Suleiman Frangieh

Life & Legacy

Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh (15 June 1910 – 23 July 1992) was a Lebanese politician who served as the 5th president of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976.
In 1957, Frangieh was personally implicated in the murder by machine gun of 20 members of the rivaling Douaihy clan. This forced him into exile, but he returned in 1958 due to an amnesty. In 1960, he was first elected to Parliament. During his presidency, he was perceived as a consensus candidate, and he tried to strike a balance between different ethnic and political groups after the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. However, he also founded and led a personal militia, the Marada Movement. The related Marada Brigade was led by his son Tony Frangieh. These militias were right-wing and pro-Syrian, while the Marada Brigade has also been described as a mafia-style organisation.