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Saad Haddad
Saad Haddad (; 1936 – 14 January 1984) was a Lebanese military officer and the founder and head of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) during the Lebanese Civil War. Originally a Major in the Lebanese Army, he defected and formed the SLA and created the separatist State of Free Lebanon backed by Israel. For years Haddad closely collaborated with and received arms and political support from Israel against Lebanese government forces, Hezbollah, and the Syrian Army. Haddad died of cancer in his house in Marjayoun. Early life Haddad was born to a Greek Catholic family in Marjayoun. He received part of his training at Fort Benning in the United States. Lebanese Civil War During the 1970s, there was a cyclical pattern of guerrilla attacks carried out by Palestinian militants on Israel and by the Israel Defense Forces on Palestinian targets in Lebanon. After the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanese-generated security concerns grew for Israel. At the same time, the breakdown ...
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State Of Free Lebanon
The State of Free Lebanon (, ) was an unrecognized separatist country in Lebanon. On 18 April 1979, Lebanese military officer Saad Haddad proclaimed the independence of a "Free Lebanon" out of the southernmost territory of Lebanon, amidst the hostilities of the Lebanese Civil War. Haddad was the founding commander of the South Lebanon Army, a quasi-military that aimed to serve the political interests of Lebanon's Maronite Christians during the conflict. Though Free Lebanon garnered no international recognition, it received support from neighbouring Israel; the South Lebanon Army and the Israel Defense Forces had established a working alliance with each other during the 1978 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Despite being further bolstered by the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the authority of Free Lebanon rapidly deteriorated following Haddad's death in 1984. In the post-Haddad era, Maronite governance continued in the form of the South Lebanon security belt administration, whi ...
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Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and the Israeli Navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, Israeli security apparatus. The IDF is headed by the Chief of the General Staff (Israel), chief of the general staff, who is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense (Israel), defense minister. On the orders of first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, the IDF was formed on 26 May 1948 and began to operate as a Conscription in Israel, conscript military, drawing its initial recruits from the already-existing paramilitaries of the Yishuv—namely Haganah, the Irgun, and Lehi (militant group), Lehi. It was formed shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence and has participated in List of wars involving Israel, every armed conflict involving Israel. In the wak ...
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Wartime Collaboration
Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to the 19th century and was used in France during the Napoleonic Wars. The meaning shifted during World War II to designate traitorous collaboration with the enemy. The related term ''collaborationism'' is used by historians who restrict the term to a subset of ideological collaborators in Vichy France who actively promoted German victory. Etymology The term ''collaborate'' dates from 1871, and is a back-formation from collaborator (1802), from the French ''collaborateur''. It was used during the Napoleonic Wars against smugglers trading with England and assisting in the escape of monarchists. It is derived from the Latin ''collaboratus'', past participle of ''collaborare'' "work with", from ''com''- "with" + ''labore'' "to work". The meaning of "tra ...
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Militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or serve as a pool of available manpower for regular forces to draw from. When acting independently, militias are generally unable to hold ground against regular forces. Militias commonly support regular troops by skirmishing, holding fortifications, or conducting irregular warfare, instead of undertaking offensive campaigns by themselves. However, militias may also engage in defense activities to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws. For example, naval militias may comprise fishermen and other civilians which are organized and sanctioned by a state to enforce its maritime boundaries. Beginning in the late 20th century, some militias (in particular officially recognized and sanctioned militias of a government) act as profe ...
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United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, 425 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 426, 426, and several further resolutions in 2006 to confirm Hezbollah demilitarisation, support Lebanese army operations against insurgents and weapon smuggling, and confirming Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, in order to ensure that the Politics of Lebanon, government of Lebanon would restore its effective authority in the area. The 1978 South Lebanon conflict came in the context of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Civil War. The mandate had to be adjusted due to the 1982 Lebanon War, Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and after the South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)#2000 Israeli withdrawal and collapse of South Lebanon Army, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Follo ...
