War Against South Lebanon and the South Lebanese Army
By C. Hajjar
May 2007
Background
From 1975 to 2005, Lebanon totally lost her prosperity, stability, sovereignty,
independence and freedom.
The pattern of harassment, kidnappings and assassinations by PLO operatives and
Syrians in Palestinian uniforms had been ongoing since the mid-1960s, when the
PLO was founded, long before the events of 1968-1969 and 1975.
Prior to the founding of the PLO, Syria 's rejection of Lebanon 's right to
exist caused it to interfere in Lebanese affairs whenever it could. On September
12, 1957 and May 3-8, 1958, when a contingent of Internal Security Forces (ISF)
was attacked and its members killed in Deir El Ashayer; when 200 Syrian soldiers
attacked and occupied the village of Kfarchouba in south Lebanon, killing the
villagers and an officer; and when 5 customs officers were assassinated in cold
blood at Masnaa, the crossing point at the Lebanese-Syrian border. From June to
December 1958, the Lebanese Army lost 35 soldiers.
Since that period, Palestinians, Syrians, and later Syrian and Iranian
organizations kidnapped, tortured, massacred, assassinated, slaughtered, raped
and booby-trapped hundreds of innocent civilians, members of clergy, and
Lebanese Army soldiers in the South, and all the areas of Lebanon.
In the South of the country, they attacked the villages of Jezzine, Kfarfalouss,
Naqura, Bint Jbeil, Marjaayoun, Qoleiaa, Hasbaya, Debil, Deir Mimass, Ain El
Mir, Roum, Anan, Shuwaya, Labaa, Rmeish, Kfarhouna, Aramta, Rihane, Ain Ebel,
Beit Lif, Tebnine, Bkassine, Aytoula, El Taybeh, Sabbah, Houla, and in other
regions of the South. They burned down and razed to the ground houses, churches,
schools, the only two available hospitals, and entire villages, to occupy the
remaining (8%) of Lebanese territory that was still free in 2000 from the
Syrian/Palestinian/Iranian occupation. The goal was to undermine the state of
lull between Lebanon and Israel , forcing Lebanon to remain until this day the
only active war front against Israel under their unique control - from Fatahland
to Hezbollahland.
An Officer of the South Lebanese Army reported to the media that between 1978
and 2000, 621 SLA soldiers and 200 southern civilians were killed and
assassinated - a total of 821 fatalities - while 230 soldiers and 80 civilians,
a combined figure of 310, were maimed. It was later confirmed that between the
first attack and 2000, the overall number of victims was indeed 1630 persons.
1976
The Lebanese Army units, known as the SLA (South Lebanese Army), were officially
dispatched by the Lebanese government to the South in 1976 and consisted of a
nucleus of 600 regular Lebanese Army soldiers. They were cut off from the
central government of Beirut by the PLO and by Syrian-sponsored renegade units
of the Lebanese Army called "The Arab Army of Lebanon" under the command of the
deserter Lieutenant Ahmed Al Khatib. Because of this, the South Lebanese Army
remained on the payroll of the Lebanese Army at Yarzé and of the government
until May 2000.
When the Syrians completed the takeover of the country in 1990, the SLA remained
loyal to the pledge of defending their country, even after their own government
that was under Syrian control branded them as the enemy.
Over the years, the Beirut Government officially designated the commanding
officers to lead the South Lebanese Army, and they were: Saad Haddad, Sami
Chidiac, and Antoine Lahad (unofficially designated-see below), who appointed
the officers Sharbel Barakat, Samir El Hajj, Eid Eid, Adnan El Homsi, George
Zaatar, Rizkallah El Fehaily, Hanna El Hajj and others, to assist them in the
South.
The number of soldiers was 3,000 and even reached up to 5,000 at the peak of
their history.
The inhabitants of the region joined the South Lebanese Army to defend their
regions against the miscellaneous Syrian-Palestinian-Iranian invasions, in
exactly the same way that the inhabitants of Beirut in 1989 joined PM General
Aoun and his Army in defending their regions in the War of Liberation against
the Syrians and their allies.
In 1976, the South Lebanese Army was known by its first name as the Army of the
Free Lebanon (Jeysh Lebnaan el Horr).
The General Command of the Lebanese Army in Yarzé under its Army
Commander-in-Chief General Hanna Said and the Ministry of Defense issued a
military communiqué in 1976, assigning Major Saad Haddad to the Command of the
South Lebanon Army. They appointed him Commander of the Division of Al-Qoleiaa (Qa’ed
Katibat al-Qoleiaa) and the villages of Qoleiaa, Bourj El Moulouq, Kawkaba,
Rmeich, Debil, Ain Ebel and Jdeidet Marjaayoun. The military missions assigned
to that command included the following functions:
- Regrouping the soldiers who fled after their barracks fell to the PLO and the
renegade Arab Army of Lebanon;
- Defending the regions and villages neighboring the zones of conflict against
massacres and invasions;
- Maintaining the official truce that existed between Lebanon and Israel in
order to avoid a general deterioration of the entire region into a
Lebanese-Israeli war.
Major Saad Haddad was also the Lebanese Government’s official representative
regarding all diplomatic contacts with the United Nations envoys in the South.
Between 1979 and 1982, the Syrians pressured President Elias Sarkis and Prime
Minister Salim Hoss to charge Major Saad Haddad and the SLA with high treason,
which was followed by cutting off their pay. The pressure became even more
intense with the attempt to replace the South Lebanon Army by a Lebanese Army
division called Kawkaba operating under Syrian control. Ever more so, Major Saad
Haddad rejected any collaboration with the Syrian Regime.
Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations, and UNIFIL Commander
General Erskin, both of whom were officially asked by the Lebanese Government to
maintain official contacts through Major Saad Haddad, publicly criticized the
Government for its contradictory and ambiguous position towards Major Saad
Haddad’s legitimacy.
