Christian ex-warlords reconcile in Lebanon

Beirut: Two rival Christian leaders in Lebanon, Sulaiman Frangieh and Samir Geagea, reconciled Wednesday after four decades of enmity dating back to a massacre during the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Geagea was accused of leading a militia raid which killed Frangieh’s parents, three-year-old sister and dozens of rival fighters in northern Lebanon in 1978.

The two former warlords signed a document pledging “to turn the page on the past and move on to new horizons”, in a televised meeting at the Maronite Christian patriarchate in Bkerke, north of Beirut.

Patriarch Bechara Al Rahi hailed the “historic meeting” between Franjieh, who is close to the Syrian regime, and Geagea, a fierce opponent of Damascus.