Zahliote Group

The Zahliote Group – ZG, known also as the Groupement Zahliote (GZ) in French, was a small Christian militia raised in the Greek-Catholic town of Zahlé in the Beqaa valley. Led by Aziz Wardah, a wealthy banker and entrepreneur, who formed it in 1975 as a movement of middle-class businessmen who contested the rule of the local feudal clans, gathered in the so-called ‘Seven Families’ coalition headed by the zaim Joseph Skaff. Wardah’s Zahliotes, estimated at about 100-500 fighters backed by a few gun-trucks, controlled most of Zahlé until 1978 when they were finally absorbed into the Lebanese Forces. Former ZG members certainly played a role in the defence of the town during the Syrian Army’s siege in March 1981.

See also

• Lebanese Forces
• Lebanese Forces - Executive Command
• Lebanese civil war

References

• Denise Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990, Fayard, Paris 2005. ISBN 978-2-213-61521-9 (in French).
• Jean Sarkis, Histoire de la guerre du Liban, Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. ISBN 978-2-13-045801-2 (in French).
• Fawwaz Traboulsi, Identités et solidarités croisées dans les conflits du Liban contemporain; Chapitre 12 : L'économie politique des milices: le phénomène mafieux, Thèse de Doctorat d'Histoire – 1993, Université de Paris VIII, 2007. (in French).