Word: gemayel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
That may prove to be a hard promise to keep. Until now, the Maronite Christians have remained more or less united behind President Gemayel. Last week, however, Gemayel's Phalange Party was suddenly challenged by a senior officer in the Lebanese Forces, which are dominated by the Phalangist militia. Both the party and the militia were founded by the late Sheik Pierre Gemayel, and the Lebanese Forces were formerly led by the late Bashir Gemayel, the son of Pierre and brother of Amin. The challenger was one of the Lebanese Forces commanders, Samir Geagea, 32, who seemed bent not only...
Geagea is reported to have won the backing of Solange Gemayel, Bashir's widow. One of his chief allies is another militia commander, Elias Hobeika, who led the Phalangist forces into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in September 1982, where they murdered an estimated 700 to 800 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. The following year, Geagea helped direct the Christian assault on Druze villages in the mountains. The Druze fought off the Christian forces, and on one occasion Geagea had to be rescued by an Israeli helicopter...
Like many of the Maronites, the pro-Israeli Geagea is outraged by Gemayel's growing reliance on Syria, which has played an increasingly important role in Lebanon since the American withdrawal in early 1984. In political terms, the President probably had little choice but to turn to Syria. Many Maronites believe, however, that Israel, not Syria, should be the Christian community's natural ally...
President Gemayel deemed the crisis so serious that he canceled plans to attend the funeral of Soviet Leader Konstantin Chernenko and began a series of meetings with other Christian leaders, including Maronite Patriarch Antonie Pierre Cardinal Khoraiche. Geagea turned down an invitation to attend. Shortly thereafter, the Syrians began to make their own menacing moves...
...south, the Israelis are continuing their painful withdrawal, while the Syrians are profiting from the activities of the Shi'ite militants. In the Christian north, a pro-Israeli faction is posing a threat. If the situation there gets any worse, the Syrians may feel obliged to rescue the Gemayel government by military means, thereby angering Syria's Lebanese Muslim allies and setting the stage for still another round of political and sectarian violence...