Lebanese National Movement
The Lebanese National Movement (LNM; Arabic: الحركة الوطنية اللبنانية, Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya) was a front of Leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War, which supported the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It was headed by Kamal Jumblatt, a prominent Druze leader of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). The Vice-President was Inaam Raad, leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and Assem Qanso of the pro-Syrian Lebanese Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The general secretary of the LNM was Mohsen Ibrahim, leader of the Communist Action Organization in Lebanon (CAOL).[1]
Lebanese National Movement
الحركة الوطنية اللبنانية
1969–1982
Al-Mourabitoun
Progressive Socialist Party (PSP)
Lebanese Communist Party (LCP)
Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon (SSNP)
Communist Action Organization in Lebanon (OCAL)
Lebanese Movement in Support of Fatah (LMSF)
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Lebanon Region
Revolutionary Communist Group
Sixth of February Movement
Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party (SALVP)
Popular Nasserist Organization (PNO)
Lebanese Arab Army (LAA)
Other minor organizations
Throughout Lebanon, especially in Palestinian refugee camps
18,700 (1975)
46,900 (1976) (including allied PLO fighters)
Lebanese Front
Lebanese Forces
Army of Free Lebanon (AFL)
South Lebanon Army (SLA)
Israel
Syria (after 1976)
The LNM was one of two main coalitions during the first rounds of fighting in the Lebanese Civil War, the other being the militias of the mainly Christian Lebanese Front, which comprised the nationalist Phalange, the National Liberal Party and others; as well as parts of the Maronite-dominated central government.
Participation in the Lebanese Civil War 1975-1982[edit]
As fighting escalated, the LNM allied itself with the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and by early 1976 the LNM controlled 80% of Lebanon's territory.[4] But as its relations with Damascus deteriorated, the pro-Syrian Ba'ath branch, Union of Working People's Forces and an important SSNP faction left the movement, and formed alongside Amal Movement the Front of Patriotic and National Parties.
In June 1976, the Syrian Army, fearing that a Palestinian victory would weaken its own strategic position, received a request from the Lebanese Front to intervene on their behalf.[5] After strong initial resistance, the LNM/PLO forces began losing ground, and once the Arab states eventually approved the Syrian intervention after the Cairo and Riyadh conferences, the common forces accepted a cease-fire. The Syrian Army then took the role of peace-keepers, as part of Arab League's Arab Deterrent Force (ADF), between the belligerents. In 1977, Walid Jumblatt became the head of the LNM after the murder of his resigning father, Kamal, in an ambush widely accredited to either pro-Syrian Palestinian militants or Lebanese SSNP agents working for the Syrian intelligence services.[6][7][8][9][10] Despite this, Walid aligned himself with Syria, and maintained a good working relationship with Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad (who had shared with his father a mutual distrust).
In 1978 the Israeli Operation Litani in southern Lebanon was partly directed against LNM militias, then fighting alongside the PLO after relations improved with Syria. In June 1982, the Movement was virtually dissolved after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and replaced by the Lebanese National Resistance Front – LNRF (Arabic: جبهة المقاومة الوطنية اللبنانية, Jabhat al-Muqawama al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya), which commenced resistance operations against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in September of that same year.