Guardians of the Cedars
| Guardians of the Cedars | |
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Lebanese civil war (1975–1990) | |
| Designated as a terrorist group by | Syria |
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The Guardians of the Cedars (GoC;
Creation
The Guardians of the Cedars started to form a militia in the years leading up to the Lebanese Civil War and commenced military operations in April 1975.
In September 1975, Communiqué No. 1 was issued to denounce advocates of the partition of Lebanon. The second communiqué contained a bitter attack on the
The Guardians of the Cedars joined other pro-status quo, mainly Christian Lebanese militias in 1976 to form the Lebanese Front.
1970s
In March 1976, they confronted Palestinian and leftist forces in West
forces.In the summer of 1976, the Guardians were among the first militias to assault
The actions of the Guardians and their allies following the capture of the camp have been widely reported as amounting to a
The Guardians and allied Christian militias then invaded the
During the war, the Guardians earned a reputation for specializing in cruelty. Militia members usually tied Palestinian prisoners to the backs of taxis and then dragged them up the motorway into Jounieh. Their carcasses would then be flung into a dried-up riverbed. Commanding his followers to slay all Palestinians, Saqr once stated, "If you feel compassion for the Palestinian women and children, remember they are communists and will bear new communists".[5]
1980s
In 1985 the Guardians of the Cedars mounted a fierce defense of Kfar-Fallus and Jezzine, battling Palestinians and Shiite-Druze militias and protected thousands of Christians in South Lebanon.
Towards the close of the 1980s, and continuing to 2000, most of the remaining fighting in Lebanon occurred in the south, inside the Israeli-occupied zone, under the Southern-Lebanese-Army influence led by
Military structure and organization
The LRP militia began to be quietly raised in 1974 by Sakr in his capacity as president of the Party, though it was only in September 1975 when they made their existence public in an official communiqué as the Guardians of the Cedars. Headquartered at the main LRP party' Offices in
Weapons and equipment
They fielded a mechanized force consisting of a single
Activities and areas of operations
In stark contrast to other Christian factions, the LRP/GoC despised any illegal activities such as
Political beliefs
The Guardians hold to several key beliefs:
- Lebanon is an ancient nation of unique ethnicity.
- Modern Lebanese people descended from the Phoenicians.
- Phoenicia was the father of early Western civilization.
This has led the Guardians of the Cedars to maintain that Lebanese people are not Arabs. The political consequence of this stance advocates the 'de-Arabization' of Lebanon. Similarly, followers draw a distinction between
After heavy Palestinian involvement in the
This alliance with Israel played a major role in banning the party, and expelling its members who mostly fled to Israel. Saqr, who now lives in Nicosia, Cyprus, has since admitted that Israel has been funding the group throughout its existence, even before the war began. Saqr is now considered as a traitor to the Lebanese government, alongside the likes of Antoine Lahad who resided in Tel Aviv under Mossad protection until his death in 2015.[14]
According to an Israeli military observer Haim 'Arev, the soldiers of the Guardians of the Cedars were the best and most experienced fighters among the militias that constituted the Lebanese Front. He draws a direct connection between the patriotic ideology of the Guardians and the superior battle capacity of their fighters. He states that while the Guardians were among the smaller parties of the Lebanese Civil war, its idealistic men and women were soldiers of the best caliber. Later, in Southern Lebanon, the Guardians fighters had a reputation for being exceptionally motivated and among the toughest fighters in the ranks of the SLA.[15]
Front of the Guardians of the Cedar
The Front of the Guardians of the Cedar – FGoC (
Lebanese Renewal Party
The Lebanese Renewal Party – LRP (
History
It was formed by
During the
After the 1982 Lebanon War the party cooperated with Israel Defense Forces, and its militia joined the South Lebanon Army (SLA). After the withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon in 2000, most of the leadership fled to Israel. The group was banned by the Syrian-dominated government and decided to give up its arms to become a traditional political party. It remains banned, and is only a minor force in national life. Still, some of the rhetoric used by the LRP in advocating its domestic policies was revived during the Cedar Revolution in 2005, which forced the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon and led to expectations of political reform.[citation needed]
Ideological beliefs
The Lebanese Renewal Party is
Another distinguishing element of the party's politics was that it advocated cooperation with Israel. While there were several other movements on the Christian side in Lebanon that cooperated with Israel during the war, the LNR was the only organization openly and ideologically committed to this, regarding a Lebanese-Israeli axis as the best protection against Arabism and the Palestinians.[citation needed]
Attitude towards Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims
The GoC was strongly anti-Palestinian, and argued for the forcible removal of all Palestinians and other non-Lebanese (e.g. Syrians) from Lebanon, both civilians and armed fighters. GoC leader
"It is the Palestinians we have to deal with. Ten years ago there were 84,000; now there are between 600,000 and 700,000. In six years there will be two million. We can't let it come to that." His solution: "Very simple. We shall drive them to the borders of brotherly Syria ... Anyone who looks back, stops or returns will be shot on the spot. We have the moral right, reinforced by well-organized public relations plans and political preparations."
