Born in 1937 he later joined the Sureté Générale (General Security Directorate) in 1944. He 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 was opposed to the Palestinian presence in Lebanon after the Cairo Agreement of 1969 and during 1974 and 1975 formed Guardians of the Cedars under the nom-de-guerre Abu Arz (father of the cedars).
In the Lebanese Civil War 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 also opposed the entry of Syria into the Lebanese conflict. Saqr was openly pro-Israeli and welcomed the Israeli invasion in 1982.
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. Upon Israel's withdrawal in 2000 Saqr fled to Israel.
Saqr has been sentenced in absentia to death by a Lebanese court on charges of collaborating with Israel.
Saqr is married, with three children.
Sources: [Guardians of the Cedars (http://www.gotc.org/)] Robert Fisk: Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War.
EtienneSaqr (last name also spelt Sakr or Sacre), or Abu Arz, his nom de guerre, 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).
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 EtienneSaqr.
EtienneSaqr was born in 1937 in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Ebel, one of eleven children reared by Caesar Saqr, a school principal.
In 1962, Saqr moved from the geographical and political periphery of the country to the capital city and assumed a position in the presidential palace.
While Saqr opposed Hobeika's attempt to lead the LF toward accommodation with Syria (which culminated in the Tripartite Agreement of September 1985), he was greatly disturbed by the fighting which broke out between pro-Geagea and pro-Hobeika forces in late December and persuaded Army Commander Michel Aoun to intervene and prevent the slaughter of Hobeika's men.
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