Al-Tanzim
Encyclopedia
The Al-Tanzim, Al-Tanzym or At-Tanzim
(حركة المقاومة اللبنانية - التنظيم | Arabic for “The Organization”) was the name of an ultra-nationalist secret military society and militia set up by right-wing Christian
activists in Lebanon
at the early 1970s, and which came to play an important role in the Lebanese Civil War
.
with a cedar at the center, with the phrase "You love it, work for it" written below, was designed in 1970 during an expedition made by the Tanzim to the southern village of Kfar Chouba, in order to assist the affected population in the reconstruction effort, following an Israeli air raid
on the south of the Country. It must be noted that Kfar Chouba is a mainly Muslim village in South Lebanon and this act symbolized the Nationalist yet Secular ideals of the Tanzim.
, which led them to brake away from the Phalangist Party in the late 1960s in protest for the latter’s initial refusal to engage in nation-wide military training and arming of the Lebanese population in order to ‘defend Lebanon’ from the perceived ‘Palestinian
threat’.
Under the leadership of Obad Zouein, the breakaway group comprised Aziz Torbey, Samir Nassif, and Fawzi Mahfouz (also known as Abu Roy) – all were former militants of the Kataeb’s youth section and veterans of the 1958 Lebanon crisis – who decided therefore to create an underground paramilitary organization to support the Lebanese Army in the defense of the Country.
Shortly after its creation, the group moved to Beirut
where they opened an office at the Christian
quarter of Achrafieh
, and began to recruit early on civilian members outside the Army – particularly individuals such as Milad Rizkallah, who joined the Tanzim in 1970 – mostly from the upper and professional middle-classes, including former members of the Maronite League
. The civilian cadres proved instrumental in providing the new Movement with a political structure and program, embodied in 1970-71 with the creation of the Tanzim’s political wing, which began their activities under the covert title Movement of the Cedars – MoC or Mouvement des Cedres (MdC) in French
.
. Yet, such collective leadership system did not prevent the rise of preeminent figures who dominated the Movement's leadership like the physician Dr. Fuad Chemali in 1972, succeeded by the lawyer Georges Adwan
in 1973.
Involved since 1969 in the clandestine military training of Christian volunteers in secret camps such as Fatqa and later on Tabrieh (both located in the mountains of the Keserwan District
) in collusion with the Kataeb Party
, the MoC in the early 1970s began to quietly raise its own military wing, whose military headquarters was established in the Dekwaneh district of East Beirut. Although by 1977 more than 15,000 young men and women had trained at the above mentioned facilities (the majority of them joined the ranks of the other Christian militias), the Movement only proceeded to recruit very few out of this total, due to three main reasons:
1- The secret nature of such training, which rendered the selection process very delicate;
2- The limited financial resources available to the group, to a point that the volunteers had to cover their own training expenses by paying minimal fees.
3- The quality of men and women the Tanzim was looking for, and this reflected a lot on the clean reputation that the group maintained throughout the war, as well as having the lowest casualty rate, despite having its militia spearheading many difficult military engagements, mostly due to their mobility along the front.
Initially backed by the Lebanese Army, the MoC/Tanzim also received covert funding and weapons from Jordan
and Israel
, most of it being channelled via the Phalangists and the Maronite League
. The movement enjoyed a close relationship
with the Lebanese Army since the mid-1970s, which made some observers to believe that the Army’s predominantly Christian
High Command
was somewhat directly involved in the formation of the MoC.
At the outbreak of the 1975-76 civil war, the Tanzim forces were organized into autonomous mobile groups of several dozen fighters, with each being coded as "tanzim of the region x or y" (the organized group of region x or y). Deployed to different fronts and neighbourhoods, their mission was to be present wherever the fighting required them; hence the MoC/Tanzim was the only Christian militia that had attained such a degree of tactical mobility and discipline.
Unlike the main Christian factions, the tanzim was one of the few ideologically-committed groups – other than the Guardians of the Cedars
– that never tried to establish its own fiefdom
or canton, nor appears to have been involved in illegal financing activities such as drug trafficking.
as a country for all Lebanese. In reality, they were a predominately Maronite and Phoenicianist
-oriented organization, being violently anti-communist, staunchly pro-western, and very hostile towards Pan-Arabism
, characteristics which reflected on its program and politics.
