Étienne Saqr

Étienne Saqr (last name also spelt Sakr or Sacre) is a right wing Lebanese nationalist politician and founder of the Guardians of the Cedars militia group and political party (Hiras Al-Arz in Arabic). In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... The Lebanese Republic or Lebanon is a country in the Middle East, along the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Syria and Israel. ... Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... Guardians of the Cedars is a right wing political movement and former militia in Lebanon. ... Political parties in Lebanon lists political parties in Lebanon. ... Arabic is a Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ...

Saqr was born in Ain Ebel in 1937, the son of Caesar Saqr, a school principal. Saqr was educated in French schools in Tripoli and Beirut, but the elder Saqr's death in 1944 left the family in relative poverty, which precluded a university education for Étienne Saqr. Instead, he joined the Sureté Générale (General Security Directorate) in 1954 and was involved in fighting against Muslim rebel forces in the civil war of 1958. He left the police in 1969 and went into business and became politically active in Lebanese nationalist circles. He opposed the Cairo Agreement of 1969, which allowed Palestinian guerrillas to launch commando raids into Israel from bases in Southern Lebanon; he not only opposed the principle of an armed non-Lebanese force on Lebanese soil, but also viewed Israel as a natural ally of Lebanon's Christians, a position shared by few of his political contemporaries privately, and none publicly. 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Tripoli is the second-largest city in Lebanon. ... Central Beirut (2004) Beirut ( Arabic بيروت - the French name, Beyrouth, was also commonly used in English in the past) is the capital, largest city and chief seaport of Lebanon. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Lebanese Muslims pushed the government to join the newly created United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria), while Christians wanted to keep Lebanon aligned with Western Powers. ... 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... The Palestinian flag, adopted in 1948, is a widely recognized modern symbol of the Palestinian people. ... The State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, transliteration: ; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ اِسْرَائِيل, transliteration: ) is a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. ...

In the early 1970s, Saqr helped to organize the Lebanese Renewal Party, and in 1974 and 1975 he formed the Guardians of the Cedars under the nom-de-guerre Abu Arz (father of the cedars). In the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975, the Guardians of the Cedars fought under the slogans 'No Palestinian will remain in Lebanon' and 'It is the duty of each Lebanese to kill one Palestinian'. Saqr aligned the Guardians of the Cedars with the mainly Christian Lebanese Front and its military wing, the Lebanese Forces, a coalition dominated by Bachir Gemayel's Phalangist militia. Always an idealist and a militant, Saqr objected Gemayel's and others' perceived need to make practical and tactical compromises, and when the Lebanese Front accepted Syrian intervention in 1976 (which Saqr strongly opposed), he withdrew from the Front and from the Lebanese Forces. The Guardians retreated to the mountains, but continued to fight on the LF side in key battles, including East Beirut (1978 and Zahle (1981). Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... This article needs cleanup. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Bachir Gemayel Bachir Gemayel, first name also spelt Bashir, (November 10, 1947 - September 14, 1982) was a Lebanese military commander, politician and president elect. ... The Kataeb Party, better known in English-speaking countries as the Phalange, is a Lebanese political party that was first established as a Maronite nationalist youth movement in 1936 by Pierre Gemayel. ... The Syrian Arab Republic or Syria is a country in the Middle East, bordering (from south to north) on Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Events January January 1 - The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Openly pro-Israeli, Saqr welcomed the Israeli invasion in 1982. Other politicians (such as Gemayel and the National Liberal Party leader Camille Chamoun) cooperated with Israel in secret, and mostly for tactical reasons, but Saqr's collaboration with Israel was based on ideological conviction. From 1983 onwards, he supported Sa'ad Haddad's (and later, Antoine Lahad's Army of Free Lebanon (later known as the South Lebanon Army), a group armed, financed, and trained by Israel. The State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, transliteration: ; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ اِسْرَائِيل, transliteration: ) is a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. ... 1982 is a number and represents a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar Events January-February January 6 - William Bonin is convicted of being the freeway killer. January 8 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions January 11 - Mark Thatcher, son of the British... The National Liberal Party was established by President Camille Chamoun in 1958. ... Camille Chamoun was President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958, and served his country in numerous other capacities throughout his adult life. ... 1983 is an integer and composite number that represents a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Antoine Lahad (born 1937) was the leader of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) from 1984 until the SLAs collapse in 2000, following Israels withdrawal from Lebanon. ... The South Lebanon Army (SLA) was a Lebanese militia formed in the late 1970s. ...

Believing that the Christian forces needed to maintain unity, Saqr refused to take sides in the feuding in the 1980s between rival Lebanese Forces factions led by Elie Hobeika and Samir Geagea, although he was ideologically closer to the latter. From 1988 to 1990, he strongly supported General Michel Aoun, but avoided alienating the Lebanese Forces, fellow-Christians with whom Aoun was feuding. Saqr supported Michel Aoun's declaration of war on Syria in March 1989, but after Aoun's defeat Saqr fled to Israeli occupied southern Lebanon. He tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Aoun to seek Israeli assistance. Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Elie Hobeika was a Phalangist and Lebanese Forces militia commander during the Lebanese Civil War. ... Samir Geagea (1952 - ) is the imprisoned leader of the Lebanese Forces (LF) militia. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... General Michel Aoun Michel Aoun (born in 1936 in Beirut) is a Lebanese military commander and politician. ... General Michel Aoun Michel Aoun (born in 1936 in Beirut) is a Lebanese military commander and politician. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Saqr was placed under house arrest in 1990 by his former allies, the Lebanese Forces, after the later accepted the Taif Agreement to end the civil war. Eventually, he was forced to leave Beirut for Southern Lebanon. Upon Israel's withdrawal from Southern Lebanon in 2000, Saqr fled to Israel. In an address to the Knesset a few days later, Saqr rebuked his host country for withdrawing from Lebanon, charging that in doing so, Israel had ["made heroes out of Hezbollah." 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Taif Agreement was negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia by members of Lebanons parliament, presided by Speaker of the House President Hussein El-Husseini. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Knesset (כנסת, Hebrew for assembly) is the Parliament of Israel. ...

Saqr is married to Alexandra, with whom he has two daughters (Pascal and Carole) and a son (Arz). He has been sentenced to death in absentia by a Lebanese court on charges of collaborating with Israel.

Sources: Guardians of the Cedars (http://www.gotc.org/) Robert Fisk: Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. Robert Fisk is a prominent British journalist and Middle Eastern correspondent for The Independent newspaper in London. ...