Suleiman Frangieh

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = His Excellency

| name = Suleiman Frangieh

| honorific-suffix = OM ONC

| image = Suleiman Frangieh official portrait (cropped).jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 1970

| office = 5th President of Lebanon

| term_start = 23 September 1970

| term_end = 22 September 1976

| primeminister = Saeb Salam
Amin al-Hafez
Takieddin el-Solh
Rachid Solh
Nureddine Rifai
Rashid Karami

| predecessor = Charles Helou

| successor = Elias Sarkis

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|06|15}}

| birth_place = Zgharta, Beirut Vilayet, Ottoman Empire

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|7|23|1910|06|15}}

| death_place = Beirut, Lebanon

| party = Marada Movement
{{small|(1978–1992)}}

| occupation = Politician, entrepreneur

| spouse = Iris Handaly (1913-1995)

| children = Antoine (1941–78), Robert Frangieh
Other three children

| relatives = Hamid Beik Frangieh (brother)

| blank1 = Religion

| data1 = Maronite Catholicism

| native_name = {{nobold|سليمان فرنجية}}

| native_name_lang = ar

}}

Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh{{efn|{{Langx|ar|سليمان فرنجية|link=no}}}}{{efn|last name also spelled Frangié, Franjieh, or Franjiyeh|name=|group=}} (15 June 1910 – 23 July 1992) was a Lebanese politician who served as the 5th president of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976.

Early life and education

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. "Frangi"), after the Franks.

Frangieh was born in Zgharta on 15 June 1910.{{cite web|title=Suleiman Franjiyah|url=http://wars.meskawi.nl/people.html#6|publisher=Wars of Lebanon|access-date=5 July 2012}} He was the second son of a politician, Kabalan Suleiman Frangieh.[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I86&tree=ehden Kabalan Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] His mother was Lamia Raffoul.[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I727&tree=ehden Lamia Raffoul on Ehden Family Tree website] Kabalan Frangieh was district governor of Ehden (1908–1913) and a member of the Lebanese Parliament (1929–1932). His grandfather, Suleiman Ghnatios Frangieh,[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I88&tree=ehden Sleiman Ghnatios Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] was district governor of Ehden (1904–1908).{{cite news|title=Requiem Mass for President Sleiman Kabalan Frangieh (1910–1992)|url=http://www.marada-news.org/?q=node/4012|access-date=4 July 2012|newspaper=The Marada News|date=25 July 2011}} Suleiman Frangieh's brother Hamid served as foreign minister under the French mandate in 1939. Though the Frangieh family were landowners in Ottoman times, they might have acquired most of their wealth through trade and business activities.{{Cite book|title=All Honourable Men. The Social Origins of War in Lebanon|last=Johnson|first=Michael|publisher=IB Tauris|year=2001|location=London / New York|pages=34}}

Suleiman Frangieh received education at Antoura, near Beirut.{{cite news

|last=Pace|first=Eric|title=Suleiman Franjieh, Lebanese Ex-Chief, Dies at 82|newspaper=The New York Times

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/24/nyregion/suleiman-franjieh-lebanese-ex-chief-dies-at-82.html|access-date=4 July 2012|date=24 July 1992}} He was also educated in Tripoli and Beirut.

Career and presidency

Suleiman Frangieh dealt with the family's 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 20 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.{{cite journal |last=Mugraby |first=Muhamad |title=The syndrome of one-time exceptions and the drive to establish the proposed Hariri court |journal=Mediterranean Politics |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=171–194 |doi=10.1080/13629390802127513 |date=July 2008 |s2cid=153915546 }} [http://www.cggl.org/publicdocs/20080707.pdf Pdf.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012044649/http://www.cggl.org/publicdocs/20080707.pdf |date=2013-10-12}}{{cite news|title=Feuds rampant in Lebanon|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hdoRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5e4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7109,315468&dq=gemayel+family+in+lebanon&hl=en|access-date=23 March 2013|newspaper=The Spokesman Review|date=16 September 1982|agency=AP |location=Beirut}}

In 1960, Frangieh was elected to his elder brother Hamid's old seat in the Lebanese Parliament.{{cite web|title=Minister Hamid Frangieh: (1907–1981)|url=http://www.zgharta-ehden.org/node/4143|publisher=Zgharta-Ehden|access-date=5 July 2012|archive-date=29 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729105501/http://www.zgharta-ehden.org/node/4143|url-status=dead}} He also became the head of his clan due to Hamid's illness. Frangieh was reelected to the Parliament in 1964 and 1968. Until 1970, he held the following ministerial posts: minister of post, telegraph and telephone (1960–1961), minister of agriculture (1961), minister of interior (1968), minister of justice (1968–1969) and minister of economy (1968–1970).{{cite web|title=Franjieh, Suleiman (Kabalan)|url=http://rulers.org/indexf2.html#franj|work=Rulers|access-date=24 July 2012}}

