Émile Lahoud
In 1989, he joined Harvard University's Center for International Affairs. He also lectured at the University of Maryland, College Park. On 30 July 2000, however, he returned to Lebanon and began to organize the opposition to the government of President Émile Lahoud, whom he regarded as a Syrian puppet. Unable to regain control of the then pro-Syrian dominated official Kataeb Party, he founded a new party, al-Qaeda al-Kataebiya, which claimed to be the true successor to the old Kataeb Party founded by his father. He also joined the Qornet Chehwan Gathering, a group of anti-government Christian politicians.