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Tony Franjieh was the son of Suleiman Franjieh, Lebanese President at the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. Tony had been appointed Minister of Posts and Telegraphs in his father’s government in a move which was widely condemned as nepotism. Tony was accused of abusing his position to award contracts in return for bribes.
In the early 1970s factions within Lebanon started to form militias, the Franjieh clan formed the Marada Brigade. During the war Tony Franjieh commanded the Marada Brigade(also known as Zghorta Liberation Army). The Marada mainly operated out of Tripoli and northern Lebanon, the base of the Franjieh clan.
The Lebanese Civil War witnessed many shifting alliances where the allies of today became the enemies of tomorrow. One such falling out occurred between two of the leading Maronite clans, the Franjiehs and the Gemayels. The Franjiehs were critical of Phalangist militia leader Bachir Gemayel’s growing alliance with Israel, they themselves were close to Syria. Militia from the Phalange and Marada also clashed over protection rackets.
This conflict led to the murder of Tony Franjieh by Phalangist militiamen. Bachir Gemayel himself may have ordered the killing. On the night of 13 June 1978, a Phalangist squad led by Samir Geagea and Elie Hobeika attacked Tony Franjieh’s mansion and, after killing his bodyguards, murdered 35 of his supporters and then, according to his father, the Phalangist gunmen first forced Tony Franjieh and his young wife to watch the shooting of their baby, then made him watch the murder of his wife, then killed him.
Suleiman Franjieh sought an alliance with his former Druze enemies.
The murder of Tony Franjieh was one of the factors which many commentators blame for the longevity of Lebanon’s war.
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