After General Hanna Said’s departure, the new Army Commander-in-Chief General
Victor Khoury signed and addressed an official military order (Muzzaqaret Khedme
Rasmiyeh) to Major Saad Haddad validating and confirming the continuity of his
official functions in the South. All official correspondence between them was
formulated as follows: “From the Army Commander-in-Chief General Victor Khoury
to Commander of the Eastern Division, Major Saad Haddad…”
After the death of Major Saad Haddad in January 1984, the Command of the
Lebanese Army in Yarzé, along with (former) President Camille Chamoun’s support,
informally selected retired General Antoine Lahad as Commander of the South
Lebanon Army.They assigned General Lahad to fill in the gap until United Nations
Resolutions 425 and 520, related to the redeployment of the Lebanese Army in the
South and all Lebanese territory, were implemented.
The Command of the Army paid the salaries of SLA troops from 1976 to 2000, with
the exception of 1979-1982 when Hoss-Sarkis tried to block such payments, but
the Commander of the Internal Security Forces refused to block the payments.
Moreover, whenever the roads between Marjaayoun and Beirut were inaccessible and
other means of transportation were impossible for distributing SLA wages and
logistics supplies, the officer in charge, assigned by the Command of the Army
in Yarzé, would reach Marjaayoun by traveling first by sea to the port of Haifa
in Israel , then by land to Marjaayoun.
As the cutoff from Beirut persisted, President Sleiman Franjiyeh ordered the
South Lebanon Army to open the border with Israel for the purposes of basic
survival and humanitarian needs (hospitals, food, jobs, etc.). Former President
Camille Chamoun encouraged and publicly congratulated the bravery of the South
Lebanon Army through its Commander: “Thanks to Major Saad Haddad and his Army,
the South will not face the same destiny as other Lebanese regions like Damour,
Jiyyeh, Saaidiyet did…Genocide, massacres, ethnic cleansing, displacement and
exile…” President Chamoun explained to the press and corrected General Erskin’s
distorted declaration of facts and said, “There is a distortion of the truth
from sources coming from General Erskin. We do not have in the border region of
the South militias from the Christian right-wing and Phalangists. There is very
simply a strong unit of the Lebanese Army, which includes approximately 600 men
commanded by two officers of value, Commanders Haddad and Chidiac. This unit was
helped out in its efforts by volunteers from the region; it faced during many
months several assaults from Palestinian terrorist organizations and saved
entire villages from massacres and destruction, such as Marjaayoun, Qoleiaa, Ain
Ebel, Rmeish, etc…”
In fact, the SLA included over time Lebanese soldiers from the various
communities – Christians, Druzes, and Shiites – thereby reflecting the diverse
character of the Lebanese identity. Later, the Ambassador of the United States ,
Mr. Parker, after his meeting with President Sarkis and PM Hoss, approached the
issue with President Chamoun of the government sending new Army units to the
South. Chamoun replied with the same arguments: ”The Government has decided to
send Lebanese manpower at its risks and perils…for us, there already exists an
Army unit that is purely Lebanese, commanded by Major Haddad. Its presence has
saved the Christian villages of the frontier zones from massacres. Otherwise,
they would have experienced the fate of Damour and Aishiyeh…”
BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN THE SOUTH:
- September 1957 to May 1958 – Syrian soldiers attacked and occupied the village
of Kfarchouba in South Lebanon , killing the villagers and an officer.
- February 26, 1975 – A Palestinian gunman infiltrated a crowd of Lebanese
fishermen demonstrating in the streets of Sidon , in south Lebanon , and
attacked a patrol of the Lebanese Army in charge of maintaining order. A
corporal was killed and two soldiers were wounded.
- February 28 to March 2, 1975 – Palestinians and the Saika Organization
deployed in the city of Sidon , and twice attacked a Lebanese Army convoy along
the main artery of the city. Six soldiers were killed, 40 others were wounded
with nine civilians among them.
- January 1976 – PLO troops backed by Syrian Army irregulars and Ahmad Khatib’s
Arab Army of Lebanon renegade troops attacked the isolated Christian town of
Damour between Beirut and Sidon: 500 people were slaughtered overnight, another
5,000 escaped by sea to Beirut, and the town was razed to the ground
- March 10, 1976 – Yasser Arafat’s Fatah Organization, the renegade
Syrian-sponsored troops of Lieutenant Ahmad Khatib's Arab Army, the Saika
Organization and their allies and, attacked the
Lebanese Army barracks in Khyam, South Lebanon and executed over 30 Lebanese
soldiers in cold blood. They attacked and blockaded the whole region: Marjaayoun,
Qoleiaa, Bint Jbeil, Al Taybeh, etc…, denying all medical supplies, food
provisions and military support from entering the region. They kidnapped
civilians, killed innocents, and raped women and girls.
The Lebanese Army barracks in Marjaayoun and other regions were consequently
falling, the soldiers were fleeing to more secure places, and those who tried to
reach the Ministry of Defense in Yarzé were sent back to the south; people were
starving or dying from ill-treatment and serious wounds.
- March 22, 1976 – The Army Commander-in-Chief, General Hanna Said, signed a
Communiqué issued from the Ministry of National Defense, Department of the Army,
Yarzé, to restructure the Lebanese Army posts which were deserted in the South.
This notice was distributed and implemented on August 14, 1976. (See original
Document – last page).
- August 1, 1976 – Fatah, the Saika Organization and their allies attacked the
village of
Jezzine, South Lebanon . Two were killed, tens were injured and hundreds were
forced into exile.
- October 19 to 21, 1976 – Fatah, the Saika Organization and their allies
attacked the village of
Aishiyeh in the South and committed mass murder and atrocities, as part of the
Syrian
Regime’s ethnic cleansing campaign. More than 70 innocent people were killed and
100 seriously wounded. The majority of the victims were women, children and the
elderly. Women and girls were raped, then slaughtered inside the church.