In the closest and possibly most controversial presidential election in Lebanese history, the National Assembly elected Frangieh to the Presidency of the Republic on 23 September 1970. He owed his upset victory over Elias Sarkis, the official candidate of the Chehabi regime to a last minute change of mind by Kamal Jumblatt, whose supporters in the Parliament switched their votes to Frangieh.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

File:Michel Sassine and Suleiman Franjieh.jpg declaring Suleiman Franjieh President of Lebanon in 1970]]

Posing as a consensus candidate, Frangieh drew support from both the right and the left and from all religious factions; his election was a backlash to the administrations of Presidents of Fuad Chehab (1958–1964) and Charles Helou (1964–1970) and the "Deuxième Bureau" ({{Langx|ar|المكتب الثاني}}) run by the preceding two administrations of Chehab and Helou, as the opposing candidate Elias Sarkis who was head of the Banque du Liban (Central Bank of Lebanon) was widely seen as a continuation of the earlier Chehabi regime.

There were three rounds of elections that year:

Round 1 – 99 Deputies, 5 candidates – no majority

Round 2 – 99 Deputies, 2 candidates – 50 votes each (1 fake vote found), round was negated.

Round 3 – 99 Deputies, 2 candidates, Kamal Jumblatt assigns one of his deputies to vote for Frangieh. Suleiman Frangieh becomes President legally. The events listed above as per the testimony of the late Kamal Joumblatt of his role in the vote.

Sabri Hamadeh, then Speaker of Parliament, had refused to announce the election of a President on a 1-vote difference. As Hamadeh exited parliament Michel Sassine, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, stepped up and exercised his powers of Deputy to announce Frangieh President.{{cite news|last=Akouri|first=George|title=Talking To: Edmund Rizk|url=http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=13521|access-date=24 October 2012|newspaper=Now Lebanon|date=18 September 2007|archive-date=26 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826130957/http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=13521|url-status=dead}} Frangieh's term lasted until 22 September 1976.

Frangie's term ended in 1976 when Elias Sarkis was elected as president. However, Sarkis could move to office four months after his election on 23 September 1976, since Frangieh objected at first to leave office.{{cite web|title=Elias Sarkis|url=http://rulers.org/indexs1.html#sarki|work=Rulers|access-date=23 July 2012}}

Civil War years

Civil war in Lebanon began on 13 April 1975.{{cite journal|last=El Khazen|first=Farid|title=Ending conflict in wartime Lebanon: Reform, sovereignty and power, 1976–88|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|year=2004|volume=40|issue=1|pages=65–84|doi=10.1080/00263200412331301897|s2cid=143217001 }} Frangieh as the Lebanese President declared the Constitutional Document on 14 February 1976 that was the first serious initiative to end the conflict and reach a consensus. The document empowered prime minister and suggested a "parity between Christians and Muslims in Parliament", reducing the power of Maronites.{{cite news|last=Rabil|first=Robert G.|title=The Maronites and Syrian withdrawal: from "isolationists" to "traitors"?|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Maronites+and+Syrian+withdrawal%3a+from+%22isolationists%22+to...-a080013150|access-date=18 March 2013|newspaper= Middle East Policy|date=1 September 2001}} Although it was supported by major politicians and religious leaders, it could not achieve its objectives.

In March 1976, a group of soldiers under the command of Brigadier General Aziz Al-Ahdab seized control of a Lebanese TV station, broadcasting a statement demanding President Frangieh's resignation. Frangieh refused to step down, and the Al-Ahdab coup was quickly suppressed due to lack of significant support from the Lebanese military.{{Cite web |author=Sami Moubayed |date=2023-02-05 |title=When generals become presidents: A history of Lebanese military leaders |url=https://en.majalla.com/node/285776/documents-memoirswhen-generals-become-presidents-history-lebanese-military-leaders |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Al Majalla}}

Then Frangieh invited Syrian troops into Lebanon in May 1976 in the early stages of the Lebanese Civil War.{{cite web|title=Mehlis Report|url=https://www.un.org/news/dh/docs/mehlisreport/pdf/background.pdf|publisher=United Nations|access-date=4 July 2012}}{{cite news|title=Syria's Influence in Lebanon|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/syria/presence.html|access-date=5 July 2012|newspaper=PBS|date=14 September 2006|archive-date=12 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012011045/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/syria/presence.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last=Hunter|first=Catherine|title=The South Lebanon Army (SLA) and child recruitment Putting the pressure on whom?|url=http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/CSC_AG_Forum_case_study_June_2006_Lebanon_SLA.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509033132/http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/CSC_AG_Forum_case_study_June_2006_Lebanon_SLA.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=9 May 2009|publisher=Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers|access-date=5 July 2012|year=2006}} He had full support of the Lebanese Christians in this regard, since they thought that Syria would be able to force a cease-fire and protect Christians.{{cite book|author=Eyal Zisser|title=Commanding Syria: Bashar al-Asad and the First Years in Power|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVovmiI-ijQC&pg=PR6|access-date=22 October 2012|date=26 December 2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-153-3|pages=6}} He is regarded as in large part being responsible for Lebanon's descent into war in the mid-1970s.

