Maronite Shield

Maronites are members of one of the Lebanese or Syriac Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to Maron the Syriac Monk in the early 5th century.  Maronites gained self-rule under the French mandate of Lebanon in 1920 and secured their position in the independent Lebanon in 1943. They were one of the three main factions in the Lebanese Civil War.

The Assyrian/Chaldean/Maronites/Syriac people (frequently known as Assyrians in English, besides Syrians, Syriacs, Syrian Christians, Syriac Christians, Suroye/Suryoye and other variants, see names of Syriac Christians) are an ethnic group whose origins lie in the Fertile Crescent, their homeland today being divided between Northern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Western Iran,  Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia.  Many have migrated to the Caucasus, North America and Europe during the past century. The major sub-ethnic division is between an Eastern group ("Syrian Nestorians" and "Chaldean Christians") and a Western one ("Syrian Jacobites").  (WIKIPEDIA – The Free Encyclopedia)