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Litani River
The Litani River (), the classical Leontes (), is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of Baalbek, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre. Exceeding in length, the Litani is the longest river that flows entirely in Lebanon and provides an average annual flow estimated at 920 million cubic meters (over 240 million Imperial gallons or 243 million U.S. gallons). The Litani provides a major source for water supply, irrigation and hydroelectricity both within Southern Lebanon, and the country as a whole. Etymology The Litani is named after the Ugaritic deity Ltn (reconstructed pronunciation ''līyitānu''), a seven-headed sea serpent and servant of the sea god Yam. The ''ī'' in the Lebanese name preserves the hypothesized ''ī'' in Ugaritic. Robert Rose writes that the deity is the river, which that winds and coils like a serpent through the Beqaa Valley, personified. History Historians in the past ...
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Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the Palestinian diaspora, diaspora. It is currently represented by the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh. Founded in 1964, it initially sought to establish an Arab world, Arab state over the entire territory of the former Mandatory Palestine, advocating the elimination of Israel. Mediated talks between the Israeli government and the PLO in 1993 (the Oslo I Accord) resulted in the PLO recognizing Legitimacy of the State of Israel, Israel's legitimacy and accepting United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which mandated Israel's withdrawal from occupied territories, while Israel recognized the PLO as a legitimate authority representing the Palestinian people. Despite the Israel–Pal ...
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1978 South Lebanon Conflict
The 1978 South Lebanon conflict, also known as the First Israeli invasion of Lebanon and codenamed Operation Litani by Israel, began when Israel invaded southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in March 1978. It was in response to the Coastal Road massacre near Tel Aviv by Palestinian militants based in Lebanon. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 1,100–2,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, 20 Israelis, and the internal displacement of 100,000 to 250,000 people in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces gained a military victory against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the latter was forced to withdraw from southern Lebanon, preventing it from launching attacks on Israel from across its land border with Lebanon. In response to the outbreak of hostilities, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 425 and Resolution 426 on 19 March 1978, which called on Israel to immediately withdraw its troops from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interi ...
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Antoine Lahad
Antoine Lahad (; 22 August 1927 – 10 September 2015) was a Lebanese military officer and the leader of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) from 1984 until 2000, when the army withdrew from Southern Lebanon and was dissolved. Early life Born into a Maronite Catholic family in 1927 in the village of Kfar Qatra, Chouf District. He graduated from the Lebanese Military Academy in 1952. Military career Lahad took control of the SLA in 1984, following the death of Saad Haddad the founder of the SLA. After several meetings with many political leaders in Lebanon from all religions he agreed to take on the problematic south because his career and stature would allow him to hold together an army from all the Lebanese religions. Lahad was a Lebanese Army major general who was close to the Lebanese President, Camille Chamoun, a Maronite. Military career in the SLA While commanding the SLA General Lahad formed three regiments mainly from Druze, Shia and Christians who fought together to take b ...
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Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west; Cyprus lies a short distance from the coastline. Lebanon has a population of more than five million and an area of . Beirut is the country's capital and largest city. Human habitation in Lebanon dates to 5000 BC. From 3200 to 539 BC, it was part of Phoenicia, a maritime civilization that spanned the Mediterranean Basin. In 64 BC, the region became part of the Roman Empire and the subsequent Byzantine Empire. After the seventh century, it Muslim conquest of the Levant, came under the rule of different Islamic caliphates, including the Rashidun Caliphate, Rashidun, Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid. The 11th century saw the establishment of Christian Crusader states, which fell ...
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1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operating in southern Lebanon and the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli military, which had caused civilian casualties on both sides of the border. The Israeli military operation, codenamed Operation Peace for Galilee, was launched after gunmen from the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin blamed the PLO, using the incident as a ''casus belli''. It was the second invasion of Lebanon by Israel, following the 1978 South Lebanon conflict. The Israelis sought to end Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon, Palestinian attacks from Lebanon, destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the country, and install a pro-Israel Leban ...
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