When the Lebanese Civil War began, Frangieh maintained a militia, the Marada Brigade, under the command of his son Tony Frangieh. He initially participated in the Lebanese Front, a right-wing, mainly Christian, coalition of politicians and militia leaders, but in early 1978 he broke with them because of his own pro-Syrian leanings. In June 1978, Tony, together with his wife and infant daughter, was assassinated by militiamen, with Phalangist militia being accused of the plot. The killings are known as Ehden massacre after which the power of the Frangiehs decreased. Ever since then, Suleiman Frangieh was reported to have been depressed. He swore to take revenge, declaring in an interview “the family will exact its retribution.” By some accounts, he went on to engineer the killing of hundreds of Phalange members.

File:Boutros Khoury - Suleiman Franjieh - Rachid Karameh.jpg (middle) and Rachid Karami (left)]]

Later years

Frangieh remained an ally of Syria. In July 1983, after Amine Gemayel became president, Frangieh along with Rashid Karami and Walid Jumblatt formed a Syrian-backed National Salvation Front to challenge Gemayel's rule and the pact between Lebanon and Israel that was financially supported by the United States.{{cite news|title=Anti-Gemayel 'front' formed in Lebanon|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CW4aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8ykEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5397,1565585&dq=gemayel+family+in+lebanon&hl=en|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411012809/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CW4aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8ykEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5397,1565585&dq=gemayel+family+in+lebanon&hl=en|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 11, 2013|access-date=23 March 2013|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=23 July 1983}} Later Syria tried to make Frangieh president for second term after the end of Amine Gemayel's term in 1988, but the National Assembly failed to achieve a quorum owing to a boycott by some Christian parliamentarians enforced by the Lebanese Forces militia. In fact, Frangieh announced his candidacy on 17 August 1988.{{cite news|last1=Hijazi|first1=Ihsan A.|title=Syrian-Backed Ex-President To Seek Lebanon Post Again|work=The New York Times|page=10|date=17 August 1988|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/17/world/syrian-backed-ex-president-to-seek-lebanon-post-again.html|access-date=27 March 2013}}

Personal life

Suleiman Frangieh had five children with his Egypt-born wife, Iris Handaly: two sons, Tony[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I105&tree=ehden Tony Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] and Robert,[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I106&tree=ehden Robert Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] and three daughters, Lamia,[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I102&tree=ehden Lamia Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] Sonia[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I103&tree=ehden Sonia Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] and Maya.[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I104&tree=ehden Maya Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] Of his daughters, Sonia, was married to Abdullah Al Rasi who was a physician and politician.{{cite news|title=الصفحة 10 (24-9-1998)|url=https://addiyar.com/article/722498-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AD%D8%A9-10-2491998|access-date=4 February 2022|work=Ad Diyar|date=17 April 2014}}

In June 1978, Suleiman Frangieh's son Tony Frangieh, himself then a Member of Parliament, was killed together with his wife, Vera, three-year-old daughter, Jihane, and thirty other Marada partisans in the Ehden massacre.{{cite journal|last=Nisan|first=Mordechai|title=Of Wars and Woes. A Chronicle of Lebanese Violence

|journal=The Levantine Review|date=Spring 2012|volume=1|issue=1

|page=32 |doi=10.6017/lev.v1i1.2150 |url=http://escholarship.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/levantine/article/view/2150|doi-access=free}} Suleiman Frangieh Jr.,[https://www.ehdenfamilytree.org/getperson.php?personID=I252&tree=ehden Sleiman Frangieh on Ehden Family Tree website] the son of the murdered MP, first became the Minister of Public Health at the age of 22, and he served as the Ministry of Interior from 2004 to 2005. He is known to have served with the Marada Brigade in the 1980s.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

Frangieh was called in Lebanon as "the tough man" due to his harsh tongue, volatile temper and ruthless approach to some of his opponents. Robert Fisk describes Frangieh as a "Christian warlord, mafioso, militia strongman, grief-stricken father, corrupt president, mountain baron and, eventually, a thoughtful, intelligent, rather frightening old man, living out his last years beside the lions of Ehden."{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|title=Obituary: Suleiman Frangieh|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-suleiman-franjieh-1535126.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-suleiman-franjieh-1535126.html |archive-date=2022-05-25 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=21 July 2012|newspaper=The Independent|date=24 July 1002}}

Death

Suleiman Frangieh died at age 82 in the hospital of the American University in Beirut, after three weeks of hospitalization, on 23 July 1992. He reportedly died of acute pneumonia and had heart and stomach ailments. He was buried in Ehden next to his son Tony.