In 1978, tensions were high in the North between the Kataeb and Marada parties, when the Kataeb tried to expend their power in the region.[9] Bayeh attempted to open a Phalanges (Kataeb) office in Zgharta, before he was killed on June 8, 1978, by six armed men sent by Tony Franjieh. Six days later, on June 13,[10] Kataeb leader Bashir Gemayel decided to strike back killing Franjyeh, his family (including his wife Vera Frangieh, their three-year-old daughter Jihane), and thirty other Marada bodyguards and aides, which came to be known as the Ehden Massacre.