Zahliote Group
The Zahliote Group – ZG (Arabic: مجموعة زحلوتي | Majmueat Zhlouty) or Groupement Zahliote (GZ) in French, was a small Lebanese Christian militia raised in the Greek Catholic town of Zahlé in the Beqaa Valley, which fought in the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1981. == Structure and organization == The ZG was led by Aziz Wardeh, a wealthy banker and entrepreneur, who formed it in 1975 as a movement of middle-class businessmen who contested the rule of the local feudal clans, gathered in the so-called 'Seven Families' (Arabic: سبع عائلات | Sabe Eayilat) coalition headed by the za'im (political boss) Joseph Skaff.