Leader of Militia Mutiny Injured in Beirut Ambush

The mastermind of a mutiny within Lebanon’s largest Christian militia and 10 of his bodyguards were wounded today in a machine-gun ambush of their motorcade in East Beirut.

The wounded leader, Fuad abu Nader, 34, was recovering well from three hours of surgery to remove three bullets from his right shoulder, waist and left leg, said a bulletin from St. Joseph Hospital in East Beirut.

Abu Nader, a nephew of President Amin Gemayel, was hit in East Beirut’s Dora district at 1:30 a.m. as he headed home from a late-night meeting with mediators at the headquarters of Gemayel’s Falange Party, police said.

His party was traveling in two hatchback station wagons when machine guns opened up.

A hospital bulletin said three of the wounded bodyguards are in grave condition.

Abu Nader heads the party’s regional council, which runs Falangist provincial offices and militia groups in the countryside. He was identified by informants as the driving force behind a bloody attempt Sunday to oust Samir Geagea from leadership of the Lebanese Forces, the dominant Christian militia.

The rebels demand that Abu Nader, who is acceptable to Lebanon’s Muslim militias and the Syrians, be named commander of the 8,000-strong Lebanese Forces to replace Geagea, who sympathizes with Israel and is Syria’s archenemy.

Syria suspended its efforts to resolve Lebanon’s 11-year-old civil war last January when Geagea overthrew Elie Hobeika, the pro-Syrian commander of the Lebanese Forces.

The ambush of Abu Nader indicated that small pockets of Geagea supporters are still operating in the Christian sector, although the rebels seem to be in firm control of the whole city.