Suleiman Frangieh

Suleiman Frangieh was a scion of one of the leading Maronite families of Zgharta, near Tripoli; the family's name comes from the Greek Φρὰγκοι (pron. "Frangi"), after the Franks. Frangieh was born in Zgharta on 15 June 1910. He was the second son of a politician, Kabalan Suleiman Frangieh. His mother was Lamia Raffoul. Kabalan Frangieh was district governor of Ehden (1908–1913) and a member of the Lebanese Parliament (1929–1932). His grandfather, Suleiman Ghnatios Frangieh, was district governor of Ehden (1904–1908). Suleiman Frangieh's brother Hamid served as foreign minister under the French mandate in 1939. Suleiman Frangieh received education at Antoura, near Beirut.{{cite news ==Career and presidency==

Suleiman Frangieh dealt with the family's export-import business in Beirut for a time before his political career. In 1960, Frangieh was elected to his elder brother Hamid's old seat in the Lebanese Parliament. He also became the head of his clan due to Hamid's illness. In the closest and possibly most controversial presidential election in Lebanese history, the National Assembly elected Frangieh to the Presidency of the Republic on 23 September 1970. He owed his upset victory over Elias Sarkis, the official candidate of the Chehabi regime, to a last minute change of mind by Kamal Jumblatt, whose supporters in the Parliament switched their votes to Frangieh. declaring Suleiman Franjieh President of Lebanon in 1970 Posing as a consensus candidate, Frangieh drew support from both the right and the left and from all religious factions; his election was a backlash to the administrations of Presidents of Fuad Chehab (1958–1964) and Charles Helou (1964–1970) and the "Deuxième Bureau" () run by the preceding two administrations of Chehab and Helou, as the opposing candidate Elias Sarkis who was head of the Banque du Liban (Central Bank of Lebanon) was widely seen as a continuation of the earlier Chehabi regime. There were three rounds of elections that year: Round 1 – 99 Deputies, 5 candidates – no majority Round 2 – 99 Deputies, 2 candidates – 50 votes each (1 fake vote found), round was negated. Round 3 – 99 Deputies, 2 candidates, Kamal Jumblatt assigns one of his deputies to vote for Frangieh. Suleiman Frangieh becomes President legally. The events listed above as per the testimony of the late Kamal Joumblatt of his role in the vote. Sabri Hamadeh, then Speaker of Parliament, had refused to announce the election of a President on a 1-vote difference. As Hamadeh exited parliament Michel Sassine, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, stepped up and exercised his powers of Deputy to announce Frangieh President. Frangieh's term lasted until 22 September 1976. ==Civil War years==

Civil war in Lebanon began on 13 April 1975. Frangieh as the Lebanese President declared the Constitutional Document on 14 February 1976 that was the first serious initiative to end the conflict and reach a consensus. Although it was supported by major politicians and religious leaders, it could not achieve its objectives. Then Frangieh invited Syrian troops into Lebanon in May 1976 in the early stages of the Lebanese Civil War. He had full support of the Lebanese Christians in this regard, since they thought that Syria would be able to force a cease-fire and protect Christians. He is regarded as in large part being responsible for Lebanon's descent into war in the mid-1970s. When the Lebanese Civil War began, Frangieh maintained a militia, the Marada Brigade, under the command of his son Tony Frangieh. These militias were right-wing and pro-Syrian, while the Marada Brigade has also been described as a mafia-style criminal organisation with little emphasis on ideology. Frangieh initially participated in the Lebanese Front, a right-wing, mainly Christian, coalition of politicians and militia leaders, but in early 1978 he broke with them because of his own pro-Syrian leanings. In June 1978, Tony, together with his wife and infant daughter, was assassinated by militiamen, with Phalangist militia being accused of the plot. After these killings, which became known as the Ehden massacre, the power of the Frangiehs decreased. Ever since then, Suleiman Frangieh was reported to have been depressed. He swore to take revenge, declaring in an interview “the family will exact its retribution.” By some accounts, he went on to engineer the killing of hundreds of Phalange members. (middle) and Rachid Karami (left) ==Later years==

Frangieh remained an ally of Syria. In July 1983, after Amine Gemayel became president, Frangieh along with Rashid Karami and Walid Jumblatt formed a Syrian-backed National Salvation Front to challenge Gemayel's rule and the pact between Lebanon and Israel that was financially supported by the United States. Later Syria tried to make Frangieh president for second term after the end of Amine Gemayel's term in 1988, but the National Assembly failed to achieve a quorum owing to a boycott by some Christian parliamentarians enforced by the Lebanese Forces militia. ==Personal life==

Suleiman Frangieh had five children with his Egypt-born wife, Iris Handaly: two sons, Tony and Robert, and three daughters, Lamia, Sonia and Maya. In June 1978, Suleiman Frangieh's son Tony Frangieh, himself then a Member of Parliament, was killed together with his wife, Vera, three-year-old daughter, Jihane, and thirty other Marada partisans in the Ehden massacre. ==Death==

Suleiman Frangieh died at age 82 in the hospital of the American University in Beirut, after three weeks of hospitalization, on 23 July 1992. He reportedly died of acute pneumonia and had heart and stomach ailments. He was buried in Ehden next to his son Tony. ==Notes==