- Michel Aoun
Michel Naim Aoun (born 19 February 1935 in Beirut) is a Lebanese military commander and politician. From 22 September 1988 to 13 October 1990, he served as Prime Minister and acting President of one of two rival governments that contended for power. He was defeated by Syria in the war of liberation and forced into exile. He returned to Lebanon on May 7, 2005, eleven days after the withdrawal of Syrian troops. Known as "The General," Aoun is currently a Parliament Member.
- Pierre Gemayel
Sheikh Pierre Gemayel (November 6, 1905 – August 29, 1984) (last name also spelt Jmayyel, Jemayyel or al-Jumayyil, Sheikh is an honorific title in Arab countries), was a Lebanese political leader. He is remembered as the founder of the Kataeb Party (also known as the Phalangist Party), as a parliamentary powerbroker, and as the father of Bachir Gemayel and Amine Gemayel, …
- Khalil Gibran
Khalil Gibran (also known as Kahlil Gibran; born Gibran Khalil Gibran, Arabic: جبران خليل جبران, Syriac: ܓ̰ܒܪܢ ܚܠܝܠ ܓ̰ܒܪܢ) (January 6, 1883 - April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese American artist, poet and writer. He was born in Lebanon and spent much of his productive life in the United States.
- May Chidiac
May Chidiac (born 1964) is a Lebanese Christian Maronite journalist. Chidiac is a television journalist at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, where she was also one of the station's main television anchors until the assassination attempt on her life. She was one of the few critics of Syria's hegemony over Lebanon. Syria kept troops stationed in Lebanon even after the end of the Lebanese Civil War and the Taif accords which stipulated that Syria withdraw from Lebanon.
- Amine Gemayel
Sheikh Amine Pierre Gemayel was President of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988. Born in the Lebanese village of Bikfaya, Amine Gemayel is the son of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Kataeb Party. Gemayel was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly on September 21, 1982, to succeed his brother Bachir Gemayel who had been elected the previous month but had been assassinated before taking office.
- Bachir Gemayel
Sheikh Bachir Gemayel (also known as Sheikh Bachir Gemayel; first name also spelled "Bashir" and surname also spelled "Joomuyyeel") (Arabic: بشير الجميّل) was a Lebanese military commander, politician, and president-elect. He was born in Beirut, the son of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the influential Lebanese Kataeb Party, also known as the Phalangist party, a right-wing nationalist organization that, …
- Camille Chamoun
Camille Nimr Chamoun (b. April 3, 1900 - d. August 7, 1987) was President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958, and one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War (1975 - 1990).
- Nassib Lahoud
Nassib Lahoud is since 1995 considered to be the one of the most serious candidates for the presidency. Despite his defeat in the last parliamentary elections, he announced that he was prepared to run for president if the March 14 Alliance that holds a majority in parliament since the last elections backs him.
- Elias Hrawi
Elias Hrawi was a former President of Lebanon, whose term of office ran from 1989 to 1998. He was a native of the Beqaa valley. He was elected on 24 November 1989, two days after the assassination of René Moawad, who had held office for just seventeen days. When his term was due to expire in 1995, the National Assembly amended the constitution to allow him to remain in office for another three years. Hrawi was born in Hawch Al-Umara, near Zahle, …
- John Maron
John Maron was the first Maronite Patriarch. He is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church, and celebrated on March 2. John Maron was the son of Agathon, the governor of Sarum and Anohamia, grandson of prince Alidipas, who governed Antioch. He was educated in Antioch and the monastery of Saint Maron studying mathematics, sciences, philosophy, theology, linguistics and scripture. He became a monk at the monastery of Saint Maron, adding the name Maron to this own.
- Elie Hobeika
Elie Hobeika (Arabic:إيلي حبيقة) was a Phalangist and Lebanese Forces militia commander during the Lebanese Civil War trained and supplied by Israel. He turned later to a pro-Syrian politician and government minister in the post-war period. He is best known for his alleged role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982 and for allegations that the atrocities were committed in collusion with Israeli authorities. He was killed by a bomb in Beirut on January 24, …
- Émile Lahoud
General Émile Jamil Lahoud is the President of Lebanon. He is the son of General Jamil Lahoud, a leader in the independence movement. His mother is of Armenian descent from the Armenian village of Kasab in Syria. Before being elected in 1998, he was Chief of Staff in the Army. As the nation's president, he is in command of the Lebanese army. He is currently the only Christian head of state of an Arab country.
