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 80s,
initially as Iranian proxy |
Palestinian Liberation Organization's
affiliated militias
(e.g. Fatah militia, PFLP-GC militia) | Palestinian 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 | As Syria required | 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 |
1. ^http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/lebanon/lb_appnb.html