Tony Frangieh
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Antoine Frangieh (better known by his diminutive, Tony,) was a Lebanese politician and militia leader during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War.
The son of Suleiman Frangieh, who served as Lebanon's President from 1970 to 1976, Tony had been appointed Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in his father's government, in a move which was widely condemned as nepotism. In the early 1970s, when factions within Lebanon started to form militias, the Frangieh clan formed the Marada Brigade, also known as the Zghorta Liberation Army, under the command of Tony Frangieh. The Marada mainly operated out of Tripoli and northern Lebanon, the base of the Frangieh clan.
The Lebanese Civil War witnessed many shifting alliances where the allies of today became the enemies of tomorrow. One such falling out occurred between two of the leading Maronite clans, the Frangiehs and the Gemayels. The Frangiehs, who were close to Syria, were critical of Phalangist militia leader Bachir Gemayel's growing alliance with Israel. Militia from the Phalange and Marada also clashed over protection rackets.
This conflict led to the murder of Tony Frangieh by Phalangist militiamen. Bachir Gemayel himself was suspected by some to have ordered the killing. The rumour persists, although it has never been proved. On the night of 13 June 1978, a Phalangist squad led by Samir Geagea and Elie Hobeika attacked Tony Frangieh’s mansion and and killed, first his bodyguards then 35 of his supporters. According to his father, the Phalangist gunmen then forced Tony Frangieh and his young wife to watch the shooting of their infant daughter Jihane, then made him watch the murder of his wife, before killing him.
Suleiman Frangieh vowed revenge and subsequently sought an alliance with some of his former enemies, including Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt and former Prime Minister Rashid Karami. The three formed the pro-Syrian National Salvation Front.
The murder of Tony Frangieh was one of the factors which many commentators blame for the longevity of Lebanon's war.
Tony Frangieh's surviving son, Suleiman Frangieh, Jr., is Minister of the Interior in the current Lebanese government (as of 2005). He is known as a staunch supporter of the Syrian miltary occupation of Lebanon, and is believed to be President Emile Lahoud's favourite to succeed him in 2007.