- Charles Helou
Charles Helou was President of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970. Born in Beirut, Helou was the scion of a powerful Maronite family from Baabda. He graduated with honours from St. Joseph's University in Beirut in 1929, and went on to complete a Law degree in 1934. Helou was also a successful businessman and founded two French language newspapers, "L'Eclair du Nord" and "Le Jour." In 1936, he made his first foray into politics, …
- Saad Haddad
Saad Haddad (1936-1984) was the founder and head of the South Lebanon Army (SLA). At the beginning of the Lebanon Civil War, Haddad, a major in the Lebanese Army commanded a battalion to engage the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in south Lebanon. It was here where he joined a few other Christian soldiers to form the Free Lebanon Army. Haddad's militia collaborated with Israel and received the bulk of its arms, equipment, supplies and ordnance from Israel.
- Dany Chamoun
Dany Chamoun (August 26, 1934 – October 21,1990) was a prominent Lebanese politician. A Maronite Christian and the younger son of former President Camille Chamoun, Dany Chamoun was also a politician in his own right, and was known for his opposition to the occupation of Lebanese territory by foreign forces, whether Syrian or Israeli.
- Dory Chamoun
Dory Chamoun (b. 1931) is a Lebanese politician who leads the National Liberal Party, and is also a prominent member of the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, a coalition of politicians, academics, and businessmen who oppose the pro-Syrian government of President Émile Lahoud. Dory Chamoun is the elder son of the late Camille Chamoun (1900-1987), who was President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958.
- Raymond Edde
Raymond Eddé (Arabic: ريمون إدّه) was a Lebanese statesman who served his country for many years as a legislator and cabinet minister. He led the Lebanese National Bloc, an influential political party. The son of former President Émile Eddé, Raymond Eddé was himself a candidate for the presidency in 1958, and was proposed for the post on numerous subsequent occasions. He is remembered for having held consistent views, …
- Suleiman Frangieh
Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh, last name also spelled "Frangié," "Franjieh," or "Franjiyeh,", was President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976. His presidency saw the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, which raged from 1975 to 1990, as well as the start of the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, which continued until 2005.
- James Zogby
James ("Jim") J. Zogby(Arabic,جيمس زغبي), PhD, is the founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Arab American Institute, which conducts policy research and engages in political advocacy for the Arab American community. In 2001, Zogby was elected to the Executive Committee of the United States Democratic National Committee (DNC). Zogby is also a senior analyst with the polling firm Zogby International, founded and managed by his brother John Zogby, …
- Bechara el Khoury
Bechara El Khoury (Arabic: بشارة الخوري) was the first post-independence President of Lebanon, holding office from 21 September 1943 to 18 September 1952, apart from an 11-day interruption (11-22 November) in 1943. He had previously served two brief terms as Prime Minister, from 5 May 1927 to 10 August 1928 and from 9 May to 11 October 1929.
- Brigitte Gabriel
Brigitte Gabriel (born 1965) is a Lebanese American journalist, author and activist. She is the founder of the American Congress For Truth.
- Nayla Moawad
Nayla Moawad is a Lebanese politician. Outside of Lebanon, she is best known as the widow of former President René Moawad, who was assassinated on 22 November 1989. Within Lebanon, she is a high-profile politician in her own right, having served as a member of the National Assembly since 1991. Following her reelection in June 2005, she was appointed to the Cabinet on 19 July as Minister for Social Affairs.
- René Moawad
René Moawad was President of Lebanon for 17 days in 1989, from the 5th to the 22nd of November, when he was assassinated. A Maronite Christian noted for his moderate views, Moawad had given some citizens hope that the long civil war in Lebanon could be ended. Chawki Choveri, Lebanon's UN representative, said that "This is the major catastrophe of the years of catastrophies we have had so far.
- Emile Edde
Émile Edde was a Maronite Lebanese political figure. He served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from 11 October 1929 to 25 March 1930. He served as the President of Lebanon from 1936 to 1941. He also founded the Lebanese National Bloc party.
- Pierre Amine Gemayel
Pierre Amine Gemayel (Arabic: ; commonly known as Pierre Gemayel Jr., Pierre Amine or simply Pierre Gemayel; September 24 1972 - November 21 2006) was a Lebanese politician in the Kataeb Party, better known in English as the Phalange Party. Lebanon's second-youngest MP, he was a rising star in his party. He was a vocal critic of Syria's military presence in and political domination of Lebanon, …
- Karim Pakradouni
Karim Pakradouni, born in Beirut on August 18 1944 to an Armenian Catholic father and Maronite mother, is a Lebanese Christian attorney. He has been a leading figure in the Kataeb Party since 1968 when he became head of its student wing. He was elected to the party's political bureau in 1970 and remained in the party's top echelon, leading the so-called "Arabist" faction of the Phalange which favored close ties with Syria.
- Antoine Lahad
Antoine Lahad (born 1927) was the leader of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) from 1984 until the SLA's collapse in 2000, following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. General Lahad, a retired high ranking officer in the Lebanese Army was appointed commander of the SLA at the request of former president Camille Chamoun. In 1988, an attempt was made on Lahad's life by a Lebanese woman named Soha Bechara. Though seriously injured, Lahad survived the assassination attempt.
