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.