Newborns were ripped apart. Children were decapitated with hatchets. Houses were
burned down. The rest of the village residents escaped to safety in a
neighboring region. Francis Alfred Nasr was burned alive in front of his
father's eyes.
[Publisher’s note: Missing information in the list below will be updated later]
1. Francis Alfred Nasr (burned alive).
2. Alfred Youssef Nasr
3. Fouad Gerges Najem (plus his wife and four children).
9. Elias Fouad Najem
10. Amale Fouad Najem
11. Therese Fouad Najem
12. George Fouad Najem
13. Georgette Fouad Najem
14. Loutfallah Youssef El Chaar
15. Joseph Loutfallah El Chaar
16. Attallah Youssef El Chaar
17. Philippe Sleiman Chedid
18. Albert Chahine Milane
19. Ibrahim Ephrem Nasr
20. Sleiman Ephrem Nasr
21. Tony Ibrahim Nasr (14 years old).
22. Jamil Elias Nasr
23. Nassim Jamil Nasr
24. Selim Jamil Nasr (16 years old).
25. Youssef Selim Nasr
26. Youssef Nasr Nasr
27. Antoinette Nasr Nasr
28. Simon Youssef Nasr
29. Fouad Youssef Nasr (newborn).
30. Toufic Nasr (70 years old).
31. Melhem Ephrem Ephrem (45 years old).
32. Sleiman Ephrem (25 years old).
33. Ibrahim Selim Aoun
34. Raymond Ibrahim Aoun (15 years old).
35. Melhem Mansour Aoun (73 years old)
36. Soldier Youssef Elias Abu Kheir (Executed in the church).
37. Sleiman Ajjaj El Hajj (15 years old,
38. Pierre Naamtallah Jabbour (13 years old, executed in the church).
39. Therese Fayez Najem
40. Najat Fayez Najem
41. Fayez Najem and his two daughters (five and three years old).
44. Mountaha Rizk Najem
45. Karim Selim Najem
46. Youssef Tannous Abu Eid
47. Tannous Youssef Abu Eid
48. Ibrahim Elias Aoun
49. Jean Khalil Aoun
50. Gerges Maroun Aoun
51. Sleiman Ajjaj Aoun.
52. Tammam Abu Kheir Aoun
53. Assaad Melhem Anid
54. Elias Youssef Anid
55. Aziz Youssef Anid
56. Boulos Anid
57. Elias Assaad El Kesserwani
58. Youssef Assaad El Kesserwani
59. Boutros Fares Fares
60. Gerges Ibrahim Nasr
61. Ibrahim Selim Nasr
62. Joseph Farid Nasr
63. Khalil Gergi Nasr
64. Khalil Sleiman Nasr
65. Salwa Youssef Mezher
66. Philippe Toufic Afif
67. Majid Elias Afif
68. Melhem Chekkri Honeiny
69. Nemr Rashid Abu Samra
70. Youssef Elias Noura (Executed in the church).
- From March 76 to September 23, 1978 – Fatah and the Saika Organization with
Ahmad Khatib's Arab Army and their allies kept brutally shelling and targeting
from Khyam and Tallet El Shrayqe the villages of Marjaayoun, Qoleiaa and others,
killing and wounding tens of innocents. Yasser Arafat (Abu Ammar) personally
supervised from Shuwaya the operations of Fatah against Marjaayoun and Qoleiaa.
- September 23-24, 1978 - The (South) Lebanese Army led by Major Saad Haddad
counter-
attacked Tallet El Shrayqe, then Khyam, and finally liberated them. However, the
war against the Lebanese Army and the civilians rolled on.
- April 18, 1979 – Under the persistent pressure of the Syrian Regime on the
Beirut government, Major Saad Haddad was removed from office and charged by
Presidential Decree No. 1942, issued by President Elias Sarkis.
- April 18, 1979 – Major Saad Haddad declared the South of Lebanon to be ‘The
State of Free Independent Lebanon” (Dawlet Lebnaan El Horr El Mustaqill), with
Beirut as its capital.
- From 1979 to 1982 – After the Accord of Beit-El Din in early 1979, and until
the end of President Sarkis’ mandate in 1982, the South Lebanon Army’s salaries
were all suspended. At President Bashir Gemayel’s order, salaries and rights
were all reinstituted, lasting until 1997 for some and until 2000 and beyond for
others.
- January 30, 1982 – A booby-trapped car exploded at Saida-Sidon in South
Lebanon , killing one civilian and injuring another.
- October 14, 1982 - A booby-trapped car exploded at a check post of the South
Lebanon Army in Jdeidet Marjaayoun in south Lebanon , killing three soldiers and
wounding 40 civilians.
- October 23, 1983 – 241 US Marines and 58 French Paratroopers were blown to
shreds in their Beirut barracks by two simultaneous truck-bombs carried out by
Hezbollah.
- January 4, 1984 – Major Saad Haddad won his trial and regained all his rights,
decorations and official rank.
- January 16, 1984 – Major Saad Haddad died and an official funeral was held.
The population, his political friends and army veterans paid tribute to him as a
national hero.
- January 1984 – Retired General Antoine Lahad, supported by President Camille
Chamoun, was informally selected by the Command of the Lebanese Army of Yarzé as
the Head of the South Lebanon Army’s Command. They remunerated him with a higher
salary, going from the “Sareff Salary” to the “Taawiid Salary”.
- July 10, 1984 – The Mayor of Sarafand, Jawad Khalifeh, was assassinated in
South Lebanon .
- September 19, 1984 – Syrians and Palestinians ambushed a South Lebanon Army
unit on their way, in the village of Sohmor in the west Bekaa, killing five
soldiers and wounding five others.
