Sydney- Middle East Times Int’l: The Lebanese Phalange Party, the Sydney branch, held a mass at Saint Charbel Church on Sunday, September 18, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Bashir Gemayel and the other 26 battalions who were killed in the bomb explosion in which Bashir was targeted.

The Mass was attended by a large of participants, all of whom who still pay tribute 40 years after the assassination due to the actions Bachir did for Lebanon and the vision he expressed for an independent and prosperous Lebanon. The feeling in the Church was that of general sadness, sadness of what Lebanon may have been under Bachir, as well as sadness at the current state of Lebanon. One speaker took the opportunity not just to remember the September 14 martyrs, but also ‘the 6000 Kataeb who died during the wars and conflicts that our small nation has faced’. However, despite the sadness of those who mourn over the September 14 tragedy, and the various troubles Lebanon has experienced, the speaker would optimistically conclude that through God, ‘a peaceful solution can be achieved in Lebanon’.

Bachir, leader of the Lebanese Forces, was elected on the 23rd of August in the midst of one of the Civil Wars deadliest periods. He was considered a very extreme option for the Presidency, and his election was largely boycotted by Muslim Parliamentarians. On the 14th of September, while delivering a small speech to colleagues in Kataeb headquarters in Beirut, a bomb planted the night before detonated killing all people in the room instantaneously. The bomb was planted by Habib Shartouni, member of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party. He was jailed for eight years but released after the Syrian takeover in 1990.