Ehden massacre

Background

Before the Lebanese Front was formed, many of the future leaders of the Lebanese Front organized their political parties into militias, most notably Camille Chamoun's 'Tigers', Pierre Gemayel's 'Kataeb Militia', and Suleiman Frangieh's 'Marada Brigade'.

Despite having joined in January 1976 the Lebanese Front alliance that gathered the main rightist Christian parties and their militias, the Frangiehs' close ties to Syria, along with their bitter political squabbling with the Gemayel clan – leaders of the Kataeb Party or 'Phalange' – and their disagreements with the other Christian leaders over their tactical alliance with Israel, prompted Frangieh to break from the Lebanese Front in 1977.

In 1978, tensions were high in Northern Lebanon between the Kataeb and Marada parties when the Kataeb tried to expand their power in the patriarchal seat of power of the Frangieh family. Following the killing of many Phalangist members, it was the killing of senior Phalangist member Joud El Bayeh that triggered the subsequent events. Joud El Bayeh was killed on 7 June 1978 by armed men sent by Tony Franjieh when he tried to open a political office in Zgharta.

Lebanese Forces decided to retaliate. The initial plan was to capture Tony Frangieh and force him to surrender the members of the Marada militia that killed the Phalangists. However, there was concern about the consequences of this move. Instead it was decided that the goal of the operation would be to capture the supposed members of the Marada militia that killed the Phalangists. The operation would be done on a Tuesday to assure Tony Frangieh would have left Ehden.

Events

On 13 June 1978, Gemayel sent a force of 500 commandos to Ehden; however what Gemayel did not know was that Tony Frangieh hadn't left Ehden as his car wasn't running. As soon as the squadron arrived, bullets were flying over their heads and the squadron returned fire indiscriminately.

Tony Frangieh, his wife Vera Frangieh (née el Kordahi), their three-year-old daughter Jihane, and thirty other Marada bodyguards and aides who were at the mansion were killed in the raid. More than ten Phalangist gunmen were also killed in the attack.

“Even the family dog did not escape the carnage of that day”. Suleiman Frangieh claimed that the Phalangist gunmen forced Tony and his young wife Vera to watch the shooting of their infant daughter Jihane, then made him watch the murder of his wife before killing him.

Tony Frangieh's son, Suleiman Frangieh, Jr., escaped the massacre. He was not with his family in Ehden, but with his grandfather at that time.

Aftermath

On 14 June 1978, a funeral ceremony was organized for the victims in Zagharta. Syrian troops stormed a village, Deir el Ahmar, nearly 15.5 miles southeast of Ehden to search for the perpetrators on the same day.{{cite news|title=Syrian storm town in search

Responses to allegations

The Marada Movement, headed by Suleiman Frangieh Jr. in 1982, accused the Lebanese Forces of carrying out the Ehden massacre.{{cite news

Samir Geagea who allegedly headed the Phalangist force responsible for the Ehden massacre admitted that he was among the "military squad" that was in charge of the Ehden "operation", but he denied taking part in the massacre, claiming that he was shot before the incident.{{cite news|author=Hussein Abdallah|title=Siniora and Abu Jamra cut deal to define deputy PM's powers|access-date=12 June 2012|newspaper=The Daily Star

Investigation and arrests

Hanna Shallita was arrested during a 1994 government crackdown on Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces, who was accused of staging the Ehden massacre. Shallita was set free after paying an LL5 million bail in August 2002. However, no official investigation ever opened to find out who killed the Frangieh family and others. To date the killers have not been officially indicted.

When the file was reopened in 2002, Suleiman Frangieh Jr., son of Tony Frangieh, criticised the move, arguing that its aim was to show him manipulation of his slain family's blood for political ends.{{cite news|title=Franjieh Berates Gen. Sayyed for Reopening Ehden Massacre File|archive-date=31 July 2013|access-date=9 April 2013|work=Naharnet

Reconciliation

On 3 October 2008 reconciliation talks between Lebanese Front and Marada started.{{cite web|url=https://www.lebanese-forces.com/2008/10/03/21274/

In popular culture

On 13 June 2008 OTV made a documentary about the massacre in which Youssef Frangieh revealed that he was the one who shot Samir Geagea.{{cite web|url=https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3713EC7C47C13CD0&feature=shared|title=المجزرة والمغفرة

Scholarly views

The travel writer and historian William Dalrymple reaches the conclusion that the Ehden massacre was remarkable and revealed more clearly than anything the medieval feudal reality behind the civilized twentieth-century veneer of Lebanese politics.

Related publications

French journalist, Richard Labeviere published a book entitled The Ehden Massacre. The Curse of Arab Christians (2009). The book provides alleged details of how Samir Geagea, the chief of the Lebanese Forces party, was chosen in 1978 by Mossad to execute the Ehden massacre.

References

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