- March 6, 1985 – Hezbollah, a newly-founded Syrian/Iranian-sponsored
organization, attacked Rashaya in South Lebanon . Two were killed and tens were
injured.
- June 30, 1985 – Hezbollah attacked Zaghraya-Sidon, in South Lebanon . Mustafa
Khalil, Abdel Raouf El Hajj and Mahmoud Haffouda were killed.
- March 5, 1986 – A booby-trapped car exploded in Saida-Sidon. Two civilians
were killed and three were injured.
- May 12, 1986 – A booby-trapped car exploded in Saida-Sidon. Two civilians were
killed and another two were injured.
- May 24, 1986 – Syrian agents riddled the body of Father Boutros Abi Akl,
62-years old, with bullets. He was shot dead on his way to Cadmus School in Tyre
, South Lebanon .
- July 6, 1990 – Hezbollah murdered U.S. Marine Lt-Col. William R. Higgins, who
was serving as Chief Observer with the United Nations Truce Supervisory
Organization (UNTSO) in southern Lebanon . He had been kidnapped on February 17,
1988 from a U.N. peacekeeping vehicle driving south from the port city of Tyre
towards the town of Naqura . Colonel Higgins was tortured before being hanged.
His murder was video-taped and released for public viewing by the murderers,
before his body was dumped on a public road. His remains were eventually
returned to the
United States and were interred in Quantico National Cemetery on December 30,
1991.
- November 9, 1998 – Hezbollah planted an explosive charge on the Ain
Majdalain-Niha Road in Jezzine, South Lebanon . Four Lebanese soldiers were
killed and one other was seriously injured.
- June 8, 1999 – Two Syrian/Palestinian agents assassinated three judges and one
Prosecutor in Saida's Supreme Court. Hassan Osman, Walid Harmoush, Imad Chehab
and Assem Abu Daher were murdered in view of dozens of witnesses. The two gunmen
fled to the Ain el Helwe Palestinian military camp. It was yet another Syrian
warning in an attempt to subdue the Judicial system.
- September 22, 1999 – Hezbollah planted an explosive charge in Kfar Houneh ,
South Lebanon , killing two Lebanese soldiers.
- September 28, 1999 – Hezbollah, a Syrian/Iranian sponsored Organization,
detonated a roadside bomb in South Lebanon . One Lebanese officer with his
driver was killed and dozens were seriously injured and maimed.
- March 2, 2000 – Hezbollah planted an explosive charge in South Lebanon . One
Lebanese soldier was killed and dozens were seriously injured.
- March 3, 2000 – Hezbollah detonated a roadside bomb in South Lebanon . Six
Lebanese soldiers were killed in their military vehicle and four civilians were
seriously injured.
- May 26, 2000 – After the Israeli withdrawal, Hassan Nasrallah,
Secretary-General of Hezbollah, threatened to slaughter the Southerners in their
beds while sleeping. All Lebanese Radios and TV channels broadcast Nasrallah’s
threats. Thousand of Southerners fled to Israel while an estimated
2,300 residents, who could not escape, surrendered. They were taken into custody
by Hezbollah militants and Lebanese security forces, then to interrogation,
torture and detention camps run by Hezbollah and Syrian and Lebanese military
intelligence for several days, before being handed over to the Authorities.
Most of the detainees were transferred to Lebanon 's Permanent Military Court
(PMC), that
Amnesty International called "travesties of justice", while others basically
"disappeared."
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General at a rally in Haret Hreiq, also warned against
“amnesty” toward "militiamen" who served in the South Lebanon Army during the
occupation, saying they would have to either be locked up in rehabilitation
centers or sent abroad, but they would not be allowed back to their homes and
villages in the south.
The Government Commissioner, Justice Nasri Lahoud, declared before the Military
Court , that 2,277 defendants were charged with minor or major “collaboration
with the enemy”.
Some of the detainees later reported to having been beaten during their
detention; many said that they were forced to lie with their hands cuffed behind
their backs for up to 24 hours.
C.T. (personal interview) was brutally tortured, his lower face disfigured and
his jaw busted. On his way out, he had to endure plastic surgery to restructure
his jaw.
Georges Said, a 72-year old diabetic, died on June 28 after prison officials
took away his Israeli-made medication.
Abu Samira, a 70-year-old man, and 65-year Ramez Boulos, from Qoleiaa, both died
under torture and ill-treatment. Abu Samira died in Oberly’s Jail; Ramez Boulos
succumbed at home, after they released him agonizing from ill-treatment in the
Roumieh prison.
The Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights-Lebanon (FHHRL) reported:
- In the 8th session of the Permanent Military Court , Zakharia Fadlallah Jumaa,
a platoon
Commander of the SLA , alluded to torture administered on him while in custody,
in the pre-trial period at the Oberly center. The allegations of torture made no
impression on the bench.
- In the 10th session of the Permanent Military Court , Hussein Zein Al Abidin
said:” I was
beaten up and heard frightening cries, which forced me to confess that I fed the
SLA security network”; another said that he wasn’t beaten but just suspended
from above for not answering a question, then lowered down.
- In the 11th session, the court ignored the allegations of Hanna Karim Al Alam
who claimed that he was tortured, pointing out to the Court the pus and
bloodstained bandages around his leg, and that he was denied any kind of medical
treatment for five days.
- All those who were released after completing their sentences in prisons were
deprived of their civil and social rights, until this day; those who were set
free by the court like Mohammad Ayoub Faris (in Houla) and Mohammad Bassam (in
Aytaroun) were beaten to death (according to unconfirmed reports cited by FHHRL).
- According to Al-Hayat newspaper and re-published by The Middle East
Intelligence Bulletin, 20 people were seized in the village of Aytaroun on June
7; five were later released by Hezbollah, but the others were still missing.
