Zgharta Liberation Army
| Marada Brigade/Zgharta Liberation Army (ZLA) | |
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| Participant in Lebanese Civil War | |
Old flag of the Marada Brigade/ZLA (1967-1990).
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| Active | Until 1991 |
| Groups | Lebanese Front, Lebanese National Movement (LNM), Lebanese National Salvation Front (LNSF) |
| Leaders | Tony Frangieh, Robert Frangieh, Suleiman Frangieh Jr. |
| Headquarters | Zgharta, Ehden |
| Strength | 2,400-3,500 fighters |
| Originated as | 700 men |
| Allies | Lebanese Army, Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF), Al-Tanzim, Tigers Militia, Guardians of the Cedars (GoC), Army of Free Lebanon (AFL), Amal Movement, Jammoul, Syrian Army |
| Opponents | Lebanese National Movement (LNM), Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Lebanese Arab Army (LAA), Lebanese Forces, Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lebanese Army |
The Zgharta Liberation Army or Zghartawi Liberation Army – ZLA (French: Armée de Liberation de Zgharta – ALZ) was the paramilitary branch of the Lebanese Marada Movement during the Lebanese Civil War. The militia was formed in 1967 on President Suleiman Frangieh's instructions as the Marada Brigade (also translated as Mardaite Brigade, Arabic: Liwa' al-Marada) seven years before the war began. The force was initially commanded by Suleiman Franjieh's son, Tony Frangieh. It operated mainly out of Tripoli and Zgharta, but it also fought in Beirut. The ZLA fought against various Palestinian and Lebanese Muslim militias as well as the Lebanese Forces in Bsharri and Ehden.
The Al-Marada's military wing was secretly formed in 1967 and at the outbreak of the war in April 1975, they numbered just 700 men armed with obsolete firearms acquired in the black market. They first came to light on 17 August 1970 at Beirut, when Tony Frangieh forced his way into the Parliament House leading a group of armed militiamen in order to secure his father's election to the Presidency – an illegal move that the Lebanese official authorities proved powerless to prevent.
Often described as a Mafia-style gangster organization rather than a true political party, the Al-Marada/ZLA seems to have never devised a coherent program or adhered to a particular ideology. Although conservative in outlook, sharing with the other rightist Christian parties similar viewpoints regarding the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) military presence in Lebanon and the preservation of the pre-war political status quo, they were generally regarded as an ill-reputed corps of feudal retainers renown for their brutality and corruption.
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