Suleiman Frangieh
|
His Excellency Suleiman Frangieh سليمان فرنجية OM, ONC |
|
|---|---|
Suleiman Frangieh's Presidential portrait, 1970.
|
|
| 5th President of Lebanon | |
|
In office 23 September 1970 – 22 September 1976 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Saeb Salam, Amin al-Hafez, Takieddin el-Solh, Rachid Solh, Nureddine Rifai, Rashid Karami |
| Preceded by | Charles Helou |
| Succeeded by | Elias Sarkis |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 15, 1910 Zgharta, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | July 23, 1992 (aged 82) Beirut, Lebanon |
| Political party |
Kataeb Party (1960–1978) Marada Movement (1978–1992) |
| Spouse(s) | Iris Handaly |
| Children |
Antoine (1941–78) Other three children |
| Relatives | Hamid Beik Frangieh (brother) |
| Occupation | Politician, entrepreneur |
| Religion | Maronite Church |
Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh, last name also spelled Frangié, Franjieh, or Franjiyeh (15 June 1910 – 23 July 1992) (Arabic: سليمان فرنجية), was a Lebanese Maronite politician, President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976.
A notorious warlord during the Lebanese Civil War, Frangieh was also reputed an infamous crime lord, linked with various criminal organizations like the Rizzuto crime family of Montreal.
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. "Franggi"), 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 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 Kabalan Frangieh received education at Antoura, near Beirut. He was also educated in Tripoli and Beirut.
Suleiman Frangieh dealt with the export-import business in Beirut for a time before his political career. In 1957, he was accused in the machine-gun slaying of more than a score of members of a competing clan, the Douaihys, in a church not far from Zgharta. More specifically, he was believed to be responsible for killing around 700 people, 20 of them Christians shot to death during a requiem mass in the north Lebanese town of Miziara. Therefore, he had to take refuge in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, where he met with two Syrian army officers, Hafez and Rifaat Assad who would be his friends. In 1958, he benefited from the amnesty and returned to Lebanon.
...
Wikipedia