Human rights groups constantly appealed for their release, but Hezbollah
officials claimed to have "no information on the subject."
- At Roumieh Prison, where most of the prisoners were being held, it was
reported to the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights-Lebanon (FHHRL)
that "many of the detainees had bruises when they were brought in."
- Meanwhile in the South, there was looting, sacking and then blasting deserted
houses in
Marjaayoun, Bourj El Moulouq, Qoleiaa, Debil and Rmeish, which alarmed and
terrorized the rest of the villagers; in Beit Leef, Aytaroun and Houla the
villagers were threatened, beaten and sometimes kidnapped.
- February 10, 2001 – Hezbollah desecrated the cemetery of the Shiite village of
Aytaroun in South Lebanon by digging out 17 corpses of Shiite soldiers of the
South Lebanon Army from their graves, since, according to Hezbollah, they were
traitors.
1. Mansour Khalil
2. Akanen Ali
3. Alik Samih
4. Droubi Hassan
5. Marmar Ali
6. Mustafa Yasser
7. Abdel Hassan S. Hassan
8. Fakih Mohammad
9. Hijazy Fouad
10. Kassem Ali Hussein
11. Taoube Bahige
12. Mawwassi Abed
13. Awada Wafic
14. Abbass Adel
15. Shour Salah
16. Farhat Hussein
17. Assayed Mohammad Mustafa
- July 11, 2002 – At 9:30 pm, the Palestinian Badih Hamadeh, alias Abu Obeida,
from the Palestinian military camp of Ain El Helwe in South Lebanon , attacked a
division of the Lebanese Army and shot three servicemen.
1 - Ali Hamze (SSG)
2 - Radwan Melhem (CPL)
3 - Ali Saleh (PVT)
- November 21, 2002 – At 7:30 am, a Syrian/ Iranian agent assassinated 31-year
old American nurse/Christian missionary, Bonnie Penner-Witheral, in Sidon . She
was found with a bullet in the head and two others in the chest. It was a Syrian
warning against America ’s new policy in the Middle East , and to create new
internal conflict among the Lebanese communities.
=======
Today, the rest of the SLA soldiers are in enforced exile, having to pay the
price for their actions in discharging their duty - acts of loyalty, honor,
dignity, patriotism and self-defense. Hundred of Southerners, civilians,
soldiers and entire families who are in enforced Exile,
Have been abandoned or forgotten…
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I sincerely regret if I have not listed all the victims and martyrs’ names. All
the names appearing in this compilation, were obtained from newspaper reports,
archives, and witness accounts, friends or families sources.
Roadside Bombs detonated by Hezbollah killed most of the Victims, who fell from
the 1980s through 2000:
Akiki (PVT - Debil, January 31, 2000).
Fawzi El Saghir (PVT - September 28, 1999).
Milia Naaman Rashed (72 years old - Jezzine).
Maroun Neehme Neehme (67 years old Qoleiaa).
Salima Neehme (60 years old - Qoleiaa).
Youssef Massoud Rizk (Jezzine - August 20, 1976).
Tanios El Tenn (Rmeish - September 1976).
Hanne Michael El Haddad (Ain Ebel - July 1976).
Michael El Haddad (Ain Ebel - July 1976).
Joseph El Haddad (Ain Ebel - July 1976).
Mona Youssef Chbat (Ain Ebel - September 1975).
Youssef Tanios Salloum (Ain Ebel - June 1977).
Youssef Gerges Nassif (Debil - February 1977).
Boutros Michael El Akh (Ain Ebel - September 1975).
George Gerges (Jezzine, April 1998).
Tony Kfoury (Rashaya - March 6, 1985).
Mustafa Khalil (Zoghdraya-Sidon - June 6, 1985).
Abdel Raouf El Hajj (Sidon - June 30, 1985).
Mahmoud Hafouda (Sidon - June 30, 1985).
Sleiman El Asmar (Sidon - August 30, 1985).
Maroun Matar (January 22, 1986).
Wadih Moussa (Jabal Safi - February 14, 1986).
Philip Moussa (Jabal Safi - February 14, 1986).
Khalil Trabulsi (Ayneta - February 17, 1986).
Jihad Saykali (Rihane - June 20, 1986).
Antoine Abu Ghannam (Yater Road - June 15, 1986).
Assaad Moussa (Labaa-Kfarfalouss-Ain El Mir - June 19, 1986).
Edgard Hakim (Darb El Sim - June 20, 1986).
Dani Najm (Sabbah-Jezzine - July 5, 1986).
Lucien Estephan (Tallet Sejod - August 10, 1986).
Khalil El Jellad (Tallet Sejod - September 18, 1986).
Joseph Youssef (Tallet Sejod - September 18, 1986).
Elie Youssef (Anan Kfarfalouss - June 1986).
Charbel Kassouf (Jabal Safi - April 1987).
Jad Morkos (Anan-Kfarfalouss - September 1987).
Youssef Matta (Jabal Safi - October 1991).
Tony Hourani (Ain Majdalain-Jezzine - May 1992).
Tony Bakhos (Kroum el Arz-Jezzine - October 1995).
Assaad Nammour (Sabbah-Bkassine - September 1996).
Hussein El Fkih (Sabbah-Bkassine - September 1996).
Selim Risha (Roum-Bessry - December 1996).
Samir Youssef Roumiyeh (Kfarhouna - March 1997).
George Gerges (Jezzine- April 1998).
Roukoz Roukoz (Ain Majdalain-Jezzine - September 1998).
Joseph Chamoun (Ain Majdalain-Jezzine - September 1998).
Two students (Anan-Roum Road - 1988).
Two students (Kfarhouna-Jezzine - 1997).
Ezzat Elias Julien, his mother, wife and three (3) children (Qoleiaa).
