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Revision as of 22:11, 24 January 2011
The Army of Free Lebanon – AFL (Arabic: Lubnan al-Jaiysh al-Horr) or Armée du Liban Libre (ALL) in French, was a splinter faction of the Lebanese Army formed on January 23, 1976 at Beirut by Lebanese Colonel Antoine Barakat. The AFL was created by Col. Barakat, who rose with its troops in support of the them President of Lebanon Suleiman Frangieh, in response for Lieutenant Ahmed al-Khatib’s rebellion two days earlier at the head of the breakway Lebanese Arab Army (LAA).
Also designated Coronel Barakat's Army or Armée du Colonel Barakat in French and headquartered at Fayadieh barracks, a major military facility situated in the vinicty of the Ministry of Defense complex at Yarze, the AFL numbered some 3,000 uniformed regulars, mostly Christian Maronites and Greek-Catholics. They were organized into conventional armour, infantry and artillery units provided with Panhard AML-90 and Staghound armoured cars, AMX-13 and M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks, M42 Duster SPAAGs, and tracked M113 or wheeled Panhard M3 VTT armoured personnel carriers, along with QF Mk III 25 Pounder field guns, US M114 155 mm howitzers and French Mle 1950 BF-50 155mm howitzers (Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50).
The AFL came to play a major role in the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, fighting alongside the Lebanese Front militias against the leftist Lebanese National Movement (LNM), the LAA, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrilla factions. In 1978 however, Col. Barakat and its men were re-integrated into the official battle order of the re-organized Lebanese Armed Forces.
See also
References
- Edgar O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon, 1975–92, Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. ISBN 978-0333729757
- Rex Brynen, Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon, Boulder: Westview Press, 1990.
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