join the central government and his instigation of a wider opposition faction led to disintegration of the already fragile LAF and the eventual collapse of the government under President Amine Gemayel.
The Lebanese Forces was one of the main Lebanese Christian factions of the Lebanese Civil War. Originally an umbrella organization for different parties, the Lebanese Forces later became a separate organization. The Lebanese Forces replaced the previous Kataeb Regulatory Forces as the military arm of the Christian Kataeb Party. It was mainly staffed by Maronite Christians loyal to Bachir Gemayel, and fought against the Lebanese National Movement, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Syrian Army among other enemies. The group gained infamy for their perpetration of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, which primarily targeted Palestinian refugees following Gemayel's assassination.
On January 15, 1986, forces loyal to Lebanese president Amine Gemayel and Samir Geagea, intelligence chief of the Lebanese Forces (LF), ousted Elie Hobeika from his position as leader of the LF and replaced him with Geagea. The coup came in response to Hobeika's signing of the Syrian-sponsored Tripartite Accord that aimed to put an end to the Lebanese Civil War.
Lebanese Maronite Christians refers to Lebanese people who are members of the Maronite Church in Lebanon, the largest Christian denomination in the country. The Lebanese Maronite population is concentrated mainly in Mount Lebanon and East Beirut. They are believed to constitute about 30% of the total population of Lebanon.
Joud el Bayeh was a Lebanese Kataeb party leader, responsible for the area of Zgharta in the North of Lebanon. His assassination on June 7, 1978 is believed to have triggered the Ehden Massacre. He was director of the Banque de la Méditerrannée in Chekka, president of the municipal council of Kfardlakos, and vice-president of the Zgharta region of the Kataeb. The Joud el Bayeh Foundation was created in his name.