Akl Hashem
Ali Marmar
Ali Qassem
Ali Mahmoud
Abdel Nabi Bazzi
Antoun Salloum
Adel Abbass
Akl Melhem
Ali Zein El Din
Antoine Abu Ghanem
Abboud Hammoud
Abbas Koussan
Abdel Hassan Mwassi Ahmad Salame
Abdallah Atweh
Abdallah Miyasseh
Abdallah Mahmoud
Abbas Abbas
Ali Loubwani
Abbas Tourmos
Ali Ghodban
Ali Qassem
Ahmad Saad
Aniess Assaf
Abdallah Mustafa
Assass Khiami
Ali Hamade
Abbas Hammoud
Ali Beydoun
Ahmad Nassrallah
Albert Agnatis
Ahmad El Daaboul
Ali Younes
Ayoub El Haddad
Ahmad Madani
Assad Harfouch
Attef Chedid
Assad Alloud
Ashraf El Qader
Ayman Abdallah
Afif El Chuffi
Aziz Khalili
Antoine Frem
Ali Ramadan
Anwar Hamad
Ali Qassem
Abdel Rahim Abu Eid
Asaad Nasser
Ali Zaher
Antoine Hobeika
Adel Madi
Abdel Wahab Daher
Aline Elham
Assaad Nohra
Ali Salame
Ali Abu Qassem
Assaf El Fhayli
Ali Hammoud
Ali Joumaa
Antoine Dia
Abed Abu Samra
Ange El Hajj
Antoine Julien
Abdallah Chahin
Ali Soueid
Bahij Touba
Bassam Saad
Bachir Hanna
Bachir El Alam
Boutros El Akh
Boulous Attieh
Bassam Hanna
Bahiya El Hajj
Boutros Louka
Bassam Nohra
Boulos Nehme
Boutros Rizk
Bassam Chamoun
Barakat Keyrouz
Chabib El Naddaf
Charbel El Amil
Charbel Younes
Chedid Ghaleb
Chafik Eid
Charbel El Haddad
Charles Rizk
Chawki Abu Mrad
Charbel El Chaar
Chafik El Assfour
Chady Abu Ghayda
Chebli Abu Chahla
Clovis Attieh
Dany Al Sheikh
Dany Fares
Dib Nassif
Daoud Chahine
Daher Salame
Daoud Kamel
Eid Chehad
Elias El Hassrouni
Elias Hanna
Elias Jubran
Elias Nassif
Elias Mansour
Elias Ajka
Elias Hanoun
Elias Farah
Elias Julien
Elias Matar
Elias Chedid
Elie Abu Qassem
Edward Boutros
Elias Toubia
Elias M. Fares
Emile Aoun
Elias Markos
Elias El Haj
Elias Keserwani
Elie Abdo
Emile Amin
Faraj Kalash
Fayez Younes
Fadel Jaafar
Fayssal Fneich
Fady Saade
Fayez Julien
Fares Abu Samra
Fares Toubia
Fouad Rizk
Fares Jabbour
Fouad Abu Zeid
Fares N. Fares
Fady El Zaybak
Fouaz Fouaz
Farid Abu Diab
Fayez Abu Hamadi
Fahed El Harfouch
Fady Barakat
Fady Saraya
Fouad Younes
Fawzi El Sajir
Fares Fares
Fouad Hijazi
Farid Saaid
Jaoudat Deghman
Joseph Abu Arraj
George El Hajj
Jihad Harb
George Massaad
Jamal Dakik
George Geadaa
Jihad Louka
George Habboub
Jamal El Sayyed
Geryiss Abboud
Jean Hatoum
George Sakr
Jihad Haydar
Geryis Khalil
Jean Chalhoub
George T. Abboud
Jamil Chaoul
Geryis Bassar
Joseph Daher
George Hanoun
Jihad Abu Samra
Ghazi Awad
Jean Fouwaz
George Maroun
Jihad Saykali
George El Haddad
Joseh El Sheikh
George Abdoush
Jean El Hajj
Ghazi Diab
Joseph Youssef
George Farah
Jean Roufayel
George Saad `
Jaoudat Soueid
George Abu Mrad
Jihad Moussa
Ghassan Nohra
Ghassan Abu Mrad
Geryes Azar
George Abu Elia
Gaby Kaabour
Gaby Abu Farhat
Gilbert Jabbour
Geryis Estefan
George Jabbour
Galeb Khreis
George Saade
Geryis Abu Kheir
George Kassas
Ghassan Rizk
Ghassan Al Oud
Geryis El Hourani
Hussen Abdel Nabi
Hussen Farhat
Hussen Mlakh
Hassan Droubi
Hasssan Dabja
Haydar El Haddad
Hassan Saleh
Hassan Ewila
Hassan El S. Hassan
Hassan Saab
Hussein Nakhle
Hussein Chahla
Hassan Ashur
Hanna El Naddaf
Hassan Bassal
Hanna Sakr
Habib Nassif
Hayssam Oulayan
Hanna El Khoury
Halim El Hourany
Hamzah Serhan
Hassan Zaarour
Hussein Yehya
Hassan Fares
Hassan Serhan
Hussein Sleiman
Habib El Halel
Hanna Tannous
Hanna Rizk
Hassan Chehade
Hassan Abu Rafeh
Hussein Snan
Habib El Hajj
Ibrahim El Haddad
Issam Beydoun
Ibrahim Assaf
Ibrahim Khalil
Imad Attieh
Ibrahim Hamid
Ibrahim Saaid
Issa Hanna
Ibrahim El Akdouch
Ibrahim Atweh
Issam Ali Sami
Inad Majid
Ismaeil Kamra
Ibrahim Abu Kheir
Ibrahim El Hayek
Ismaeil Abbas
Issam Krasen
Ibrahim Chehade
Khalil El Hourani
Khodr El Hendi
Khaled El Naddaf
Khalil Mansouri
Kamel Fayad
Khalil El Jalad
Kamel El Shartouni
Kamel Hussein
Khalil Hanna
Kassem El Daaboul
Khaled Fneich
Khodr Al Tawil
Khalil Rizk
