I was always fascinated by songs about liberation militias and this remains the case for those produced in the age of social media by non-state West Asian military organisations.
This one by the Maronite Christian Lebanese Forces features alot of footage of its leader Samir Geagea (surname pronounced "Jah-jah"), who was once a guerrilla fighter for the Christian Phalangists, the military wing of the right-wing Kataeb Party.
Kataeb was founded by Pierre Gemayel whose song Bashir led the Phalangists during the early stages of the Lebanese Civil War and was elected as President of Lebanon before his assassination in September 1982.
Interestingly, the video provides a brief shot of Bashir Gemayel putting on a pair of sunglasses at the beginning.
Like his late colleague, the fearsome Elie Hobeika who was assassinated in 2002, Geagea is a man whose career is littered with corpses, including, it is alleged, up to 4,000 Palestinian and Shia women and Children who were massacred at the Sabra and Shatila camp in 1982.
© Adeyinka Makinde (2025).
Adeyinka Makinde is a writer who is based in London, England.
