Popular Guard

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Flag of Lebanese Communist Party
Popular Guard
Participant in Lebanese civil war (1975-1990)
Active present
Groups Lebanese Communist Party
Lebanese National Movement (LNM), Lebanese National Resistance Front (LNRF)
Leaders George Hawi, Elias Atallah
Headquarters Zarif (Beirut), Houla South Lebanon
Strength 2,000 fighters
Originated as 5,000 fighters
Allies Lebanese National Resistance Front, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Syrian Social National Party (SSNP), Communist Action Organization in Lebanon, Lebanese National Movement, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Syrian Army, Hezbollah
Opponents Lebanese Forces, Tigers Militia, Kataeb Party, Guardians of the Cedars, Israel Defense Forces (IDF), South Lebanon Army (SLA), Amal Movement, Al-Murabitoun, Islamic Unification Movement, Syrian Army

The Popular Guard or PG (Arabic: الحرس الشعبي | Al-Harass al-Sha'abiy), Garde Populaire (GP) in French were the military wing of the Lebanese Communist Party, from 1969. The LCP militia, which fought in the early years of the Lebanese Civil War and was a part of the Lebanese National Movement and its successor the Lebanese National Resistance Front.

Origins

The LCP’s militia was not only well organized, but also the largest secular and non-sectarian militia. It was founded in 1958 unofficially during the 1958 civil war. Fighting alongside the anti-government forces against the governmental forces and the Multinational Force in Lebanon.

In early 1969, the Lebanese Communist Party decided to create the "Popular Guard" to defend the border villages in South Lebanon.

On January 6, 1970, the LCP issued for the establishment of the "Popular Guard" as an impact of occupying Kfar Kila and Houla villages in South Lebanon and kidnapping people in these towns by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Prior to the war, the Popular Guard militia initially received covert support from the USSR, Syria, Iraq, Libya and from well-connected left-wing sympathizers in Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Eastern Bloc Countries and East Germany. Weapons were purchased in the international black market or directly from eastern bloc countries, namely Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. Furthermore, the LCP started sending its militamen to training camps in Jordan under the control of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Jordanian Communist Party. Moreover, the LCP's links with the Iraqi Communist Party and the Syrian Communist Party lead them to form good ties with the Iraqi Government and the Syrian Government to train militants and purchase high-tech soviet arms.[1]

Military structure and actions

By the beginning of the 1975 civil war, the Popular Guard were able to muster 5,000 as both regular and irregular militiamen. The Popular Guard militiamen wore the olive green battle dress with either a black or red beret and a kaffiyeh.

After the return of George Hawi the Popular Guard joined the Lebanese National Movement-PLO Joint Forces. The Popular Guard involved in many battles against the Lebanese Christian right-wing Lebanese Front.

On October 24, 1975, the Popular Guard fought within the Lebanese National Movement alongside with the PLO in the Battle of the Hotels in Downtown Beirut against the Lebanese Front.

It is worth mentioning, that the LCP didn't participate in the Damour massacre against the Christian company in Damour town.[citation needed]

Resistance against IDF

On September 16, 1982, the General Secretary of the LCP George Hawi and the General Secretary of Communist Action Organization in Lebanon Muhsin Ibrahim announced the launch of the Lebanese National Resistance Front which contains many leftist and pan-Arab parties and factions to resist the Israeli Defence Forces occupation of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon and Beqaa.

Arms and Weapons

Pistols

Carbines and Rifles

Machine guns and autocannons

Sniper rifles

Rocket propelled and grenade systems

Vehicles

Battles

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "منتديات ستار تايمز". Startimes.com. 2008-11-04. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  2. ↑ Mahé, La Guerre Civile Libanaise, un chaos indescriptible (1975-1990), p. 81.
  3. ↑ Dunord, Liban: Les milices rendent leurs armes (1991), p. 31.
  4. ↑ Herbert Docena (17 August 2006). "Amid the bombs, unity is forged". Asia Times Online. "The LCP...has itself been very close to Hezbollah and fought alongside it in the frontlines in the south. According to Hadadeh, at least 12 LCP members and supporters died in the fighting." 

References

  • Jean Dunord, Liban: Les milices rendent leurs armes, RAIDS magazine n.º65, October 1991 issue. (in French)
  • Moustafa El-Assad, Civil Wars Volume 1: The Gun Trucks, Blue Steel books, Sidon 2008. ISBN 9953-0-1256-8
  • Samer Kassis, 30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon, Beirut: Elite Group, 2003.
  • Samer Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon 1975-1981, L’Echo des Cedres, Beirut 2011. ISBN 978-1-934293-06-5
  • Yann Mahé, La Guerre Civile Libanaise, un chaos indescriptible (1975-1990), Trucks & Tanks Magazine n.º 41, January–February 2014, pp. 78–81. ISSN: 1957-4193
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