Khristo Nistrof
Khairallah Salame
Khadiji Nour El Din
Khalil Naamtallah
Khalil Gharibe
Khalil El Rajraj
Khaled Betdini
Kamel Damouri
Loubnen Wanna
Maroun El Alam
Mustafa Al Sayyed
Mohammad Fakih
Maroun Al Karout
Massoud Bazzi
Maroun Matar
Mahmoud Ayoub
Mohammad Abd El Meneem
Mohammad Shit
Mosbah El Attrash
Mohammad Yaacoub
Mahmoud Raslan
Mohammad Hussein
Mustafa Bedran
Miled Ghanouy
Mohammad Halawa
Maroun Attieh
Mahdi Mahdi
Maroun Nassif
Mohammad Nassar
Mohammad Fakih
Moussa Abu Elias
Maroun Fares
Malek Nassif
Mikhail El Hajj
Miled Ghnatis
Maroun El Hajj
Mufdi Abu Sari
Mahmoud El Yann
Mohammad Wahid
Mahmoud Srour
Mohammad Okayl
Marguerite El Khoury
Mikhael El Haddad
Monah Touma
Michel Fares
Mikhael El Zaybak
Mikhael Ncoula
Maroun Nohra
Maroun Khleis
Mohammad Sleiman
Maroun Wehbeh
Mohssen Ibrahim
Maroun Milan
Maroun Hanna
Maroun Rizk
Mouhib El Ghazel
Miled El Hassbani
Mohammad Ghaleb El Abdallah
Morkos M. Rizk
Moussa Abdallah
Maroun Nasser
Miled Saade
Mohammad Ramadan
Mohammad El Anz
Merhej Chahin
Mustafa Al Shufi
Mohammad Yassin
Mohammad El Kaderi
Maher Ammach
Mounir Daaybes
Mahmoud Wazir
Majid Ghachem
Michel Fares
Mustafa El Khawli
Mikhael Khoury
Mohssen Ibrahim
Naiim Hanna
Nasri El Hourani
Nassrat Khreish
Nabil Andraos
Nabil Al Joundi
Nasri Abu Elias
Nabil Nassif
Naim Fares
Nazih El Miligi
Nadim Kaboura
Nassib El Hamra
Nohad El Hajj
Nehme Faour
Nader El Chufi
Nabih Abed El Hay
Nabil Nasser
Nohad Saade
Nohra Nohra
Ossama Yassin
Pierre Attieh
Pierre Bowa
Rafik Mtanios
Rony Haddad
Rabah Abdallah
Raef El Keserwani
Roufayel Roufayel
Rafik Tomeh
Raymond Mezher
Rafik Abu El Ali
Rabih Nammour
Ramy El Choufi
Rafik Abu Hamad
Riyad Zrekta
Raymond El Khoury
Roukouz Roukoz
Raji Ghanoum
Saad Haddad
Said El Alam
Samih El Eik
Saleh Chour
Salman Kashmer
Sami Kotaysh
Salem Aayoub
Said Felfeleh
Simon Antounian
Samir Khnafer
Salim Sakr
Said El Naddaf
Sakr Sakr
Sami Abu Samra
Said El Khoumesi
Simon Tanios
Sami El Nashash
Salame Salame
Souheil Abbas
Salam El Saadi
Salim Ahmad
Simon Anid
Salim El Chuffi
Simon Tanios
Sara Ghanoum
Tanios Felfeleh
Tannous Geryis
Tarif Taleb
Tannous Saad
Tanios Semaan
Tanios Karam
Tanios Abu Hamad
Tanos Abu Zeid
Tanios Elias
Tanios Zraet
Tanios Aoun
Tony Nohra
Tony Majid Nammour
Wafik Awada
Wissam Naiim
Wihab Faraj
Walid Kassab
Wissam Taha
Youssef Hanna
Youssef Younes
Yasser Mustafa
Youssef Salloum
Youssef Atweh
Youssef M. Al Raai
Youssef Manssour
Yasser El Jamal
Youssef K. Nassif
Youssef J. El Raai
Youssef Hanna
Youssef Fares
Youssef Younes
Youssef El Naddaf
Youssef Saaid
Younes Younes
Yehya Semaat
Youssef Younes
Youssef El Sayed
Youssef Semaan
Youssef Nassif
Youssef Felfeleh
Yaacoub El Hajj
Youssef Karam
Youhanna Kiyo
Youssef Boulos
Yaacoub Diab
Youssef Semaan
Youssef Roumieh
Youssef Mezher
Youssef Hamdan
Youssef Charaf El Din
Ziad Ridan
Ziad Abu Dehen
Zaynab Monder
==========================
Military Communiqué: (Translation of the Official Document-Last page)
« Ministry of National Defense – Army Command – Yarzé”Number: 3860 /1 T
Classification: 323-1 Date of Bill: 22/ 3/ 1976
Resolution: Creation of a military regrouping section
Distributed and Implemented: 14/ 8/ 1976
Signed: « General Hanna Said, Army Commander-in-Chief »
1- STATUS:
After the dissolution of the section established in the South and the
distribution of the soldiers in their villages or their refuge to safer regions,
a number of soldiers joined the District of Bent Jbeil and a few villages for
security matters.
2- RESOLUTION:
21 – Create a regrouping quarter in the District of Bent Jbeil.
The Affiliation: Will be affiliated to the district of Qoleiaa
The Location: Town of Rmeish
Person in charge: Sergeant Commando, Samir el Hajj assisted by Sergeant Hanna El
Hajj.
