The Kataeb Regulatory Forces – KRF () or Forces Régulatoires des Kataeb (FRK) in French, were the military wing of the right-wing Lebanese Christian Kataeb Party, otherwise known as the 'Phalange', from 1961 to 1977. The Kataeb militia, which fought in the early years of the Lebanese Civil War, was the predecessor of the Lebanese Forces.
Origins
The Phalange party militia was not only the largest and best organized political paramilitary force in Lebanon but also the oldest.Bavly & Salpeter, Fire in Beirut: Israel's War in Lebanon with the PLO (1984), p. 52. It was founded in 1937 as the "Fighter's organization" (| Tanẓīm al-muqātilīn) by the President of the Party, the za'im (political boss) Pierre Gemayel and William Hawi, a Lebanese-American glass industrialist, who led them during the 1958 civil war. Fighting alongside the pro-government forces in support of President Camille Chamoun,Rabinovich, The war for Lebanon (1989), p. 62. the Phalangists defended the Matn District, a traditional Phalangist stronghold centered at the town of Bikfaya – the Gemayel family's feudal seat –, and kept the main roads connecting Beirut to that territory open, where the Gemayels held numerous commercial interests.Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), p. 36.Tony Badran, Lebanon's Militia Wars in Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis (2009), p. 38.
Disbanded in January 1961 by order of the Kataeb Party's Political Bureau, Hawi created in their place the Kataeb Regulatory Forces. In order to coordinate the activities of all Phalange paramilitary forces, the Political Bureau set up the Kataeb War Council (Arabic: Majliss al-Harbi) in 1970, with William Hawi being appointed as head. The seat of the council was allocated at the Kataeb Party's Headquarters at the heart of Achrafieh quarter in East Beirut and a quiet expansion of KRF units followed suit, complemented by the development of a training infrastructure. Two company-sized Special Forces units, the "1st Commando" and the "2nd Commando" were created in 1963, soon followed by the "Pierre Gemayel" (PG) squad (later a company) and a small VIP protection squad, "The Rock" (Arabic: Al-Sakhra). To this was added in 1973 another commando platoon (Arabic: Maghaweer) and a "Combat School" was secretly opened at Tabrieh in the Keserwan District, followed in 1975 by a second training camp, established at Amaz, near the village of Mayrouba, also located in the Keserwan. Another special unit, the "Bashir Gemayel brigade" – named after Pierre Gemayel's youngest son, Bashir – was formed in 1976, absorbing the old PG company in the process.
Military structure and organization
By April 1975 the Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF) were able to muster 5,000 militiamen, a total which included 2,000 full-time uniformed fighters backed by some 3,000 irregulars, originally armed with obsolete firearms. However, some sources place the total of RF fighters higher, around 8,000,El-Khazen, The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon (2000), p. 303. organized into autonomous companies or battalions drawn from local Phalange party' sections (Arabic: qism). Each section was responsible for handling all defensive or offensive military operations on their home districts, except for the regular units (the "Commando", Maghaweer and PG companies), which were often deployed as mobile quick reaction forces.Saghieh, Ta'rib al-Kata'eb al-Lubnaniyya: al-Hizb, al-sulta, al-khawf (1991), p. 163. Although its membership and command structure was predominately Maronite, the KRF also included a few Greek-Catholics and Armenians in its ranks.
The KRF was re-organized and expanded in May 1975, and new specialized units were raised – a Signals battalion (Arabic: Silah al-Ishara), an armoured battalion (a.k.a. 2nd Armoured Battalion; Arabic: Silah al-Moudara'a) led by Joseph Elias, a battalion-sized women's section (Arabic: Nizamiyyat) led by Jocelyne Khoueiry, and an artillery group (Arabic: Silah al-Madfa'aiya) led by Antoine Bridi.Menargues, Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban (2004), p. 48. To maintain law and order in the areas under Phalangist control at Beirut and elsewhere, in 1976 a 1,000-strong Police unit, the Kataeb Security Detachments or "Sections Kataeb de Securité" (SKS) in French was formed and commanded by Raymond Assayan. The Phalangists practiced conscription in the areas they controlled, drafting eligible young men to swell its ranks,Collelo, Lebanon: a country study (1989), p. 239. and by January 1976 the KRF had increased to 10,000–15,000 men and women, this number including civilian recruits and deserters from the Lebanese Army.McGowan, Roberts, Abu Khalil, and Scott Mason, Lebanon: a country study (1989), p. 157. According to other sources, the KRF regular forces comprised more than 3,000 full-time uniformed fighters by mid-1978.
KRF militia units operated mainly in East Beirut, the Aley District, the Matn District, Mount Lebanon, the Koura and Keserwan Districts, but also had a presence at the south in the Jabal Amel, where their local militants – after merging with local Shia Muslim and Druze militias – played a key part in the formation on 21 October 1976 of the Israeli-backed informal "Army for the Defense of South Lebanon" or ADSL (French: Armée de Défense du Liban-Sud or ADLS),Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975–1985) (2012), p. 43. later to become known as the "Free Lebanese Army" (FLA), the predecessor of the South Lebanon Army (SLA).
