Guardians of the Cedars
Upon the death of William Hawi, Bashir Gemayel was appointed his replacement as president of the Kataeb Military Council and as the head of the unified command of the Lebanese forces, a coalition of the Christian militias of the Kataeb Party (created and organized by Hawi), National Liberal Party, the Tanzim and the Guardians of the Cedars. On July 7, 1980, these Christian militias were unified into one as the Lebanese Forces with Bashir Gemayel as their Commander-in-Chief.