The Members:
-The Soldiers present in Bent Jbeil District, the neighboring Districts and
those who did not join any assembly quarter yet.
- The soldiers from other quarters who wish to join it.
22 - The Administrative Control Directorate undertakes to facilitate the salary
phase and food provision similar to those soldiers under Qoleiaa regrouping
command.
3- Implementation :
Will take effect at the publication of this communiqué.
Al Yarzé, 14 / 8 / 1976
General Hanna Said, Army Commander-in-Chief.
ADDRESSEE:
Section, Barracks and Regrouping Quarters;
All Services located in the building of the Army Command;
[Illegible]: “3”.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Personal Interviews:
- Sakr Etienne (Abu Arz), born in Ain Ebel , South Lebanon , President of the
Guardians of the Cedars - Lebanese National Movement – Interviews: in Jezzine,
1992 and in Exile, from 2001 to 2006.
- Monsignor Paul Sayah, Maronite Archbishop of Haifa and the Holy Land and
Patriarchal
Vicar for Jordan , Jerusalem and Palestine , was appointed by Bkerke to secure
the social
needs and the return of the Lebanese in Exile – Interview: in Lebanon ,
September 2000
- A Permanent Synchronization on the exile Dossier was established since that
day.
- Father Fadi Salameh, Marjaayoun Parish Priest, appointed to secure the social
needs and rights of the relatives of the Lebanese in enforced exile, in the
South – Interview: in Marjaayoun, 2005 – A permanent Synchronizing was
established since that day.
- Bassam F., from Marjaayoun, South Lebanon Army officer - Interview: in
Marjaayoun, 2005.
- C T. from Marjaayoun – Interview: in Marjaayoun, 2003.
- T. A. from Marjaayoun - Interview: in Marjaayoun, 2005.
- Students and villagers from Ain Ebel, Rmeish, Marjaayoun, Qoleiaa, Deir Mimass
and Houla – Interviews: May 31st, and June 1st 2000, then 10 days later.
REPORTS – COMMUNIQUES - ARTICLES:
- Ministry of National Defense, Army Command – Yarzé, Creation of a military
regrouping section, Military Communiqué, number: 3860 /1 T, Classification:
323-1, Date of Bill: 22/ 3/ 1976. (check last page)
- Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights-Lebanon (FHHRL) Report # 6 – June
9, 2000; Report # 7- June 17, 2000; Report # 8 - June 2000; Report # 10 - June
26, 2000; Report # 12- June 28, 2000; Report # 15 - July 12, 2000; Report #8 –
June 19, 2000.
- Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights-Lebanon (FHHRL) Press Release,
June 6, 2000; June 15, 2000.
- Amnesty International Press Release, 21 June 2000.
- 2000 Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, South Lebanese Face Abductions,
Torture and 90 Second Show Trials.
- Mgr Paul Sayah, Asia News, Haifa : http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3869
- Sakr Etienne (Abu Arz), The bully that gets away with everything:
http://www.gotc.org/bayeen_12_08_05.htm
- Sakr Etienne (Abu Arz) Memorandum, Perhaps the conscious will awake!! Sept.
2002:
http://www.gotc.org/pdf/aa_study_damiir.pdf
- Sakr Etienne (Abu Arz), The true facts about the South Lebanon Army:
http://www.gotc.org/bayeen_8_07_05.htm
- Sakr Etienne (Abu Arz), Arafat's crimes in Lebanon :
http://www.gotc.org/bayeen_19_11_04.htm
- Sakr Etienne (Abu Arz), South Lebanon Declaration, May 22, 2000:
http://www.gotc-se.org (Bulletins/ Previous Communiqués).
- C.H., Genocides, Crimes and Massacres Committed by the PLO, the Syrians and
their Tools against Lebanon , Chronology 1975 to 2002.
http://www.gotc.org/black_page/black_page.htm
Lebanese Newspapers:
- An-Nahar, Beirut , 29/6/2000; 21/10/1976; 22/10/1976; 26/10/1976;03/02/1976
- Al-Hayat, London, June 9, 2000.
- The Daily Star, Beirut , June 26, 2000.
- L'Orient-Le Jour, Beirut, 6 Juin, 2000.
- The daily Star, Beirut , June 03, 2000
Books:
- Karam, Hikmat, Hazihi Dawlati, Saad Haddad: Man yahqom man? – 1979
- Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Le Livre Blanc, 1976 – Hafez el Assad
Speech, July 20, 1976- p.120; p.122; p.137; p.140.
- Wehbeh, L., Houwala El Abbtal, 1975-1976 - Beirut .
- Tanios, Edward Antonios & Honein Edward, Emmahatouna El Batalat, 1975/1982
-Beirut.
- Chamoun, Camille, Crise au Liban, Imprimerie Catholique : Beirut, 1977.
- Chamoun, Camille, Mémoires et Souvenirs, p.273 : June 11, 1978; p.313 : August
14,
1978; p.314 : August 16, 1978, Imprimerie Catholique : Beirut, 1979.
- Nasr, Nicolas, Faillite Syrienne Au Liban, Beirut: Dar El Amal, Tome I - Tome
II.
- Centre Libanais D'Information, La Guerre Libano-Palestinienne ou Comment une
poignée de jeunes firent Echec aux jeux des Nations.
Websites :
- http://www.lebaneseinisrael.com
- http:// www.gotc-se.org (Bulletins-Previous Communiqués)
- http:// www.gotc.org (Communiqués)
- http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/terror.htm
- http://www.beirut-memorial.org/memory/brtnames.html - (The Beirut Memorial
Online)
- http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/5902.htm - (U.S. Department of State,
Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, “Significant Terrorist
Incidents, 1961-2003: A Brief Chronology”).
- http://ch.indymedia.org/fr
- http://www.newspaperarchive.com
- http://www.meib.org/