In the early 1970s the movement adhered to an extremist Lebanonist ideology
akin to that of the Guardians of the Cedars
(GoC), with whom they developed a close political partnership. Not only the Tanzim shared with the latter the same radical views regarding the Palestinian
presence – and later Syria
’s role – in Lebanon
, but also went as far as adopting the “Lebanese language” written in the GoC’s Latin script for their own official documents.
during the Bourj el-Barajneh
clashes, when the Lebanese Army command indirectly called them to assist regular troops in preventing PLO guerrillas from entering Army-controlled areas. It was not until the 1975-76 civil war
however, that the MoC/Tanzim got the opportunity to plan and carry out its own military operations free from Army control, thus becoming a truly independent organization.
The discipline and organizational abilities displayed by the MoC at the opening months of the civil war
allowed the Movement to engage actively in the foundation of the Lebanese Front
. Conversely, its 200-strong Tanzim militia, led jointly by Fawzi Mahfouz and Obad Zouein, saw the heaviest street fighting ever in East Beirut, including the Karantina
and Tel al-Zaatar
massacres. At the later battle they reportedly contributed with 200 militiamen, allegedly Army regulars in desguise.
Following the collapse of the Lebanese Army in January 1976, the Tanzim volunteered ostensibly to defend and protect more than half a dozen army barracks located in the Christian districts of East Beirut, including the Defense Ministry and Army HQ at Yarze
. Moreover, the Movement saw this as an opportunity to expand its own military forces by incorporating defectors from the regular Army. Hence by March 1976 the Tanzim ranks swelled to 1,500 armed men and women backed by a small fleet of all-terrain vehicles and some transport trucks (Land-Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers, and US M35A2 2-1/2 ton cargo trucks) fitted with heavy machine-guns, Anti-Aircraft autocannons, and recoilless rifles.
During that same month, they were heavily committed in the battles for the Mount Lebanon
region against the Lebanese National Movement
/Common Forces being frequently employed as a ‘fire brigade’ to fill gaps at the front, notably at Achrafieh
, Tayyouneh-Lourdes, Kahale
, Sin el Fil
, and Ayoun es-Simane to name but a few, sustaining heavy casualties in the process.
Integrated into the Lebanese Forces
in 1977, Tanzim’s militiamen later again played a key role in the eviction of the Syrian army
out from the Christian-controlled East Beirut in February 1978, where they manned the Fayadieh-Yarze
sector of the Green Line
.
(who commulated the MoC's presidency with that of secretary-general
of the Lebanese Front
at the time), however, caused the Movement to factionalize, splitting into a pro-Syrian element headed by Adwan himself and a radical anti-Syrian majority gathered around Mahfouz and Zouein. An attempted coup orchestrated by Adwan, in which the latter tried to take over the "Tanzim" Dekwaneh's military HQ resulted in a deep rift within the organization. Both Mahfouz and Zouein, which opposed Adwan's position and behaviour, played a crucial role in preventing further internal bloodshed among the group member's (despite the fact that Adwan had murdered Tony Khater, a fellow "Tanzim" member) regaining control of the Movement, and ousting Adwan from the "MoC/Tanzim" leadership board in late that year.
Eventually, the movement’s representation in the Lebanese Forces
' Command Council was subsequently bestowed by Bachir Gemayel
upon Mahfouz, with Zouein being appointed the new Tanzim
's secretary-general, and in 1977 the new leadership prudently allowed the Tanzim military wing to be absorbed into the Lebanese Forces
. The MoC remained politically autonomous though, and in 1979 the Movement finally went on public as a political party
by declaring its manifesto at the inauguration ceremony of the Tabrieh cedar memorial in honor of its 135 martyrs, presenting itself under the title Tanzim: Lebanese Resistance Movement – (T) LRM or Tanzim: Mouvement de Resistance Libanais (T-MRL) in French
.
in the late 1980s, the LRM began to take part in the foundation of the Bureau Central de Coordination Nationale – BCCN, an umbrella organization regrouping several small political groupings and associations that rallied in support for General Michel Aoun’s interim government, with members of the Tanzim’s Commanding Council Roger Azzam and Pierre Raffoul rising to the leadership of the new force. Their vocal opposition to the Syrian-sponsored Taif agreement
led them to actively support Aoun’s ill-fated War of Liberation
in 1989-90, which forced the movement to go underground for some time and threw most its leaders into exile.
