Arab Deterrent Force

The Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) was a military intervention force created by the Arab League.

As the Lebanese Civil War escalated in 1976, the Arab League created an intervention force composed almost entirely of Syrian forces with token contributions from other Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Libya. Although nominally present at the behest of the government of Lebanon, the force was under the direct command of Syria. The ADF initially consisted of 30,000 troops of which 25,000 were provided by Syria. In the spring of 1979, after the Arab League had extended the mandate of the Arab Deterrent Force, the Sudanese, the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates troops departed Lebanon, the Libyan troops were essentially abandoned and had to find their own way home (if at all), and the ADF thereby became a purely Syrian force (which did include the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA)).

In June 1982, a year after Israel invaded and occupied Southern Lebanon, the Lebanese government failed to extend the ADF's mandate, thereby effectively ending its existence, although not the Syrian or Israeli military presence in Lebanon.

Bibliography

• Claudio Lo Jacono, "L’intervento della Siria in Libano", in: Oriente Moderno, LVI, 1976, pp. 379-399. ["The intervention of Syria in Lebanon", in: Modern East.]

Futher reading

• Istvan Pogany, The Arab League and Peacekeeping in the Lebanon, Palgrave Macmillan (December 1987), ISBN-10: 0312007825

ISBN-13: 978-0312007829.