On the 42nd commemoration of the assassination of former Lebanese President Bachir Gemayel, the foundation bearing his name and his family have invited those wishing to honor his memory to attend a mass at Saint-Michel Church in his native village of Bikfaya, in the Metn district.

The Kataeb Party in Achrafieh, Beirut, plans to pay tribute to the leader in front of the party headquarters at 4:10 p.m. It was at this location that Bachir Gemayel was killed on Sept. 14, 1982, shortly after 4 p.m., in a bomb attack that also killed 23 others. Gemayel had been elected president just three weeks earlier. In 2017, the Judicial Council sentenced two individuals — Habib Chartouni and Nabil Alam — to death in absentia for the assassination.

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For his supporters, Bachir Gemayel symbolizes resistance to the Palestinian presence and to the Syrian army, which entered Lebanon in 1976 to support the war effort against the Palestinians before becoming an occupying force. His opponents criticize his alliance with Israel, which launched a large military intervention in Lebanon in 1982 to expel the Palestinian leadership. Gemayel was recognized as an interlocutor by the United States and worked to engage Arab countries in efforts to end the Civil War that began in 1975.

On social media, members of the Gemayel family and political figures paid tribute, starting with his son, Nadim. “Forty-two years later, Bachir's project and his words are still the roadmap for Lebanon's salvation. Today, Lebanon is at a crossroads, and it is our responsibility to keep the flame burning so that we can hold our heads high and our dignity intact,” said the MP for Beirut on X.

“The years go by and your brilliance grows. Your name is still on everyone's lips. Through your martyrdom, you have perpetuated an approach to resistance and a Lebanese pulse that will be passed on from generation to generation,” said Samy Gemayel, current leader of the party and nephew of the assassinated former president.

“What comforts and delights us most is that after 42 years, Bachir Gemayel's photos still hang in every house and street, his speeches still echo in cars and squares, and his name is still on every lip and in every speech,” Samy Gemayel wrote on X.

“They tried to kill the dream by assassinating you, but the dream has remained alive in those who still follow your steps toward a strong republic,” wrote former minister Ghassan Hasbani, a member of the Lebanese Forces (LF) party, on X.

This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.