Despite this, many former Tanzim members chose to remain in Lebanon and continued to carry out their militancy within the BCCN throughout the 1990s, later helping in the establishment of the Free Patriotic Movement
– FPM, a wider anti-Syrian Christian political coalition led by the exiled Aoun. During the March 2005 Cedar Revolution
, the BCCN-FPM alliance played once more an active part in the demonstrations that brought an end to the Syrian military presence in Lebanon.
Upon the return of Aoun from exile in April that year, the FPM was established as the official Aounist political party, an act that deprived the BCCN of its main raison d'être. Inevitably, the movement factionalized, and within a few months it announced publicly its own dissolution. Both the LRM – which virtually ceased its activities by the mid-1990s – and the At-Tanzim militia no longer exist.
as its name implies, was a MoC/Tanzim splinter faction established by Georges Adwan shortly after been ousted from that organization’ presidency in late 1976. Backed by Syria
, the group was about 100-200 men-strong, backed by a few gun-trucks equipped with HMGs and recoilless rifles, and operated from the Muslim-held sector of West Beirut.
However, during the “Hundred Days War
” in February 1978, most of the ‘Tanzim Party’ militiamen switched sides to rejoin their former party’ comrades of the MoC/Tanzim militia and fought ferociously against Syrian Army
troops at the Fayadieh and Yarze
districts of East Beirut. Thus deprived of their fighting force, the ‘Tanzim Party’ was gradually pushed to the sidelines and ceased its activities around the mid-1980s.
Adwan was able to survive politically though, and in 1989-1990 he even tried unsuccessfully to broker an agreement between General Michel Aoun’s Army and the Lebanese Forces
led by Samir Geagea
. After the war, he joined Geagea’s Lebanese Forces Party, which allowed him to be elected in 2005 to the Lebanese Parliament as that party’s deputy for the Shouf district. The ‘Tanzim Party’ is no longer active.
(حركة المقاومة اللبنانية - التنظيم | Arabic for “The Organization”) was the name of an ultra-nationalist secret military society and militia set up by right-wing Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
activists in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
at the early 1970s, and which came to play an important role in the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
.
Emblem
The emblem of the group, a map of LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
with a cedar at the center, with the phrase "You love it, work for it" written below, was designed in 1970 during an expedition made by the Tanzim to the southern village of Kfar Chouba, in order to assist the affected population in the reconstruction effort, following an Israeli air raid
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
on the south of the Country. It must be noted that Kfar Chouba is a mainly Muslim village in South Lebanon and this act symbolized the Nationalist yet Secular ideals of the Tanzim.
History
The Tanzim was first formed in 1969 by a small group of young men who contested the Cairo agreementCairo agreement
The Cairo agreement or Cairo accord was an agreement reached on 2 November 1969 during talks between Yassir Arafat and the Lebanese army commander General Emile Bustani...
, which led them to brake away from the Phalangist Party in the late 1960s in protest for the latter’s initial refusal to engage in nation-wide military training and arming of the Lebanese population in order to ‘defend Lebanon’ from the perceived ‘Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
threat’.
Under the leadership of Obad Zouein, the breakaway group comprised Aziz Torbey, Samir Nassif, and Fawzi Mahfouz (also known as Abu Roy) – all were former militants of the Kataeb’s youth section and veterans of the 1958 Lebanon crisis – who decided therefore to create an underground paramilitary organization to support the Lebanese Army in the defense of the Country.
Shortly after its creation, the group moved to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
where they opened an office at the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
quarter of Achrafieh
Achrafieh
Achrafieh, , is one of the oldest Christian districts of East Beirut, Lebanon.-Overview:It is located on a hill in the eastern part of Beirut alongside the shore. Achrafieh is both a residential and commercial district characterized by narrow winding streets and prestigious large apartment and...
, and began to recruit early on civilian members outside the Army – particularly individuals such as Milad Rizkallah, who joined the Tanzim in 1970 – mostly from the upper and professional middle-classes, including former members of the Maronite League
Maronite League
The Maronite League – ML or Ligue Maronite in French is a private, non-profit and ostensibly apolitical organization of Lebanese Christian notables, dedicated mainly to defend the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon in the cadre of a democratic and pluralistic society.-Composition:The League...
