The Army of Free Lebanon – AFL (), also known variously as the Colonel Barakat's Army () or Armée du Liban Libre (ALL) and Armée du Colonel Barakat in French, was a predominantly Christian splinter faction of the Lebanese Army that came to play a major role in the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War.

Emblem Upon its formation, the AFL adopted as logo a rectangular (or square) red and blue "flash" with a stylized white Lebanese cedar tree in the middle, which was hastily painted on their armoured and transport vehicles; sometimes the motto "Free Lebanon" (Arabic: لبنان الحر | Lubnan al-Horr) written in Arabic script was painted alongside the flash on the hull and turret of the tanks. In alternative, a greenish-yellow stencil, bearing the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) coat-of-arms was also applied to their vehicles.

Origins The AFL began to be established on January 23, 1976, in Beirut by Lebanese Colonel Antoine Barakat who declared loyalty to the then President of Lebanon Suleiman Frangieh.Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 104. A Maronite from Frangieh's hometown Zgharta, Barakat rose with the troops of the Beirut Command (about 700 soldiers)Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), Introduction, p. 1. in response for Lieutenant Ahmed Al-Khatib's rebellion two days earlier at the head of the breakaway Lebanese Arab Army (LAA).Rabinovich, The war for Lebanon (1989), p. 72.Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), pp. 100-101. Another officer, the head of Jounieh garrison Major Fouad Malek, supported the Barakat-led faction, as did Major Saad Haddad the commander of the Marjayoun garrison in southern Lebanon.Kechichian, The Lebanese Army: Capabilities and Challenges in the 1980s (1985), p. 20. These three formations where eventually integrated into the "Army of Free Lebanon", whose creation was formally announced on March 13, 1976, by Col. Barakat at the Shukri Ghanem Barracks in the Fayadieh district of East Beirut.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 29.

Structure

Field organization Headquartered at Shukri Ghanem Barracks, a major military facility situated at Fayadieh in the vicinity of the Ministry of Defense complex at Yarze, the AFL numbered some 3,000 uniformed regulars by 1978, mostly Christian Maronites and Greek-Catholics.Collelo, Lebanon: a country study (1989), p. 239. Like the LAA, the AFL also maintained a flexible structure unlike the old regular Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), with the bulk of the force comprising some 1,500-2,000 soldiersJureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), Introduction, p. 1. from different Army units assembled into eight independent mixed combat groups (French: Groupements) of roughly company or battalion size.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), pp. 55-57. There was no set hierarchy, and rank and seniority meant little; performance in the field and political motivation propelled young Army officers – mostly Lieutenants – into leadership positions within the AFL combat groups. By February 1978, they were structured as follows:

Group No 11 (French: Groupement numéro 11) – led by Captain Mounir Bejjani; Group No 12 (French: Groupement numéro 12) – led by Lieutenants Michel Abou Ghanem and Louis Khoury; Group No 14 (French: Groupement numéro 14) – led by Lt. Makhoul Hakmeh; Group No 16 (French: Groupement numéro 16) – led by Lieutenants Abdallah Hadchiti and Ghazi Ghattas;Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 58. Group No 18 (French: Groupement numéro 18) – led by Maj. Fouad Malek, later replaced by Lt. Wehbeh Katicha;Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 57. Galerie Semaan Battalion – a mechanized unit, also led by Lt. Ghazi Ghattas;Kassis, Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon (2012), p. 16. A company-sized contingent (subsequently expanded to battalion strength) from the Army Para-commando regiment (Arabic: فوج المغاوير transliteration Fauj al-Maghaweer) led by Captain Samir el-Achkar.Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), p. 21.

All these units were permanently allocated at Fayadieh, serving under Col. Barakat's direct orders. Outside Beirut, a 200-strong battalion designated the "Akkar Brigade" (Arabic: لواء عكار | Liwa' el-Akkar), led by Lt. Khalil NaderChamussy (René) – Chronique d’une guerre: Le Liban 1975-1977 – éd. Desclée – 1978 was stationed in the Akkar District of northern Lebanon. A 500-strong battalion under the title "Army of Lebanon" (Arabic: جيش لبنان | Jayish Lubnan) was based at the Raymond el-Hayek Barracks in Sarba, north of JouniehJureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), Introduction, p. 1. headed by Maj. Malek, whilst another battalion of 700 men led by Maj. Haddad and designated the "Marjayoun–Qlaiaa Formation" (Arabic: تكوين مرجعيون - قليعة | Takwin Marjayoun – Qlaiaa), was stationed at Marjayoun Barracks.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), pp. 29-30.

