Army of Free Lebanon

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Army of Free Lebanon (AFL)
جيش لبنان الحر
OpponentsLebanon Lebanese National Movement (LNM)
Lebanese Arab Army (LAA)
Lebanon Lebanese Army
State of Palestine Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
Syria Syrian Army
Battles and warsLebanese Civil War (1975–1990)
Preceded by
700 men[2]

The Army of Free Lebanon – AFL (

Arabic: جيش بركات, romanized: Jayish Barakat) or Armée du Liban Libre (ALL) and Armée du Colonel Barakat in French, was a predominantly Christian splinter faction of the Lebanese Army that came to play a major role in the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War
.

Emblem

Upon its formation, the AFL adopted as logo a rectangular (or square) red and blue 'flash' with a stylized white Lebanese cedar tree in the middle, which was hastily painted on their armoured and transport vehicles; sometimes the motto 'Free Lebanon' (Arabic: لبنان الحر |Lubnan al-Horr) written in Arabic script was painted alongside the flash on the hull and turret of the tanks. In alternative, a greenish-yellow stencil, bearing the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) coat-of-arms was also applied.[3]

Origins

The AFL began to be established on January 23, 1976, in

Maronite from Frangieh's hometown Zgharta, Barakat rose with the troops of the Beirut Command (about 700 soldiers)[2] in response for Lieutenant Ahmed Al-Khatib's rebellion two days earlier at the head of the breakaway Lebanese Arab Army (LAA).[6][4][7] Another officer, the head of Jounieh garrison Major Fouad Malek,[5] supported the Barakat-led faction, as did Major Saad Haddad the commander of the Marjayoun garrison in southern Lebanon.[8][4][5] These three formations where eventually integrated into the "Army of Free Lebanon", whose creation was formally announced on March 13, 1976, by Col. Barakat at the Shukri Ghanem Barracks in the Fayadieh district of East Beirut.[9]

Structure

Field organization

Headquartered at Shukri Ghanem Barracks, a major military facility situated at

Greek-Catholics.[1] Like the LAA, the AFL also maintained a flexible structure unlike the old regular Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), with the bulk of the force comprising some 1,500-2,000 soldiers[2] from different Army units assembled into eight independent mixed combat groups (French: Groupements) of roughly company or battalion size.[10] There was no set hierarchy, and rank and seniority meant little; performance in the field and political motivation propelled young Army officers – mostly Lieutenants
– into leadership positions within the AFL combat groups. By February 1978, they were structured as follows:

  • Group No 11 (French: Groupement numéro 11) – led by Captain Mounir Bejjani;
  • Group No 12 (French: Groupement numéro 12) – led by Lieutenants Michel Abou Ghanem and Louis Khoury;
  • Group No 14 (French: Groupement numéro 14) – led by Lt. Makhoul Hakmeh;
  • Group No 16 (French: Groupement numéro 16) – led by Lieutenants Abdallah Hadchiti and Ghazi Ghattas;[11]
  • Group No 18 (French: Groupement numéro 18) – led by Maj. Fouad Malek, later replaced by Lt. Wehbeh Katicha;[12]
  • Galerie Semaan Battalion – a mechanized unit, also led by Lt. Ghazi Ghattas;[13]
  • A company-sized contingent (subsequently expanded to battalion strength) from the Army Para-commando regiment (Arabic: فوج المغاوير transliteration Fauj al-Maghaweer) led by Captain Samir el-Achkar.[14]

All these units were permanently allocated at Fayadieh, serving under Col. Barakat's direct orders. Outside Beirut, a 200-strong battalion designated the "Akkar Brigade" (Arabic: لواء عكار | Liwa' el-Akkar), led by Lt. Khalil Nader[15] was stationed in the Akkar District of northern Lebanon. A 500-strong battalion under the title "Army of Lebanon" (Arabic: جيش لبنان | Jayish Lubnan) was based at the Raymond el-Hayek Barracks in Sarba, north of Jounieh[2] headed by Maj. Malek,[5] whilst another battalion of 700 men led by Maj. Haddad and designated the "Marjayoun–Qlaiaa Formation" (Arabic: تكوين مرجعيون - قليعة | Takwin Marjayoun – Qlaiaa), was stationed at Marjayoun Barracks.[8][4][5][16]

List of AFL commanders

Other AFL personnel

Weapons and equipment

The AFL was equipped largely from stocks drawn from Lebanese Army reserves, with weapons taken directly from Army barracks and depots or channeled via the Christian rightist militias of the Lebanese Front.

