The murder of Pierre Gemayel is the latest bloody act in the turbulent history of a family at the centre of Lebanese Christian politics for half a century.

The dynasty hails from Bikfaya, a small town in the Metn mountains north-east of Beirut. Pierre Gemayel, grandfather of the assassinated minister, set up the Phalange party (or Kataeb) in 1936 on the inspiration of European fascism after he visited the Olympic games in Nazi Germany.