Lebanese National Resistance Front

Lebanese National Resistance Front
Leaders	George Hawi Mahdi Amel Elias Atallah Muhsin Ibrahim Walid Jumblatt Inaam Raad Hussein Hamdan
Dates of operation	1982–1999
Group(s)	Lebanese Communist Party Communist Action Organization Progressive Socialist Party Arab Socialist Action Party – Lebanon Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Lebanon Region Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon Armed Revolutionary Factions Popular Nasserist Organization Arab Democratic Party
Headquarters	Beirut Kfar Remen
Active regions	Beirut Mount Lebanon South Lebanon Jabal Amel West Beqaa Rashaya
Ideology	Arab nationalism Marxism-Leninism Anti-Zionism Revolutionary socialism Arab socialism Pan-Arabism Baathism Anti-imperialism Secularism Syrian nationalism Left-wing nationalism
Political position	Far-left
Size	25,000 fighters
Allies	Palestine Liberation Organization Fatah Movement Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Palestinian Liberation Front Rejectionist Front Al-Mourabitoun Amal Movement Hezbollah ASALA PKK Syrian Armed Forces
Opponents	Lebanese Forces Lebanese Armed Forces (only in 1983) Internal Security Forces (ISF) (only in 1983) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) South Lebanon Army (SLA)
Battles and wars	the Lebanese Civil War and the South Lebanon conflict
Flag

The Lebanese National Resistance Front (LNRF; Arabic: جبهة المقاومة الوطنية اللبنانية, romanized: Jabhat al-Muqawama al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya), best known by its Arabic acronym, ‘Jammoul’ (جمول), was a leftist alliance active in Lebanon in the 1980s. It acted as a successor to the Lebanese National Movement, which ceased to exist after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Origins

This organization was founded on September 16, 1982, the same day the Israeli army entered West Beirut. The secretary general of the central committee of the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) George Hawi, the secretary general of the Organization of Communist Action – Lebanon (OCAL) Muhsin Ibrahim, the Arab Socialist Action Party – Lebanon (ASAP-L) secretary general Hussein Hamdan, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Lebanon Region, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon (SSNP) issued that day a joint communiqué calling for the Lebanese people to raise up in arms and unite into a "Lebanese National Resistance Front" against the Israeli Occupation.

The pro-Syrian Arab Democratic Party (ADP) and the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF) rallied to the LNRF banner, which gained support of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leftist and Marxist factions based in Lebanon, mainly from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

Structure and organization

The LNRF did not have the strength of other larger militant groups in Lebanon. It was estimated at some 200–500 or so fighters drawn from the LCP, OCAL, LABP, ADP, LARF, PFLP and DFLP, placed under the overall command of Elias Atallah. A joint operational HQ was established at the village of Kfar Rumman in the Jabal Amel region of southern Lebanon, with Hawi and Ibrahim meeting daily to coordinate the activities of the Front's underground cells at west Beirut, Sidon, Tyre and Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon.

Most observers believe that the Front was a pro-Syrian organization whose membership was primarily Lebanese. However, the PLO stated that the actions claimed by the LNRF were actually carried out by isolated Palestinian guerrilla cells and some radical Lebanese leftists who supported them.

Activities: 1982–85

The LNRF carried out attacks against the IDF and Israeli-related targets in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and the South in June, July and August 1983. At this point it was known as the Lebanese National Salvation Front and was backed by Syria.

Decline and demise: 1986–2000

A considerable number of LNRF fighters were killed in combat while fighting Israeli and South Lebanese Army (SLA) troops, whereas militants such as Anwar Yassin and Soha Bechara were taken prisoner and held in the Khiam detention center. Several others were killed in assassinations against leftist activists in Beirut and southern Lebanon in the late 1980s.

The last recorded Jammoul operation in the south occurred in 1999.

See also

• Lebanese Civil War
• Lebanese National Movement
• Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth

References

• Denise Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943–1990, Fayard, Paris 2005. ISBN 978-2-213-61521-9 (in French) – [1]
• Edgar O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon, 1975–92, Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. ISBN 978-0-333-72975-5
• Jean Sarkis, Histoire de la guerre du Liban, Presses Universitaires de France – PUF, Paris 1993. ISBN 978-2-13-045801-2 (in French)
• Rex Brynen, Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon, Boulder: Westview Press, Oxford 1990. ISBN 0 86187 123 5 – [2]
• Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, London: Oxford University Press, (3rd ed. 2001). ISBN 0-19-280130-9

External links

• http://www.jammoul.net