Our sincere condoleances to the gemayel Family and the Kataeb party and this great loss to Lebanon. Pierre Gemayel a unique asset to Lebanon.

 BEIRUT, Lebanon - Prominent anti-Syrian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday, his Phalange Party Voice of Lebanon radio station reported. The shooting will certainly heighten the political tension in Lebanon.

Gemayel was rushed to a nearby hospital, according to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. and the Voice of Lebanon, the Phalange Party mouthpiece reported. The party later announced that he was dead.Gemayel, the minister of industry and son of former President Amin Gemayel.He was named for his grandfather, who founded the Phalange Party in 1936 to exert Christian power in Lebanon. It dominated Christian politics for decades after Lebanon's independence from France in 1943.

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History

Lebanon in the Period of Cheikh Abi Nader El Khazen 

 Written in year 2006

In 1621, Emir Fakhr Al Din appointed Cheikh Abi Nader and his uncle Cheikh Abi Safi el Khazen governors of Bsharri and assigned them the whole country. Following this, Cheikh Abi Nader el Khazen and his relatives, Khazen Cheikhs, started developing Keserwan their county and confirm its status building churches and abbeys; they promoted the Catholic faith in areas they controlled whether in Mount Lebanon or else where; this boosted them fame and glory.

Cheikh Abi Nader had a son called Abi Nawfal; a brilliant mind and excellent discretion led with rich experience in managing authority. Abi Nawfal was a Europeanised man and his father, Cheikh Abi Nader, relied on him majorly and assigned him critical issues whether in his presence or absence as to Emir Fakhr Al Din's governing and authority. Cheikh Abi Nader would send him to Tripoli on his behalf to manage matters of Emir Hussein, son of Emir Fakhr Al Din, where he had to remain for longer periods; His extraordinary management gained him appreciation which was indicated in history while he made Jbeil Castle in Batroun his residence.

In 1630, an earthquake caused great damage to the castle which led to the death of his son Cheikh Nawfal the first and his wife, a Hobeiche family daughter and mother of Cheikh Nawfal the first. A year after in 1631, Cheikh Abi Nawfal rebuilt the castle.

BEIRUT (BBC) - A sixth minister has resigned from the Lebanese government, which was plunged into a political crisis when all five Shia cabinet members quit. Environment Minister Yacoub Sarraf, a Christian, is an ally of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud like his Shia colleagues from Hezbollah and Amal.

They resigned after calls for a greater role in government were rejected. But a cabinet meeting to consider a UN plan to try killers of former PM Rafik Hariri went ahead despite the ructions. "I don't see myself belonging to any constitutional authority in which an entire sect is absent," Mr. Sarraf said in his letter of resignation, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

Mr. Lahoud said on Sunday that as a result of the resignations, the government had lost its legitimacy - but constitutional experts have disputed his interpretation of the situation. The cabinet, normally made up Christian and Muslim ministers in equal numbers, has retained the two-thirds of its members necessary to make up a quorum.

All five Hizbullah and Amal ministers resigned from Premier Fouad Saniora