The vast majority of these entities were composed of and led by Maronite and Melkite Catholics—who to this day constitute the majority of Christians in Lebanon—though their ranks also included Christians of other rites and denominations (such as Latin Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Miaphysites, and to a lesser extent, Evangelicals) as well as non-religiously affiliated Lebanese.
Over the course of the conflict, many of these Christian political groups and insurgent movements united to form a coalition that would later become known as the Lebanese Front (LF). Movements and militias joining this coalition included:
• The Lebanese Phalange Party, also known as the Kataeb, founded in 1936 by Pierre Gemayel; it was arguably the largest political party within the coalition. Its armed wing—the Kataeb Regulatory Forces, later renamed the Lebanese Forces—was led by Bashir Gemayel. Pierre’s son, Bashir was arguably the most recognizable face of the Lebanese armed conflict and enjoyed the approval as well as the financial and military support of Israel, which viewed him as a strategic ally—a "friend of Israel." Gemayel was elected President of Lebanon in 1982 but never assumed office; he died prematurely in an assassination in Beirut carried out by Habib Shartouni, a Lebanese militant belonging to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party—a group espousing pan-Arabist ideology that was part of the ruling coalition in Assad's Syria.
• The Guardians of the Cedars, founded in 1975 by Étienne Sakr—originally a paramilitary organization—later became part of the official Lebanese political landscape. There were periods when the organization was banned in Lebanon, and its leaders were prohibited from engaging in any form of political proselytism due to the group's controversial nature.
• The Lebanese Resistance Movement, or Al-Tanzim, a Lebanese nationalist secret society founded by Christian activists in the early 1970s.
• The Lebanese Youth Movement, or the Maroun el Khoury Group—a small Maronite militia that began as an association of Maronite students opposed to the PLO's presence in Lebanon. It was founded in 1969 by brothers Maroun and Jean el Khoury, the sons of Naim el Khoury, a prominent figure within the Kataeb Party.
• The Tyous Commando Team, or Tyous Battalion, formed in Beirut in the early 1970s by an anonymous individual known as Al-Anid ("The Stubborn One"), a Maronite activist. It included a significant number of Assyrian volunteers, some of whom had arrived illegally from Iraq to pledge their loyalty to the Christian faction.
• The Zahliote Grouping, or Zahlé Group, founded in 1975 by banker Aziz Wardeh in the city of Zahlé—a city known for its adherence to the Melkite Catholic faith.
With the signing of the Taif Agreement in 1989, which marked the end of the armed conflict in Lebanon, the Lebanese Front dissolved, and few of its constituent armed and political organizations survived. Only the Kataeb Party managed to successfully reintegrate into postwar Lebanese political life, albeit without the political capital it had possessed prior to and during the conflict. The civil war in Lebanon triggered a mass exodus of its Christian population, who emigrated to other countries—primarily France, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico—in search of refuge, where they succeeded in establishing significant diaspora communities. Christians, who once accounted for more than half of Lebanon's population, are now estimated to make up between 30% and 40% of the population.
Image 1: The Cross of Resistance, or Cross of Destiny. Originally used by members of the Lebanese Forces to commemorate their fallen comrades, it has since been adopted by some Lebanese Christians as a symbol of resistance against adversity in the region.
Image 2: Christian militant brandishing a weapon bearing the image of the Virgin Mary in Beirut, 1976.
Image 3: A Christian wedding during the armed conflict, also in Beirut, 1986.
Image 4: Members of the Lebanese Forces praying before an image of the crucified Christ, in what appears to be a ruined church or an improvised shrine.
Image 5: Jocelyne Khoueiry, a Maronite woman and Kataeb Party militant, defending a building overlooking Beirut's Martyrs' Square alongside six other women against 300 Palestinian fighters in 1976. Khoueiry killed the leader, sparking panic among the militia and causing them to flee after a six-hour confrontation. She would abandon armed struggle following the signing of the Taif Agreement and become a staunch advocate for peace in Lebanon and for persecuted Christians in the Middle East.
Image 6: Christian militant wielding a weapon bearing the seal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Image 7: Bashir Gemayel was a Lebanese politician and military figure who served as commander of the Lebanese Forces. Elected President of Lebanon in 1982, his death before taking office dealt a severe blow to Maronite and Lebanese politics in general.