Small-arms

AFL infantry units were issued FN FAL,[17][18] CETME Model C[18] and M16A1 assault rifles;[14][19][18] FN MAG and M60 light machine guns were used as squad weapons, with heavier Browning M1919A4 .30 Cal and Browning M2HB .50 Cal machine guns being employed as platoon and company weapons. Officers and NCOs received FN P35 and MAB PA-15 pistols. Grenade launchers and portable anti-tank weapons consisted of Belgian

anti-tank rocket launchers,[14] whilst crew-served and indirect fire weapons comprised M2 60mm mortars, M30 4.2 inch (106.7mm) mortars[20] and 120-PM-38 (M-1938) 120mm heavy mortars, plus B-10 82mm and M40A1 106mm recoilless rifles.[21]

Armoured and transport vehicles

Each combat group or fraction fielded conventional armour, infantry and artillery sub-units, provided with

armored personnel carriers.[21][30][16][31][32]

For logistical support, Col. Barakat's troops relied on US

autocannons.[33][39] Artillery units relied on military trucks and M5A1 artillery tractors to tow their field guns and howitzers.[40]

Artillery

Their artillery formations fielded British

Bofors 40mm L/60 anti-aircraft guns,[39] six Yugoslav Zastava M55 20mm triple-barreled autocannons,[33] Hispano-Suiza HS.661 30mm single-barreled AA autocannons,[41] and 24 Soviet ZU-23-2 23mm twin-barreled AA autocannons[14] were also employed in the direct fire supporting role.[21]

The AFL in the Lebanese civil war 1976-78

Closely allied with the Christian rightist militias of the Lebanese Front,[5] the AFL battled the leftist Lebanese National Movement (LNM) militias, the LAA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrilla factions at Beirut, but also fought in northern Lebanon. On March 5, 1976, some 200 Christian AFL soldiers led by Lt. Khalil Nader – who entitled themselves the "Lebanese Liberation Army" (LLA), and later became the "Akkar Brigade"[15] – from the Jounieh garrison departed without permission from their commanding Officer to their home towns of Al-Qoubaiyat and Andaket in the Akkar District of Northern Lebanon, which were being threatened by LAA attacks and artillery bombardments.[42][43][44][45]

On March 13 at Beirut, the AFL units from the Shukri Ghanem Barracks in Fayadieh under Col. Barakat clashed with the Officer cadets of the adjoining Military Academy, whose Commander supported Brigadier general Aziz El-Ahdab's failed coup attempt against President Frangieh,[4] despite the fact that some officers from the AFL (Fouad Malek, Wehbeh Katicha, and Ghazi Ghattas) had signed a petition pledging their support to Gen. Ahdab's initiative.[46][47] Later on March 25, Col. Barakat's troops bolstered the hard-pressed Republican Guard battalion and Marada Brigade militiamen loyal to President Frangieh in defending the Presidential Palace at Baabda from a two-pronged combined LNM-Lebanese Arab Army (LAA) ground assault amid intense shelling, though prior to the attack the President had decamped to the safety of Zouk Mikael, near Jounieh, and later to Kfour in the Keserwan District.[48][49][50] They also provided armour and artillery support to the Christian militias on the closing stages of the Battle of the Hotels,[51] during which an artillery barrage fired by a unit under Barakat's command struck the campus of the American University of Beirut at Rue Bliss in the neighboring Ras Beirut district, causing a number of casualties among the students.[citation needed]

On late March–early April 1976 the AFL, aided by the

East Beirut between June and August 1976.[54][55]

During the

East Beirut.[56]

Disbandment

In March 1977, the newly elected President of Lebanon

General Michel Aoun as commander of the 10th Airmobile Brigade during the Elimination War in January–October 1990.[61]

One notable exception was Captain Samir el-Achkar and his commando battalion (

Bashir Gemayel. The crisis came to an abrupt end on 1 November that year, when the LAF Command ordered a raid by a 300-strong commando detachment from the Counter-sabotage regiment (Arabic: Moukafaha) under the command of Captain Michel Harrouk and Lieutenants Maroun Khreich and Kozhayya Chamoun on the LARC headquarters at Mtaileb in the Matn District, which resulted in the wounding and subsequent death of Capt. Samir el-Achkar, followed by the full re-incorporation of his men into the official Para-commando Regiment's own structure.[62]

A different fate however, awaited the ex-AFL troops of the Marjayoun garrison in the south. By late 1976, pressure from PLO and LNM-LAA militias finally forced Major

