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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 armoured cars, light tanks, and tracked or wheeled APCs, along with field guns and Howitzers.

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

• Lebanese civil war
• Lebanese Front
• Lebanese Forces
• South Lebanon Army

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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