For sometime friction
had been mounting between the Lebanese Forces and Amin
Gemayel. Not willing to tolerate a Lebanese Forces which
was hostile to him Amin had to remove Fadi Frem and so
throughout 1984 he used his base in the Phalange to undermine
Frem with a view to replacing him as soon as Frem's mandate
as head of the LF expired. In November 1984 Fuad Abou
Nader, a member of the Phalange party, was elected as
head of the Lebanese Forces. Nader was a 28-year-old medical
doctor and Amin's nephew. He was appreciated and respected
by the troops for his courage on battlefields and had
distinguished himself on various fronts. He had been Chief
of Operations and Chief of Staff from 1982 to 1984. Amin,
hoped he could influence Fuad Abou Nader and as a result
control the Lebanese Forces.
Soon Amin began to press the Lebanese Forces to disarm
and to hand over the Port of Beirut. This port was a massive
source of revenue for the LF. Amin also asked them to
hand over the LF pension fund and all the assets they
managed. The clincher was the dismantling of the Barbara
checkpoint, another huge soucre of income for the LF.
This checkpoint was held by Samir Geagea. After weeks
of prodding, the Lebanese Forces agreed to truck their
men and weapons out of East Beirut, into the mountains,
but they adamantly refused to comply with the other demands.
Trouble was brewing and tension mounted to breaking point
in early 1985 when the Kataeb leadership visited Damascus
in February.
Geagea's militiamen continued to refuse the government's
repeated requests to dismantle the checkpoint and toll
station and so the commander of the Lebanese Forces, Fuad
Abu Nader, finnaly removed Geagea from his post on March
11th 1985. Geagea's ouster, supported by Syria, quickly
stirred dissension within the Lebanese Forces. For the
Lebanese Forces this was the last straw but Abu Nader
tried to end the rift by announcing that in the future
the Lebanese Forces would function independently of the
Phalange Party, but his move came too late. The next day,
on March 12th, the Lebanese Forces reacted.
At dawn, a military force led by Samir Geagea moved forward
from Byblos and rolled down the coastal line to Nahr el
Kalb Tunnel, hatch to Beirut and barely a few kilometers
from the outskirts of the Northern Matn.
Northern Matn was under the control of Amin Gemayel's
Force 75. On his way, Geagea took over all of the Kataeb
and Lebanese Forces' barracks, posts and checkpoints formerly
held by Fuad Abu Nader's men. At the same time, Hobeika
and his forces stormed the Baabda district and Ashrafieh.
The coup was bloodless without resistance and without
human nor material losses. The only serious opposition
came at Nahr Ibrahim late in the night of the12th. A post
held by Joseph el Zayek, Elias's brother, fought a battle
despite the odds against him. He was a fervent and loyal
supporter of the Kataeb Party. Fuad Abu Nader maintained
control of his own birth place, Ghazir in Kessrouan but
agreed to step down peacefully. Syria massed troops around
the Christian heartland north of Beirut, but agreed to
give Gemayel time to neutralize the revolt before resorting
to armed intervention but as the LF did not directly threaten
Gemayel's rule or attempt to tople him, the Syrians decided
not to interfere.
With the stunning success of the coup, the Lebanese Forces
laid their hands on and secured the Kataeb Party's properties,
real estate, businesses and media. Radio Voice of Lebanon
and Al Amal newspapers both organs of the Kataeb Party
were seized. The radio station, situated in Sassine in
Ashrafieh, fell without any resistance. From this point
the Phalange Party became solely a political party and
had lost its influence and control on the Lebanese Forces.
Amin Gemayel's authority was greatly undermined. Samir
Geagea became the new head of the Lebanese Forces.
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