. The civilian cadres proved instrumental in providing the new Movement with a political structure and program, embodied in 1970-71 with the creation of the Tanzim’s political wing, which began their activities under the covert title Movement of the Cedars – MoC or Mouvement des Cedres (MdC) in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
Structure and organization
Since its inception, the Tanzim initially rejected the monocentric leadership structure typical of the traditional political parties in Lebanon by adopting a collegial decision-making board – the “Commanding Council” – the first ever to emerge in LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. Yet, such collective leadership system did not prevent the rise of preeminent figures who dominated the Movement's leadership like the physician Dr. Fuad Chemali in 1972, succeeded by the lawyer Georges Adwan
Georges Adwan
Georges Adwan is a lawyer and a Lebanese politician. He currently holds the position of vice-president of the executive committee of the Lebanese Forces party. He has been an MP in the Lebanese Parliament as a representative of Chouf district since the 2005 legislative elections.Adwan was member...
in 1973.
Involved since 1969 in the clandestine military training of Christian volunteers in secret camps such as Fatqa and later on Tabrieh (both located in the mountains of the Keserwan District
Keserwan District
Keserwan is a district in the Mount Lebanon Governorate , Lebanon, to the northeast of the Lebanon's capital Beirut...
) in collusion with the Kataeb Party
Kataeb Party
The Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
, the MoC in the early 1970s began to quietly raise its own military wing, whose military headquarters was established in the Dekwaneh district of East Beirut. Although by 1977 more than 15,000 young men and women had trained at the above mentioned facilities (the majority of them joined the ranks of the other Christian militias), the Movement only proceeded to recruit very few out of this total, due to three main reasons:
1- The secret nature of such training, which rendered the selection process very delicate;
2- The limited financial resources available to the group, to a point that the volunteers had to cover their own training expenses by paying minimal fees.
3- The quality of men and women the Tanzim was looking for, and this reflected a lot on the clean reputation that the group maintained throughout the war, as well as having the lowest casualty rate, despite having its militia spearheading many difficult military engagements, mostly due to their mobility along the front.
Initially backed by the Lebanese Army, the MoC/Tanzim also received covert funding and weapons from Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, most of it being channelled via the Phalangists and the Maronite League
Maronite League
The Maronite League – ML or Ligue Maronite in French is a private, non-profit and ostensibly apolitical organization of Lebanese Christian notables, dedicated mainly to defend the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon in the cadre of a democratic and pluralistic society.-Composition:The League...
. The movement enjoyed a close relationship
with the Lebanese Army since the mid-1970s, which made some observers to believe that the Army’s predominantly Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
High Command
High command
The phrase High command may refer to:* Command * Chain of command* Commander-in-Chief* Defence minister* Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the WWII command structure popularly known as "German High Command"Compare:* Staff...
was somewhat directly involved in the formation of the MoC.
At the outbreak of the 1975-76 civil war, the Tanzim forces were organized into autonomous mobile groups of several dozen fighters, with each being coded as "tanzim of the region x or y" (the organized group of region x or y). Deployed to different fronts and neighbourhoods, their mission was to be present wherever the fighting required them; hence the MoC/Tanzim was the only Christian militia that had attained such a degree of tactical mobility and discipline.
Unlike the main Christian factions, the tanzim was one of the few ideologically-committed groups – other than the Guardians of the Cedars
Guardians of the Cedars
The Guardians of the Cedars – GoC , also designated Gardiens du Cedre or Gardiens des Cèdres in French, are a far-right ultranationalist Lebanese party and former militia in Lebanon...
– that never tried to establish its own fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
or canton, nor appears to have been involved in illegal financing activities such as drug trafficking.
Political beliefs
Since its membership included militants of any political background and affiliation (Kataeb, Ahrar Party, etc. ...) or none whatsoever, the MoC/Tanzim claimed that what united them was their integrity and their common belief in the liberty and sovereignty of LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
as a country for all Lebanese. In reality, they were a predominately Maronite and Phoenicianist
Phoenicianism
Phoenicianism is a form of Lebanese nationalism, especially popular from the 1920s through the 1950s. It promotes the theory that Lebanese people are not Arabs and that the Lebanese speak a distinct language and have their own culture, separate from that of the surrounding Middle Eastern countries...
-oriented organization, being violently anti-communist, staunchly pro-western, and very hostile towards Pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism is an ideology espousing the unification--or, sometimes, close cooperation and solidarity against perceived enemies of the Arabs--of the countries of the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs...
