Zahliote Group
| Zahliote Group – ZG | |
|---|---|
| Participant in Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) | |
| Active | Until 1978 |
| Groups | Lebanese Front, Lebanese Forces |
| Leaders | Aziz Wardah |
| Headquarters | Zahlé |
| Strength | 500 fighters |
| Originated as | 100 fighters |
| Allies | Lebanese Front, Lebanese Forces, Lebanese Army, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) |
| Opponents | Lebanese National Movement (LNM), Lebanese Arab Army (LAA), Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Syrian Army |
The Zahliote Group – ZG, known also as the Groupement Zahliote (GZ) in French, was a small Christian militia raised in the Greek-Catholic town of Zahlé in the Beqaa valley.
Origins
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" coalition headed by the Za'im Joseph Skaff.
Structure and organization
Wardah’s Zahliotes, estimated at about 100-500 fighters equipped with small-arms purchased in the black market, backed by a few gun-trucks (M38A1 MD jeeps, Land-Rover series II-III and Dodge 1956 Fargo pickups), controlled most of Zahlé until 1978 when they were finally absorbed into the Lebanese Forces.
The Zahliotes in the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1981)
Former ZG members certainly played a role in the defence of their town in December 1980, when the Free Tigers militia (aka the "Hannache Group") managed to seize by force the local National Liberal Party (NLP) offices[1][2] and again in March 1981, when it was besieged by the Syrian Army during the Battle of Zahleh.
See also
- Lebanese civil war
- Lebanese Forces
- Lebanese Forces - Executive Command
- Tigers Militia
- Weapons of the Lebanese Civil War
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. ISBN 978-2226121271 (in French)
- Denise Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990, Fayard, Paris 2005. ISBN 978-2-213-61521-9 (in French)
- Jean Sarkis, Histoire de la guerre du Liban, Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. ISBN 978-2-13-045801-2 (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) –
- R.D. Mclaurin, The battle of Zahle, Aberdeen, MD: U.S. Army Human Enginnering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical memorandum 8-86, 1986.