By 1987, the 7th Infantry Brigade was composed of 1,700 men under the command of Colonel Faris Lahud. A contingent of the Brigade was stationed in the Jbeil District, north of Beirut. This contingent was regarded as loyal to former President and leader of the Zgharta Liberation Army (ZLA) militia Suleiman Frangieh, whose feudal seat, Zgharta, is a few kilometers southwest of Tripoli.