List of armed groups in the Lebanese Civil War
The list of militias in the Lebanese civil war does not include the "legal" Lebanese Army; note that the Army split into two major parts:
- The Maronite-led "legal" Lebanese Army favoured the Lebanese Front government
- The Muslim "Lebanese Arab Army" fought for the rival Lebanese National Movement government
In addition, there was an autonomous faction within the "legal" Lebanese Army called the Army of Free Lebanon. It formed in 1976 and was composed of Maronites and Greek-Catholics reacting against the split with the mainly Muslim Lebanese Arab Army. It continued to be paid by the government, and was fully re-integrated into the "legal" army in 1978, with the exception of some units which chose instead to form the South Lebanon Army listed below.
| Militia | Political Organization | Main faction | Community | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lebanese Forces | Lebanese Front (as a whole); Lebanese Forces Party
led by Samir Geagea, emerged from LF structure. |
Lebanese Front | Maronite | Initially an umbrella organization for Maronite party militias; became an independent power structure in the year 1992. |
| Kataeb Regulatory Forces | Kataeb | Lebanese Front | Maronite | |
| Kataeb Security Sections | Kataeb | Lebanese Front | Maronite | The Kataeb party's "police militia" First commander was Bashir Gemayel |
| Tigers Militia | National Liberal Party | Lebanese Front | Maronite | |
| Zgharta Liberation Army (informally "Marada Brigades") |
Marada Movement | Lebanese Front (until 1978) | Maronite | Operated around its power-base in northern Lebanon; pro-Syrian after 1978 |
| Guardians of the Cedars | Lebanese Renewal Party | Lebanese Front | Maronite | Extremist group |
| "The Organization" In Arabic: At-tanzim |
Cedars Movement | Lebanese Front | Maronite | Secretive, was possibly linked to Lebanese Army |
| South Lebanon Army | Government of Free Lebanon | Government of Free Lebanon | Maronite-led, Muslim recruits |
Israeli proxy |
| Lebanese Forces – Executive Command | Promise Party (Waad) formed by Hobeika and loyalists. | Maronite | Notorious Lebanese Forces splinter group led by Hobeika; pro-Syrian | |
| Lebanese Arab Army | Lebanese National Movement's (self-proclaimed) government |
LNM/LNRF | Sunni (by default). | Broke away from Lebanese Army; considered itself the legitimate Lebanese Army and at highpoint controlled 3/4 of Lebanese Army positions |
| Arab Red Knights | Arab Democratic Party | LNRM | Alawite | Pro-Syrian; Small but received very considerable support from Syria's Alawite leader; eventually controlled Tripoli harbour |
| People's Liberation Army | Progressive Socialist Party | LNM/LNRF | Druze | Power base in the Chouf mountains south of Beirut |
| Lebanese Resistance Regiments (abbreviated to Amal) |
Amal Movement | LNM/LNRF | Shi'a | Militia created with Fatah support |
| Islamic Resistance | Hezbollah | LNM/LNRF | Shi'a | Evolved from Amal in early 1980s, initially as Iranian proxy |
| Palestine Liberation Organization's affiliated militias (e.g. Fatah militia, PFLP-GC militia) |
Palestine Liberation Organization | Palestinian (at times fought alongside LNM/LNRF) |
Palestinian | Different PLO militias often fought as proxies of different Arab states, including Syria, Iraq, & Libya |
| Palestinian Liberation Army | purely nominally, under the Palestinian Liberation Organization |
Pro-Syria | Palestinian | Under Syrian command |
| Popular Guard | Lebanese Communist Party | LNM/LNRF | Secular | Secular, but most members nominally from Orthodox & Armenian communities |
| SSNP militia | Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) |
LNM/LNRF | Secular | Advocated union with Syria; 1976 split into pro- and anti-Assad factions members linked to assassinations of Jumblatt and Gemayel[1] |
| Al-Mourabitoun | Independent Nasserite Movement | LNM/LNRF | Sunni | |
| Tawheed | Islamic Unification Movement | Sunni | Islamist movement, mainly fought the Syrian army and its allies in Tripoli | |
| Divisions of Victory | Union of Toiling Peoples Forces (a Nasserite group) |
LNM/LNRF | Muslim | Pro-Syrian |
| Ba'ath militias | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party | LNM/LNRF | Secular | Split into two rival Ba'ath militias, one pro-Iraqi, the other pro-Syrian |
See also
- Lebanese Armed Forces
- Lebanese Civil War
- List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
- Weapons of the Lebanese Civil War