[4] Geagea initially supported the "War of Liberation" declared by disputed Prime Minister General Michel Aoun against the Syrian Army.

[5][7] Following the Cedar Revolution, and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, a newly elected Lebanese Parliament voted to grant him amnesty on 18 July 2005.

[8] Geagea was born in the Ain el-Remmeneh district in Beirut on 25 October 1952 to a modest Maronite family from the town of Bsharri in northern Lebanon.

Geagea steadily rose through the ranks and led several operations at the request of Bachir Gemayel, then commander of the Phalangist Kataeb Regulatory Forces militia.

From 1982 to 1983, Geagea commanded the Lebanese Forces against Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party militia, the Palestinians, and the Syrians in a battle for control of the Chouf mountains in central Lebanon.

[15] On 1 April 1990, during the War of Liberation, Elias Hrawi’s government mandated Fleet Admiral Elie Hayek to take over LF barracks in the governorate.

As the Elimination War was ravaging East Beirut and its suburbs (up to the Metn), the handoff actually began in Keserwan district – at the level of Nahr el-Kalb – up to Barbara.

[18] In addition, Geagea placed Hayek in an LF barrack in Jounieh as a symbol of his willingness to integrate with the government, defying Aoun’s refusal of any Hrawi-LF alliance.

On 12 March 1985, Geagea and Elie Hobeika orchestrated an internal coup in order to end the leadership of Fouad Abou Nader in the Lebanese Forces.

Aoun was heading an interim government which filled the void in the absence of a presidential election after the end of President Amin Gemayel's term in office.

On 26 January 1994, Geagea went to Qardaha, Syria to offer his condolences to President Hafez al-Assad, following the death of his son Bassel in a car accident.

[29] On 27 February 1994, a bomb exploded in the Church of Sayyidet Al Najet (Our Lady of Deliverance) in the locality of Zouk Mikael killing 9 worshipers and injuring many.

[31] Geagea himself was arrested on 21 April 1994 in his village Ghadras, on charges of ordering the church bombing, of attempting to undermine government authority by "maintaining a militia in the guise of a political party", of instigating acts of violence, and of committing assassinations during the Lebanese Civil War.

He was accused of the assassinations of former prime minister Rashid Karami,[32] National Liberal Party leader Dany Chamoun and his family, and former LF member Elias Al Zayek.

[27][33][34] Geagea was incarcerated for 11 years in a small windowless solitary cell in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense in Yarze.

[35] His health status was jeopardized and he lost weight dramatically due to the unsanitary condition of the ill lit and poorly ventilated prison cell.

He busied himself with reading literature, Hindu philosophy, the Qur'an, Christian theology and mysticism namely the works of Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin.

[39] When supporters of the Cedar Revolution won the majority in the 2005 parliamentary elections, they lobbied for an amnesty law to free Geagea from his disputed sentences.

[43] In March 2008, he held talks in the US with officials at the White House, including then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then NSA Stephen Hadley and then chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia Gary Ackerman.

They claim the shooters to have been at least a kilometer away, stationed west of the residence (but the body guards were unable to see them due to the thick trees), and the operation to have been planned for months to silence Geagea, the only strong vocal critic against the Syrian/Iranian forces and the incumbent government.

[50] Geagea challenged Aoun to run against him or move to a "plan B" that would enable a consensual candidate that is not considered partisan as being from either of the two political alliances, which, in addition to the two, are Phalange's Amine Gemayel and Marada Movement's Suleiman Frangieh.

[51] After the sixth round of voting failed, Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan suggested that the president should be directly elected by the people.

However, the country entered into a 2 years presidential deadlock, which ended in 2016,[53] with Geagea backing up his longtime rival Michel Aoun for the presidency[54] through the Maarab Accord.

During the beginning of the October 17 protests, Geagea called for the resignation of the Prime Minister, due to the "resounding failure to halt the deterioration of the [country's] economic situation".

[58] After the 2021 Beirut clashes, Geagea was summoned by military intelligence to testify about the events, as both Hezbollah and the Amal Movement accused his party of instigating the violence.

[65] During the 2022–2025 Lebanese presidential election, Geagea accused France of supporting Suleiman Frangieh to serves its common interest with Hezbollah.

[67] Geagea has consistently positioned the LF as a staunch opponent of Hezbollah, criticizing its military power and political influence in Lebanon.

In a speech during an annual martyrs event, Geagea declared his readiness for an "all-out" confrontation against Hezbollah, labeling the group and its allies as the "axis of crime."

[72] The LF is widely regarded as Saudi Arabia's main ally in Lebanon after Saad Hariri's retirement from Lebanese politics.

In September 2017, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Geagea in Jeddah and allegedly spoke about "common concerns".