However, in contrast to the policies of many other sectarian militias (such as the
End of the militia
1989 saw the Guardians once more fighting the Syrians alongside the Lebanese Army in support of the military interim government of General Michel Aoun. In a statement in 1990, the GoC greeted the occupation of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein by asserting that "Arabism is the undisputed lie of the 20th century." The Guardians called upon the people to rally around the leadership of General Aoun, and demanded the withdrawal of Lebanon from the Arab League.
As the Lebanese Civil War drew to a close in 1990, political changes weakened the right-wing movements which had existed in earlier decades. In October 1990, as part of the end of the war, the reorganized Lebanese government forced Prime Minister Aoun out of power under Syrian demands and commands. From this year on, Syria occupied Lebanon until its withdrawal in 2005.
From the end of the civil war in 1990 until the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 the Guardians of the Cedars formed an element of the now-defunct South Lebanon Army. Since that date their military operations have ceased and they operate solely politically, campaigning to remove the Syrian presence in Lebanon. In common with the Christian and Sunni-dominated March 14 Alliance, the party has expressed its support for the Syrian uprising.[16][17][18]
Movement of Lebanese Nationalism
Today, the reorganized Guardians of the Cedars is a legal and fully functional political party; lately, the term Movement of Lebanese Nationalism (
See also
- Al-Tanzim
- Battle of the Hotels
- Etienne Saqr
- Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners
- Lebanese Front
- Lebanese Forces
- Lebanese Civil War
- List of weapons of the Lebanese Civil War
- Karantina massacre
- South Lebanon Army
- Siege of Tel al-Zaatar
Footnotes
- ^ Chakhtoura, La guerre des graffiti (2005), p. 121.
- ^ Etienne Saqr, "The Ideology of the Guardians of the Cedars" (Lebanon 1977) original Title: من عقيدة حراس الأرز
- ^ فضل شرورو "الأحزاب و التنظيمات و القوى في لبنان 1930-1980" بيروت 1981
- ^ Micheal Kuderna, "Christliche gruppen im Libanon (Wiesbaden 1983)
- ^ Fisk, Pity the Nation (2001), p. 85.
- ^ Makdisi and Sadaka, The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990 (2003), p. 44, Table 1: War Period Militias.
- ^ Cooper & Sandler, Lebanese Civil War Volume 2: Quiet before the Storm, 1978-1981 (2021), p. 7.
- ^ Sex & Abi-Chahine, Modern Conflicts 2 – The Lebanese Civil War, From 1975 to 1991 and Beyond (2021), p. 59.
- ^ An ex-ISF V-200 Chaimite employed by the Guardians of the Cedars pictured at Houche-el-Oumara during the Battle for Zahle, April–June 1981.
- ^ Sex & Abi-Chahine, Modern Conflicts 2 – The Lebanese Civil War, From 1975 to 1991 and Beyond (2021), p. 61.