- Fuad Chehab
Fuad Chehab (name also spelt "Fouad Shihab", or "Chehab", depending on transliteration from the original Arabic, 1902 - April 25, 1973) was President of Lebanon from 1958 to 1964. Born in 1902 to a Maronite Christian family of noble ancestry, General Fuad Chehab became commander of the Lebanese Army in 1945, after Lebanon gained its independence and upon the ending of the French mandate and military presence.
- Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir
Mar Nasrallah Boutros Cardinal Sfeir is the patriarch of Lebanon's largest Christian body, the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See. He was elected Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites on April 27 1986, after the resignation of Cardinal Anthony Peter Khoraish. His official title is His Holiness the seventy-sixth Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant.
- Solange Gemayel
Solange Gemayel is a political figure and former First Lady of Lebanon. The widow of former President-elect Bachir Gemayel (1947-1982), who was assassinated days before he was due to take office in 1982, she helped to found the Bachir Gemayel Foundation, to keep his legacy alive. A Maronite Christian, Solange Tutunji married Bachir Gemayel in 1977. Their first daughter, Maya, was born the following year.
- Charbel
Saint Charbel, born as Youssef Antoun Makhlouf in Bekaa Kafra (North Lebanon), was a Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk now venerated as a saint. After his death many people saw mysterious lights over his grave, and it became a common site for pilgrims to visit. He was taught by father Nimatullah (who later became Saint Hardini) in the Seminary of Kfifan between 1853 and 1856.
- Bashir Shihab II
Bashir Shihab II (born 1767 in Ghazir, died 1850 in Constantinople) was a Lebanese emir who ruled Lebanon in the first half of the 19<sup>th</sup> century and was as such the second ruler who managed to do this (the first one was Fahkr-al-Din II in the 17<sup>th</sup> century). Bashir was born into a noble Shihab family which came to power in 1697 when Ahmad Maan, the last member of the Maan family, died.
- Youssef Karam
Youssef Beik Karam, was a Lebanese nationalist leader who led the nationalist effort against the Ottoman occupation. He was born to Sheikh Boutros Karam (Lord of Ehden and surrounding district), and Mariam (daughter of Sheikh Antonios Abi Khattar Al Ayntouri) in Ehden, Lebanon. He was French educated and at the age of 7, he was well versed in Aramaic, Arabic, French and Italian languages. He trained in unarmed combat, horse riding, shooting and fencing.
- Tony Frangieh
Antoine Frangieh was a Lebanese politician and militia leader during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War.
- John Zogby
John Zogby (born 1948) is a noted American political pollster and first senior fellow at The Catholic University of America's Life Cycle Institute. He is known for both his phone polling and interactive, Internet-based polling.
- Carlos Eddé
Carlos Eddé (born in 1956), is a Lebanese politician. He is since 2000 the president of Lebanese National Bloc succeeding at his uncle Raymond Eddé. His unsolicited election surprised as he had been established in Brazil since 1976 and he barely speaks literary Arabic. In 2004 he participated actively in the opposition coalition and was one of the elaborators the strategy to unify the opposition which led the departure of the Syrians.
- Habib Tanious Shartouni
Habib Tanious Shartouni was convicted and held responsible for the assassination of the Lebanese elected president Bashir Gemayel. Habib Tanious Shartouni, a Christian Maronite, born on 24 April 1958 in Aley Mount Lebanon. He was influenced by the ideas of the Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP) in the early 1970s through a close friend called Henry Hani.
- Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amin Kasem on April 27 1932, in Detroit, Michigan, USA, of Palestinian/Lebanese heritage) is an American radio personality and voice actor. He currently hosts four weekly syndicated radio programs based on the popular American Top 40 franchise, which he founded in 1970. "American Top 20 with Casey Kasem", "American Top 10 with Casey Kasem", "Casey Kasem's American Top 40: The 70s", …
- Sitrida Geagea
Sitrida Taouk Geagea,, (also written "Sethrida" or "Setrida") is a Lebanese politician born May 15, 1967 in Ghana, as Sitrida Taouk. She hails from a prominent Maronite Lebanese family who owned business in West Africa. She is the niece of longtime Bsharri MP, Dr Gibran Taouk. In her teens, Sitrida was renowned for her beauty, which made her a media favorite in Lebanon.
- Amin Al-Rihani
Amin al-Rihani was a Lebanese writer, a major figure in the "mahjar" literary movement developed by Arab emigrants in North America, an early theorist of Arab nationalism and an active supporter of the Arab Palestinian cause. Al-Rihani became an American citizen in 1903. The eldest of six children born to a Maronite silk manufacturer, Al-Rihani emigrated from his native Lebanon to New York at the age of twelve.