List of AFL commanders Colonel Antoine Barakat (AFL commander-in-chief) Major Fouad Malek Major Saad Haddad Captain Samir el-Achkar Captain Mounir Bejjani Lieutenant Abdallah Hadchiti Lieutenant Ghazi Ghattas Lieutenant Khalil Nader Lieutenant Michel Abou Ghanem Lieutenant Louis Khoury Lieutenant Makhoul Hakmeh Lieutenant Wehbeh Katicha

Other AFL personnel Sergeant Aql Hashem

The AFL in the Lebanese civil war 1976-78

Closely allied with the rightist Christian militias of the Lebanese Front, the AFL battled the leftist Lebanese National Movement (LNM) militias, the LAA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrilla factions at Beirut, but also fought in northern Lebanon. On March 5, 1976, some 200 Christian AFL soldiers led by Lt. Khalil Nader – who entitled themselves the "Lebanese Liberation Army" (LLA), and later became the "Akkar Brigade" – from the Jounieh garrison departed without permission from their commanding Officer to their home towns of Al-Qoubaiyat and Andaket in the Akkar District of Northern Lebanon, which were being threatened by LAA attacks and artillery bombardments.Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), Appendix B, B-16.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 45.Menargues, Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban (2004), p. 37.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 23.

On March 13 at Beirut, the AFL units from the Shukri Ghanem Barracks in Fayadieh under Col. Barakat clashed with the Officer cadets of the adjoining Military Academy, whose Commander supported Brigadier general Aziz Al-Ahdab's failed coup attempt against President Frangieh, despite the fact that some officers from the AFL (Fouad Malek, Wehbeh Katicha, and Ghazi Ghattas) had signed a petition pledging their support to Gen. Ahdab's initiative.Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 103.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), pp. 28-29. Later on March 25, Col. Barakat's troops bolstered the hard-pressed Republican Guard battalion and Marada Brigade militiamen loyal to President Frangieh in defending the Presidential Palace at Baabda from a two-pronged combined LNM-Lebanese Arab Army (LAA) ground assault amid intense shelling, though prior to the attack the President had decamped to the safety of Zouk Mikael, near Jounieh, and later to Kfour in the Keserwan District.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 46-47.Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 101.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 30. They also provided armour and artillery support to the Christian militias on the closing stages of the Battle of the Hotels,O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 54; 56-57. during which an artillery barrage fired by a unit under Barakat's command struck the campus of the American University of Beirut at Rue Bliss in the neighboring Ras Beirut district, causing a number of casualties among the students.

On late March–early April 1976 the AFL, aided by the Internal Security Forces (ISF), fought off successfully an attempt by the LAA and the Druze Popular Liberation Forces (PLF) militia to raid their own Headquarters at the Shukri Ghanem Barracks complex in the Fayadieh district of East Beirut.Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), pp. 20-23.Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 115. Under the command of Maj. Fouad Malek, AFL units resumed the same roles later in the sieges of the PLO-held Palestinian refugee camps of Jisr el-Basha and Tel al-Zaatar at East Beirut between June and August 1976.Gary C. Gambill and Ziad K. Abdelnour, Dossier: Fouad Malek, former Chief-of-Staff of the Lebanese Forces (LF), Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Vol.4, No.11-12, November-December 2002.

During the Hundred Days' War in early February 1978, the AFL found itself besieged and bombarded by the Syrian Army in their Fayadieh barracks, though they later helped the NLP Tigers and the newly constituted Lebanese Forces' Command in driving the Syrians out from East Beirut.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 72-73.

Disbandment

In March 1977, the newly elected President of Lebanon Elias Sarkis began slowly to reorganize the battered Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) structure, which had split into four (or six, according to other sources) sectarian factions.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 63.Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 117. The first fraction of the AFL to be re-integrated into the official battle order of the re-organized Lebanese Army in June 1977 was the Jounieh garrison, whose commander Fouad Malek was promoted to colonel and sent to the École de Guerre in Paris, where he deserted in 1978 to become head of the Lebanese Forces (LF) official representation at the French Capital the following year.Micheletti and Debay, Les Forces Libanaises, RAIDS Magazine (1989), p. 34 (box). In March 1978 at Beirut, Col. Barakat handed over the Fayadieh barracks back to the official authorities, thus effectively signalling the disbandment of the AFL and the return of his troops to the LAF structure. Surprisingly, instead of being court-marshalled for insubordination, Antoine Barakat was promoted to brigadier general and appointed as Military Attaché to the Embassy of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., where he retired. Nearly all the remaining AFL combat group commanders' were rapidly re-integrated into the LAF without receiving any punishment or sanction, which enabled them to pursue their military careers unimpeded – Lt. Makhoul Hakmeh eventually rose to the rank of colonel and went to serve with General Michel Aoun as commander of the 10th Airmobile Brigade during the Elimination War in January–October 1990.Micheletti and Debay, La 10e Brigade Heliportée, RAIDS Magazine (1989), p. 21 (box).