, characteristics which reflected on its program and politics.
In the early 1970s the movement adhered to an extremist Lebanonist ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
akin to that of the Guardians of the Cedars
Guardians of the Cedars
The Guardians of the Cedars – GoC , also designated Gardiens du Cedre or Gardiens des Cèdres in French, are a far-right ultranationalist Lebanese party and former militia in Lebanon...
(GoC), with whom they developed a close political partnership. Not only the Tanzim shared with the latter the same radical views regarding the Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
presence – and later Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
’s role – in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, but also went as far as adopting the “Lebanese language” written in the GoC’s Latin script for their own official documents.
The Tanzim in the 1975-76 Civil War
Tanzim militiamen made their first public appearance in May 1973 at BeirutBeirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
during the Bourj el-Barajneh
Bourj el-Barajneh
Bourj el-Barajneh is a municipality located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in Lebanon. The municipality lies between Beirut International Airport and the town of Haret Hreik....
clashes, when the Lebanese Army command indirectly called them to assist regular troops in preventing PLO guerrillas from entering Army-controlled areas. It was not until the 1975-76 civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
however, that the MoC/Tanzim got the opportunity to plan and carry out its own military operations free from Army control, thus becoming a truly independent organization.
The discipline and organizational abilities displayed by the MoC at the opening months of the civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
allowed the Movement to engage actively in the foundation of the Lebanese Front
Lebanese Front
The Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
. Conversely, its 200-strong Tanzim militia, led jointly by Fawzi Mahfouz and Obad Zouein, saw the heaviest street fighting ever in East Beirut, including the Karantina
Karantina Massacre
The Karantina massacre took place early in the Lebanese Civil War on January 18, 1976. With the breakdown in authority of the Lebanese government the militancy of radical factions increased...
and Tel al-Zaatar
Tel al-Zaatar Massacre
The Tel al-Zaatar massacre took place during the Lebanese Civil War on August 12, 1976. Tel al-Zaatar was a UNRWA administered Palestinian Refugee camp housing approximately 50,000-60,000 refugees in northeast Beirut.-Background:...
massacres. At the later battle they reportedly contributed with 200 militiamen, allegedly Army regulars in desguise.
Following the collapse of the Lebanese Army in January 1976, the Tanzim volunteered ostensibly to defend and protect more than half a dozen army barracks located in the Christian districts of East Beirut, including the Defense Ministry and Army HQ at Yarze
Yarze
Yarze is a village in Baabda District southeast of Beirut in Lebanon. The most significant public institution is the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. The city also has the famous The Hope for Peace Monument designed and gifted to Lebanon in 1995 by Arman....
. Moreover, the Movement saw this as an opportunity to expand its own military forces by incorporating defectors from the regular Army. Hence by March 1976 the Tanzim ranks swelled to 1,500 armed men and women backed by a small fleet of all-terrain vehicles and some transport trucks (Land-Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers, and US M35A2 2-1/2 ton cargo trucks) fitted with heavy machine-guns, Anti-Aircraft autocannons, and recoilless rifles.
During that same month, they were heavily committed in the battles for the Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon , as a geographic designation, is a Lebanese mountain range, averaging above 2,200 meters in height and receiving a substantial amount of precipitation, including snow, which averages around four meters deep. It extends across the whole country along about , parallel to the...
region against the Lebanese National Movement
Lebanese National Movement
The Lebanese National Movement or Mouvement National Libanais in French, was a front of parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War...
/Common Forces being frequently employed as a ‘fire brigade’ to fill gaps at the front, notably at Achrafieh
Achrafieh
Achrafieh, , is one of the oldest Christian districts of East Beirut, Lebanon.-Overview:It is located on a hill in the eastern part of Beirut alongside the shore. Achrafieh is both a residential and commercial district characterized by narrow winding streets and prestigious large apartment and...
, Tayyouneh-Lourdes, Kahale
Kahale
Kahale is a mountain village in the district of Aley , Lebanon, 13 km from Beirut. Population estimated at 13,000 residents all of which are Maronite Catholics.- Religion :The village has three churches:...
, Sin el Fil
Sin el Fil
-Etymology:The name literally translates "tooth" of "the elephant" . Being geographically closer to the ancient city of Antioch and far remote from natural elephant habitat, it is believed that the town name may have been a derogation of Saint Theophilus of Antioch.-Geography:With a rich red soil...