- ^ GoC M34 gun-truck armed with a ZU-23-2 AA autocannon, c.1976.
- ^ 1/72 scale model of a GoC M34 gun-truck with ZU-23-2 Anti-Aircraft autocannon.
- ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 90.
- ^ "Antoine Lahd, ancien chef de l'ALS, est décédé à Paris". 11 September 2015.
- ^ Nisan, The conscience of Lebanon (2003), p. 45.
- ^ Statement by The Guardians of the Cedars Party - The Movement for Lebanese Nationalism on July 31, 2012
- ^ http://gotc.info/images/Statements/TheCommander/English/2012/bayeen_3_20_12_en_The%20Syrian%20Revolution%20in%20Its%20Second%20Year%20A%20Balance%20Sheet.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ http://gotc.info/images/Statements/TheCommander/English/2013/bayeen_3_12_13_en.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Official website of "The Guardians of the Cedars Party - Movement of Lebanese Nationalism"". Archived from the original on 2009-02-10. Retrieved 2004-07-11.
References
- ISBN 0-333-72975-7
- Maria Chakhtoura, La guerre des graffiti, Éditions Dar an-Nahar, Beyrouth 2005. (in French)
- Jennifer Philippa Eggert, Female Fighters and Militants During the Lebanese Civil War: Individual Profiles, Pathways, and Motivations, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, 2018. – [1]
- ISBN 978-0-7146-8378-2
- Moustafa El-Assad, Blue Steel IV: M-50 Shermans and M-50 APCs in South Lebanon, Blue Steel books, Sidon 2007. ASIN B0011X4YIY
- Moustafa El-Assad, Civil Wars Volume 1: The Gun Trucks, Blue Steel books, Sidon 2008. ISBN 9953-0-1256-8
- ISBN 0-19-280130-9 – [2]
- Plonka Arkadiusz, L'idée de langue libanaise d'après Sa'īd 'Aql, Geuthner, Paris 2004. ISBN 2-7053-3739-3 (in French)
- Samer Kassis, 30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon, Beirut: Elite Group, 2003. ISBN 9953-0-0705-5
- Samer Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon 1975-1981, Trebia Publishing, Chyah 2012. ISBN 978-9953-0-2372-4
- Samir Makdisi and Richard Sadaka, The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990, American University of Beirut, Institute of Financial Economics, Lecture and Working Paper Series (2003 No.3), pp. 1–53. – [3]
- Tom Cooper & Efim Sandler, Lebanese Civil War Volume 2: Quiet before the Storm, 1978-1981, Middle East@War No. 41, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull UK 2021. ISBN 978-1-914059-04-9
- Zachary Sex & Bassel Abi-Chahine, Modern Conflicts 2 – The Lebanese Civil War, From 1975 to 1991 and Beyond, Modern Conflicts Profile Guide Volume II, AK Interactive, 2021. EAN 8435568306073
Further reading
- Fawwaz Traboulsi, A History of Modern Lebanon: Second Edition, Pluto Press, London 2012. ISBN 978-0745332741
- Jean Sarkis, Histoire de la guerre du Liban, Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. ISBN 978-2-13-045801-2 (in French)
- Rex Brynen, Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon, Boulder: Westview Press, Oxford 1990. ISBN 0 86187 123 5 – [4]
- Jonathan Randall, The Tragedy of Lebanon: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers, and American Bunglers, Just World Books, Charlottesville, Virginia 2012. ISBN 978-1-935982-16-6
- Samir Kassir, La Guerre du Liban: De la dissension nationale au conflit régional, Éditions Karthala/CERMOC, Paris 1994. ISBN 978-2865374991 (in French)
- Marius Deeb, The Lebanese Civil War, Praeger Publishers Inc., New York 1980. ISBN 978-0030397011
- William W. Harris, Faces of Lebanon: Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions, Princeton Series on the Middle East, Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton 1997. ISBN 978-1558761155, 1-55876-115-2
External links
- Guardians of the Cedars Archived 2009-02-10 at the Wayback Machine - Official website
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