After Hawi was killed in action at Tel al-Zaatar by a Palestinian sniper on 13 July 1976, he was replaced by Bashir Gemayel, the senior KRF Inspector since 1971 and future supremo of the Lebanese Forces.Bavly & Salpeter, Fire in Beirut: Israel's War in Lebanon with the PLO (1984), p. 52.Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), p. 52.Rabinovich, The war for Lebanon (1989), p. 64.Menargues, Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban (2004), p. 45. On August that year, he moved the Kataeb War Council from the Kataeb Party's offices in Achrafieh to his new Headquarters situated in an abandoned hospital at the Karantina neighborhood located east of the Port of Beirut.Menargues, Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban (2004), p. 46.
List of KRF Commanders William Hawi (1961–1976) Bashir Gemayel (1976–1980)
KRF junior commanders Amine Gemayel Antoine Bridi Boutros Khawand Elie Hobeika (a.k.a. 'HK') Elie Zayek Fadi Frem Fouad Abou Nader Jocelyne Khoueiry Joseph Elias Joseph Saadeh Massoud Achkar (a.k.a. 'Poussy' Achkar) Raymond Assayan Sami Khoueiry Samir Geagea (a.k.a. 'Hakim')
Other KRF personnel Dominique Borella Richard Millet
Administrative organization and illegal activities
The Phalange was the first Lebanese faction to carve out its own Canton in late 1976, designated variously as the East Beirut canton, "Christian Country", "Maronite enclave" or "Marounistan". Covering a surface of 2,000 square kilometers, the Canton comprised the Matn District, most of the Keserwan District, along with East Beirut, and the coastal districts of Jounieh, Amsheet, Byblos and parts of Batroun.Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), p. 57.
Considered by many analysts as the best organized of all militia "fiefs" in the whole of Lebanon, it was administrated by a network of Phalangist-controlled business corporations headed by "Chef" Boutros Khawand, which included the GAMMA Group brain-trust, the DELTA computer company, and the SONAPORT holding. The latter run since 1975 the legal commercial ports of Jounieh and Beirut, including the infamous clandestine "Dock Five" (French: Cinquième basin), near the Karantina KRF's HQ, from which the Phalange extracted additional revenues by levying illegal taxes and carried out drug-trafficking and arms-smuggling operations.Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), pp. 58–59.Menargues, Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban (2004), p. 47.Traboulsi, Identités et solidarités croisées dans les conflits du Liban contemporain; Chapitre 12: L'économie politique des milices: le phénomène mafieux (2007), parte III.
The Canton was also served by a clandestine-built airstrip, the Pierre Gemayel International Airport, opened in 1976 at Hamat, north of Batroun,Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War (2001), p. 179. and had its own radio station, "The Voice of Lebanon" (Arabic: Iza'at Sawt Loubnan) or "La Voix du Liban" (VDL) in French, set up in that same year.
Controversy
Stubborn and ruthless fighters with a reputation for racketeering,Randall, The Tragedy of Lebanon (2012), pp. 133–134. the Phalangists themselves were not above committing sectarian violence, a trait they manifested early on in the years leading to the civil war. On 24 March 1970 a squad of Phalange militiamen led by Bashir Gemayel ambushed a PLO funeral cortege heading for Damascus when it passed through the Christian village of Kahale in the Aley District, killing ten people and wounding an even greater number, mostly Palestinians.Arab World, 26–27 March (1970), pp. 3 and 2–3.Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), p. 47.Randall, The Tragedy of Lebanon (2012), p. 116.
Apart from being implicated in the early April 1975 Bus massacre that is commonly presented as the spark that triggered the civil war,Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), p. 48.Kassir, La Guerre du Liban: De la dissension nationale au conflit régional (1994), p. 103. the Kataeb RF perpetrated the infamous Black Saturday killings – allegedly carried out by Phalange military commander Joseph Saadeh in retaliation for the assassination of his sonKassir, La Guerre du Liban: De la dissension nationale au conflit régional (1994), p. 134. – that killed about 200–300 Lebanese Muslim and Druze residents of East BeirutRandal, The Tragedy of Lebanon (2012), pp. 84–87.Brunnquell & Couderc, Joseph Saadé: Victime et Bourreau. (1994), pp. 117–119.Sayigh, Armed Struggle and the Search for State (1998), p. 371.Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War (2001), p. 79. and drove 50,000 others out between December 1975 and January 1976.
During July–August of that same year, the Phalangists participated alongside its allies, the Army of Free Lebanon (AFL), Al-Tanzim, NLP Tigers Militia, Guardians of the Cedars (GoC), the Tyous Team of Commandos (TTC) and the Lebanese Youth Movement (LYM) in the sieges – and subsequent massacres – of Karantina, Al-Masklah and Tel al-Zaatar at the Muslim-populated slum districts and adjacent Palestinian refugee camps of East Beirut, and at the town of Dbayeh in the Matn District.Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), pp. 49–52.
The Kataeb RF was equally involved in atrocities committed against rival Christian militias' and their leaders, namely the Ehden massacre in June 1978 which cost the life of Tony Franjieh, head of the Marada Brigade, and the Safra massacre of July 1980, on which the Phalangists destroyed the NLP Tigers Militia (though they prudently allowed the Tigers' own Commander Dany Chamoun to escape to exile).Katz, Russel, and Volstad, Armies in Lebanon (1985), p. 8.Gordon, The Gemayels (1988), pp. 55; 58.Hoy and Ostrovsky, By Way of Deception (1990), p. 302.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 79; 100. In May 1979, the Phalangists even battled both the NLP Tigers and the Guardians of the Cedars for control of the Furn esh Shebbak and Ain el-Rammaneh districts in East Beirut, and for the town of Akoura in the Byblos District.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 90.