, and Ayoun es-Simane to name but a few, sustaining heavy casualties in the process.
Integrated into the Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
in 1977, Tanzim’s militiamen later again played a key role in the eviction of the Syrian army
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army, officially called the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the...
out from the Christian-controlled East Beirut in February 1978, where they manned the Fayadieh-Yarze
Yarze
Yarze is a village in Baabda District southeast of Beirut in Lebanon. The most significant public institution is the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. The city also has the famous The Hope for Peace Monument designed and gifted to Lebanon in 1995 by Arman....
sector of the Green Line
Green Line (Lebanon)
The Green Line was a line of demarcation in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990. It separated the mainly Muslim factions in West Beirut from the Christian Lebanese Front in East Beirut. The appellation refers to the coloration of the foliage that grew because the space...
.
Reversals and re-organization: 1976-79
Syria’s military intervention in June 1976, and its tacit endorsement by Georges AdwanGeorges Adwan
Georges Adwan is a lawyer and a Lebanese politician. He currently holds the position of vice-president of the executive committee of the Lebanese Forces party. He has been an MP in the Lebanese Parliament as a representative of Chouf district since the 2005 legislative elections.Adwan was member...
(who commulated the MoC's presidency with that of secretary-general
Secretary-General
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
of the Lebanese Front
Lebanese Front
The Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
at the time), however, caused the Movement to factionalize, splitting into a pro-Syrian element headed by Adwan himself and a radical anti-Syrian majority gathered around Mahfouz and Zouein. An attempted coup orchestrated by Adwan, in which the latter tried to take over the "Tanzim" Dekwaneh's military HQ resulted in a deep rift within the organization. Both Mahfouz and Zouein, which opposed Adwan's position and behaviour, played a crucial role in preventing further internal bloodshed among the group member's (despite the fact that Adwan had murdered Tony Khater, a fellow "Tanzim" member) regaining control of the Movement, and ousting Adwan from the "MoC/Tanzim" leadership board in late that year.
Eventually, the movement’s representation in the Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
' Command Council was subsequently bestowed by Bachir Gemayel
Bachir Gemayel
Bachir Gemayel was a Lebanese politician, militia commander, and president-elect...
upon Mahfouz, with Zouein being appointed the new Tanzim
Tanzim
Tanzim is a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement.-Overview:The Tanzim militia, founded in 1995 to counter Palestinian Islamism, is widely considered to be an armed offshoot of Fatah with its own leadership structure...
's secretary-general, and in 1977 the new leadership prudently allowed the Tanzim military wing to be absorbed into the Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
. The MoC remained politically autonomous though, and in 1979 the Movement finally went on public as a political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
by declaring its manifesto at the inauguration ceremony of the Tabrieh cedar memorial in honor of its 135 martyrs, presenting itself under the title Tanzim: Lebanese Resistance Movement – (T) LRM or Tanzim: Mouvement de Resistance Libanais (T-MRL) in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
The later years
With the political demise of the Lebanese FrontLebanese Front
The Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
in the late 1980s, the LRM began to take part in the foundation of the Bureau Central de Coordination Nationale – BCCN, an umbrella organization regrouping several small political groupings and associations that rallied in support for General Michel Aoun’s interim government, with members of the Tanzim’s Commanding Council Roger Azzam and Pierre Raffoul rising to the leadership of the new force. Their vocal opposition to the Syrian-sponsored Taif agreement
Taif Agreement
The Taif Agreement was an agreement reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon." Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the decades-long Lebanese civil war, politically accommodate the demographic...
led them to actively support Aoun’s ill-fated War of Liberation
War of liberation
A War of liberation is a conflict which is primarily intended to bring freedom or independence to a nation or group. Examples might include a war to overthrow a colonial power, or to remove a dictator from power. Such wars are often unconventional...
in 1989-90, which forced the movement to go underground for some time and threw most its leaders into exile.
Despite this, many former Tanzim members chose to remain in Lebanon and continued to carry out their militancy within the BCCN throughout the 1990s, later helping in the establishment of the Free Patriotic Movement
Free Patriotic Movement
The Free Patriotic Movement , also known as the "Aounist Movement" , is a Lebanese political party, led by Michel Aoun and allied with Hezbollah, The movement was officially declared a political party on September 18, 2005Though most of the party's support comes from Lebanon's...
