South Lebanon Army

The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA; Arabic: جيش لبنان الجنوبي, Jayš Lubnān al-Janūbiyy), also known as the Lahad Army (جيش لحد) or as the De Facto Forces (DFF), was a militia founded by Lebanese military officer Saad Haddad in 1977, amidst the Lebanese Civil War, which evolved to operate as a quasi-military during the South Lebanon conflict, basing itself in Haddad's unrecognized State of Free Lebanon. Although officially secular, the majority of its soldiers were either Shiites or Christians, with the latter in particular dominating its higher ranks all throughout the militia's existence.

Initially, it was known as the "Free Lebanon Army" after it broke away from the Army of Free Lebanon, another Christian-dominated militia. After 1979, the SLA's activity was almost exclusively confined to southernmost Lebanon. Under the aegis of Israel, the militia was bolstered by the 1982 Lebanon War. It came under increasing Israeli supervision following the collapse of the State of Free Lebanon in 1984 and subsequent establishment of the South Lebanon security belt administration.

As the most prominent pro-Israel militia in Israeli-occupied Lebanon, the SLA frequently engaged in armed clashes with Hezbollah, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and other militant groups.

After Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon on 22 May 2000, the SLA positions collapsed in the face of Lebanese civilians and Hezbollah's advance towards South Lebanon and Saad Haddad's statue was dragged through the streets of Marjayoun. SLA members either fled to Israel, constituting Lebanese people in Israel, or were captured and tried for treason.

In 1975, at the town of Marjayoun in the Jabal Amel region of southern Lebanon, some local 300 Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF) and Guardians of the Cedars (GoC) militiamen were mustered together into the so-called "Free Lebanese Militia" – FLM (Arabic: Al-Milishia Al-Lubnaniyyat Al-Hura), ostensibly formed to defend the nearby Christian towns of Kfar Falous, Jezzine, Qlaiaa, Ain Ebel, Rumeish and surrounding villages threatened by Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and later by Lebanese Arab Army (LAA) attacks. In reality, the muster was secretly carried by Lieutenant Ya'ir Ravid of the AMAN (the Israeli military intelligence service), who envisaged using them as a buffer force to prevent a Palestinian military build-up in the border area that could threaten the security of northern Israel. A second muster took place at Qlaiaa in early 1976, gathering a force of some 400 Christian soldiers – mostly deserters from the Lebanese Army and Tigers Militia' militants – led by Major Sami Shidyaq, a Phalange militant.

In January 1976, as a result of the ongoing civil war, the Lebanese Army began to break up into two rival factions, the Muslim-led Lebanese Arab Army (LAA) who sided with the Muslim-leftist militias of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) and their allies of the PLO guerrilla factions, and the Christian-led Army of Free Lebanon (AFL) aligned with the Christian-rightist militias of the Lebanese Front. Some Christian Lebanese Army officers commanding units based throughout the country joined the AFL with their men, including Major Saad Haddad, the commander of the 700-strong Marjayoun garrison in southern Lebanon.

By late 1976, pressure from PLO and LNM-LAA militias finally forced Major Saad Haddad to evacuate the town and withdraw unopposed with his battalion to the village of Qlaiaa, close to the border with Israel. Here Maj. Haddad and his men placed themselves under the protection of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), eventually providing the cadre – after merging with the local Christian FLM, Shia Muslim and Druze militias, gathered since October 21, 1976, into the informal "Army for the Defense of South Lebanon" or ADSL (French: Armée de Défense du Liban-Sud or ADLS) – of the so-called "Free Lebanese Army" (FLA), formed in March 1978 under the auspices of another AMAN officer, reserve Major Yoram Hamizrachi.

Primarily based at the towns of Marjayoun and Qlaiaa in southern Lebanon, and provisionally headquartered at the Hotel Arazim in Metula, Israel, the 1,200-strong FLA/SLA was initially placed under the overall command of Hamizrachi himself. In June 1978, Major Hamizrachi handed over the post to Major (later, Colonel) Saad Haddad, in turn replaced upon his death from Cancer in January 1984 by another ex-LAF Officer, retired Lieutenant general Antoine Lahad, who was also a NLP sympathiser.