Suleiman Frangieh's military career began when he was 17 years old. In 1982, he became leader of the Marada Brigades. The militia later disbanded to become a political group following the Taif Agreement. Marada began to participate in social, cultural, educational, health and political affairs. He was appointed to Parliament for the first time on 7 June 1991 to fill his late father's seat and was then the youngest MP. He was subsequently elected for three successive terms in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Suleiman Frangieh joined mourners gathered in front of Beirut's city palace to pay his final respects to Rafik Hariri who was killed by a bomb on 14 February 2005. His presence made many uneasy, since it was his ministry that was overseeing the investigation into Hariri's assassination. During the Lebanese Parliamentary Elections of 7 June 2009, Suleiman Frangieh was elected as a Member of Parliament for the seat of Zgharta-Zawyieh after he had lost that seat in the 2005 elections. He won the seat along with his two running partners Estephan Douwaihi and Salim Bey Karam. Together, these three politicians, along with the addition of MP Emile Rahme, formed the 'Free and Unified Lebanon' bloc in the Lebanese Parliament. In August 2012, Frangieh commented on the Syrian civil war stating that the pro-Assad coalition would win the war and gave his full support to the Syrian government. Frangieh also added that he opposes the "negative neutrality" which is "pretending to be neutral while arms are smuggled from Lebanon to Syria". He called the "negative neutrality" a "conspiring against Syria". Frangieh was one of the main contenders for the Lebanese presidential elections of 2004 and 2016 and is a very likely candidate for the next presidential election expected to occur in 2022. In addition, the party runs a website called which follows local and international news and keeps the audience updated 24/7. He did not run for re-election in 2018. His son, Tony, succeeded him in the Parliament.
Personal life
Suleiman is the father of two children from a first marriage with Marianne Sarkis; Tony, who was elected to parliament in 2018 to replace his father, and Bassel. Suleiman Frangieh has been married to Rima Karkafi since 2003 who gave birth to his daughter Vera. He resides in Bnachii, a small town right next to his hometown of Zgharta. He is a close friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