– FPM, a wider anti-Syrian Christian political coalition led by the exiled Aoun. During the March 2005 Cedar Revolution
Cedar Revolution
The Cedar Revolution or Independence Intifada was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005.The primary goals of the original activists were the...
, the BCCN-FPM alliance played once more an active part in the demonstrations that brought an end to the Syrian military presence in Lebanon.
Upon the return of Aoun from exile in April that year, the FPM was established as the official Aounist political party, an act that deprived the BCCN of its main raison d'être. Inevitably, the movement factionalized, and within a few months it announced publicly its own dissolution. Both the LRM – which virtually ceased its activities by the mid-1990s – and the At-Tanzim militia no longer exist.
The ‘Tanzim Party’
The ‘Tanzim Party’ (Arabic: Hizb al-Tanzim) or ‘Parti du Tanzim’ in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
as its name implies, was a MoC/Tanzim splinter faction established by Georges Adwan shortly after been ousted from that organization’ presidency in late 1976. Backed by Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, the group was about 100-200 men-strong, backed by a few gun-trucks equipped with HMGs and recoilless rifles, and operated from the Muslim-held sector of West Beirut.
However, during the “Hundred Days War
Hundred Days War
The Hundred Days War , also known as La Guerre des Cent Jours in French was a subconflict within the 1977–82 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred at the Lebanese Capital Beirut...
” in February 1978, most of the ‘Tanzim Party’ militiamen switched sides to rejoin their former party’ comrades of the MoC/Tanzim militia and fought ferociously against Syrian Army
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army, officially called the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the...
troops at the Fayadieh and Yarze
Yarze
Yarze is a village in Baabda District southeast of Beirut in Lebanon. The most significant public institution is the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. The city also has the famous The Hope for Peace Monument designed and gifted to Lebanon in 1995 by Arman....
districts of East Beirut. Thus deprived of their fighting force, the ‘Tanzim Party’ was gradually pushed to the sidelines and ceased its activities around the mid-1980s.
Adwan was able to survive politically though, and in 1989-1990 he even tried unsuccessfully to broker an agreement between General Michel Aoun’s Army and the Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
led by Samir Geagea
Samir Geagea
Samir Farid Geagea , born October 25, 1952, is a Lebanese politician. He is also a senior figure in the March 14 Alliance, alongside Saad Hariri and Amine Gemayel....
. After the war, he joined Geagea’s Lebanese Forces Party, which allowed him to be elected in 2005 to the Lebanese Parliament as that party’s deputy for the Shouf district. The ‘Tanzim Party’ is no longer active.
See also
- Army of Free LebanonArmy of Free LebanonThe Army of Free Lebanon – AFL or ‘Colonel Barakat’s Army’ , also designated Armée du Liban Libre or ‘Armée du Colonel Barakat’ in French, was a predominantely 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...
- PhoenicianismPhoenicianismPhoenicianism is a form of Lebanese nationalism, especially popular from the 1920s through the 1950s. It promotes the theory that Lebanese people are not Arabs and that the Lebanese speak a distinct language and have their own culture, separate from that of the surrounding Middle Eastern countries...
- Bachir GemayelBachir GemayelBachir Gemayel was a Lebanese politician, militia commander, and president-elect...
- Guardians of the CedarsGuardians of the CedarsThe Guardians of the Cedars – GoC , also designated Gardiens du Cedre or Gardiens des Cèdres in French, are a far-right ultranationalist Lebanese party and former militia in Lebanon...
- Lebanese ForcesLebanese ForcesThe Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
- Lebanese FrontLebanese FrontThe Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
- Tigers MilitiaTigers Militia (Lebanon)The Tigers Militia , also known as NLP Tigers or Tigers of the Liberals and PNL "Lionceaux" in French, was the military wing of the National Liberal Party during the Lebanese Civil War.- Origins :The NLP militia was first raised in October 1968 by Camille Chamoun at his own home town...
- Kataeb Regulatory ForcesKataeb Regulatory ForcesThe Kataeb Regulatory Forces – KRF or RF , Forces Regulatoires du Kataeb in French were the military wing of the right-wing Lebanese Christian Kataeb Party, otherwise known as the Phalange, from 1961 to 1977...
External links
- http://tanzim.thelebaneseresistance.org/ the official website of historical Tanzim, the Lebanese Resistance Movement