View source for Shuraya Party

{{Notability|date=May 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Shuraya Party
| native_name      = {{lang|syc|ܫܘܖܝܐ}}<br>{{lang|ar|شــورايـا}}
| flag             = Flag of the Shuraya Party.svg
| colorcode        = Blue
| foundation       = 25 July 1978
| ideology         = [[Assyrian nationalism]]<br>[[Assyrians in Lebanon|Assyrians interests]]
| country          = Lebanon
| position         = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]]
| national         = [[March 14 Alliance]]
}}
{{infobox war faction
| name             = Assyrian Battalion
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| image            = 
| caption          = 
| active           = 1978-1991
| ideology         = [[Assyrian nationalism]]
| position         = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]]
| leaders          = 
| clans            = 
| headquarters     = 
| area             = 
| size             = 
| partof           = Shuraya Party<br/>[[Lebanese Front]]<br/>[[Lebanese Forces (militia)|Lebanese Forces]]
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = 
| allies           = {{flagicon image|Flag of Kataeb Party.svg}} [[Kataeb Regulatory Forces]]<br/>{{flagicon|Lebanon}} [[Lebanese Armed Forces]]<br/>{{flagicon|Lebanon}} [[Internal Security Forces]]<br>{{flagicon image|Lebanesearmyfirstflag.png}} [[Army of Free Lebanon]] (AFL)
| opponents        = {{Flagicon|Lebanon}} [[Lebanese National Movement]] (LNM)<br/>{{flagicon image|Lebanese National Resistance Front.jpg}} [[Lebanese National Resistance Front]] (LNRF)<br/>{{flagicon|PLO}} [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO)<br/>{{flagicon|Syria|1980}} [[Syrian Arab Armed Forces]]
| battles          = [[Lebanese Civil War]]
| url              = 
}}

The '''Shuraya Party''' ([[Syriac language|Syriac]]: ܫܘܖܝܐ [[Arabic]]: حزب شوريا) is a [[political]] organisation that represents the Christian [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] community in [[Lebanon]] and Syria since the late 1970s.<ref name="g381">{{cite book | last=Minahan | first=James B. | title=Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA | publication-place=Santa Barbara, California | date=2016-08-01 | isbn=978-1-61069-954-9 | page=527}}</ref> The party advocates the formation of an independent Assyrian State in the [[Assyrian homeland]], in what is today Northern Iraq. The term "shuraya" means 'beginning'. 

==History==
[[File:4th Assyrian battalion.png|thumb|4th Assyrian battalion with [[lamassu]] flag]]
The Shuraya Party was first established on 25 July, 1978 in [[Beirut]], [[Lebanon]], when the country was engulfed by the [[Lebanese Civil War|civil war]]. Since its foundation, it has worked closely together with [[Bashir Gemayel]], the founder and leader of the [[Lebanese Forces (militia)|Lebanese Forces militia]] (LF), in which it sees itself connected in the struggle and destiny for all Lebanese Christians. 

It is composed of "free philosophers" of different [[Eastern Church]] origins, who regard themselves as Assyrians. The Shuraya leadership insists they are not bound by any Church, but rejects the reproach of being anti-Christian. It claims to represent all oriental Christians and stresses its commitment to maintain a coined Christian Lebanon. 

The party established its own magazine in Lebanon in the 1980s, dubbed ''Shuraya'', and also opened its own radio show named ''My Voice'', to the wave of FM-radio. 

During the [[Lebanese Civil War]], the Party also fielded a small militia, the Assyrian Battalion (AB), which fought alongside the other Christian militias of the [[Lebanese Front]].

==See also==
*[[Assyrian nationalism]]
*[[Lebanese Civil War]]
*[[Lebanese Front]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.justiz.hessen.de/VGRecht/Rechtsp.nsf/0ff7514c9bdb14d3c125654400494b3f/4bf724db6cc70e6ec1256aff00399bc7?OpenDocument Der VGH Kassel über Aktivitäten und Bedeutung der „Shuraya“] „Informationsangebot“ der Organisation
*[http://www.shuraya.de.vu/ www.shuraya.de.vu]
*{{Official website|https://www.lebanese-forces.com/}}

{{Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean political parties}}
{{Lebanese political parties}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuraya Party}}
[[Category:1978 establishments in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Assyrian nationalism]]
[[Category:Assyrian political parties]]
[[Category:Assyrians in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Christian political parties in Lebanon]]
[[Category:March 14 Alliance]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1978]]
[[Category:Political parties of minorities in Lebanon]]

{{Assyrian-stub}}
{{Lebanon-party-stub}}