Druze militias, gathered since October 21 into the informal "Army for the Defense of South Lebanon" or ADSL (French: Armée de Défense du Liban-Sud or ADLS)[63] – of the so-called "Free Lebanese Army" (FLA), later to become known as the South Lebanon Army (SLA).[64]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Collelo, Lebanon: a country study (1989), p. 239.
  2. ^ a b c d Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), Introduction, p. 1.
  3. ^ Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, pp. 171–173.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i El-Kazen 2000, p. 333.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 104.
  6. ^ Rabinovich, The war for Lebanon (1989), p. 72.
  7. ^ Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), pp. 100-101.
  8. ^ a b Kechichian, The Lebanese Army: Capabilities and Challenges in the 1980s (1985), p. 20.
  9. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 29.
  10. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), pp. 55-57.
  11. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 58.
  12. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 57.
  13. ^ a b Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon (2012), p. 16.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), p. 21.
  15. ^ a b Chamussy (René) – Chronique d’une guerre: Le Liban 1975-1977 – éd. Desclée – 1978
  16. ^ a b c Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), pp. 29-30.
  17. ^ Jenzen-Jones & Spleeters, Identifying & Tracing the FN Herstal FAL Rifle: Documenting signs of diversion in Syria and beyond (2015), pp. 20-21.
  18. ^
    Shotgun News
    .
  19. ^ McNab, 20th Century Military Uniforms (2002), p. 174.
  20. ^ Kassis, 30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon (2003), p. 21.
  21. ^ a b c Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), appendix A, table A-6.
  22. ^ Hamizrachi, The Emergence of South Lebanon Security Belt (1984), pp. 55-89.
  23. ^ Badran, Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis (2010), pp. 50-52.
  24. ^ Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, p. 171.
  25. ^ Fortin, T17E1 Staghound Armored Car – Le char sur roues, Trucks & Tracks Magazine (2007–2008), pp. 62–63; 65.
  26. ^ Colonel Barakat's Army Staghound Mk.III armoured car near Binayit el-Béton, East Beirut, March 1976.
  27. ^ AMX-13 light tank of the Army of Free Lebanon at the siege of Tel al-Zaatar, East Beirut, July 1976.
  28. ^ M41 Walker Bulldog tank of the Army of Free Lebanon in the streets of the Aswek (the old city center of Beirut), c.1976.
  29. ^ Cooper & Santana, Lebanese Civil War Volume 1: Palestinian diaspora, Syrian and Israeli interventions, 1970-1978 (2019), p. 35.
  30. ^ Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon (2012), p. 57.
  31. ^ Dunstan, Panhard Armoured Car: 1961 Onwards (AML 60, AML 90, Eland), Enthusiasts' Manual (2019), p. 154.
  32. ^ Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, pp. 171–172.
  33. ^ a b c Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, p. 173.
  34. ^ Kassis, 30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon (2003), p. 6.
  35. ^ El-Assad, Civil Wars Volume 1: The Gun Trucks (2008), p. 19.
  36. ^ Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, p. 172.
  37. ^ Naud, La Guerre Civile Libanaise - 1re partie: 1975–1978, Steelmasters Magazine (2012), p. 9.
  38. ^ Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon (2012), p. 29.
  39. ^ a b 1/35 scale model photos of a Lebanese Special Forces AA QF Bofors 40mm gun mounted on a M35A2 Gun Truck.
  40. ^ Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon (2012), p. 25.
  41. ^ Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), Appendix A, table A-10.
  42. ^ Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), Appendix B, B-16.
  43. ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 45.
  44. ^ Menargues, Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban (2004), p. 37.
  45. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 23.
  46. ^ Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 103.
  47. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), pp. 28-29.
  48. ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 46-47.
  49. ^ Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 101.
  50. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 30.
  51. ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 54; 56-57.
  52. ^ Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), pp. 20-23.
  53. ^ Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 115.
  54. ^ a b Gary C. Gambill and Ziad K. Abdelnour, Dossier: Fouad Malek, former Chief-of-Staff of the Lebanese Forces (LF), Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Vol.4, No.11-12, November-December 2002.
  55. ^ "The Facts: AG and Tal el Za3tar - Page 2 - the Orange Room - forum.tayyar.org". forum.tayyar.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  56. ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 72-73.
  57. ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 63.
  58. ^ Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 117.
  59. ^ Micheletti and Debay, Les Forces Libanaises, RAIDS Magazine (1989), p. 34 (box).
  60. ^ Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, p. 170.
  61. ^ Micheletti and Debay, La 10e Brigade Heliportée, RAIDS Magazine (1989), p. 21 (box).
  62. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), pp. 61-63.
  63. ^ Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 43.
  64. ^ Chamussy (René) – Chronique d'une guerre: Le Liban 1975-1977 – éd. Desclée – 1978

References

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Army_of_Free_Lebanon&oldid=1219464472"