The Lebanese Resistance Regiments (, or AMAL), also designated Lebanese Resistance Battalions, Lebanese Resistance Detachments, Lebanese Resistance Legions and Battalions de la Resistance Libanaise (BRL), but simply known by its Arabic acronym ʾAmal which means "Hope", were the military wing of the Amal Movement, a political organization representing the Muslim Shia community of Lebanon. The movement's political wing was officially founded in February 1973 from a previous organization bearing the same name and its military wing was formed in January 1975. The Amal militia was a major player in the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1991. The militia has now been disarmed, though the movement itself, now known as the Amal Movement (Arabic: Harakat Amal), is a notable Shia political party in Lebanon alongside Hezbollah.
Creation The Amal militia was founded in 1975 as the militant wing of the Movement of the Disinherited, a Shi'a political movement founded by Musa al-Sadr and Hussein el-Husseini a year earlier. It became one of the most important Shi'a Muslim militias during the Lebanese Civil War. Amal grew strong with the support of, and through its ties with, SyriaByman, Deadly Connections: States that Sponsor Terrorism (2005), page unknown. and the 300,000 Shi'a internal refugees from southern Lebanon after the Israeli bombings in the early 1980s. Amal's practical objectives were to gain greater respect for Lebanon's Shi'ite population and the allocation of a larger share of governmental resources for the Shi'ite-dominated southern part of the country.
At its zenith, the militia had 14,000 troops. Amal fought a long campaign against Palestinian refugees during the Lebanese Civil War (called the War of the Camps). After the War of the Camps, Amal fought a bloody battle against rival Shi'a group Hezbollah for control of Beirut, which provoked Syrian military intervention. Hezbollah itself was formed by religious members of Amal who had left after Nabih Berri's assumption of full control and the subsequent resignation of most of Amal's earliest senior members.
History
Timeline
Harakat al-Mahrumin (حركة المحرومين | The Movement of the Dispossessed) was established by Imam Musa al-Sadr and member of parliament Hussein el-Husseini in 1974. On January 20, 1975, the Lebanese Resistance Detachments (also referred to in English as 'Battalions of the Lebanese Resistance') is formed as the military wing of the Movement of the Disinherited under the leadership of al-Sadr. In 1978 the founder al-Sadr disappears in mysterious circumstances while visiting Libya and was succeeded by Hussein el-Husseini as leader of Amal.
In 1979 Palestinian guerrillas attempt to assassinate then-Secretary General Hussein el-Husseini by launching missiles into his home, outside Beirut.
In 1980 Hussein el-Husseini resigned from Amal leadership after refusing to "drench Amal in blood" and fight alongside the PLO or any other faction. That same year, Nabih Berri became one of the three highest officials of Amal, marking the entry of Amal in the Lebanese Civil War.
When the Iran–Iraq War raged in September 1980, around 500 to 600 Amal volunteers participated in the war next to Mostafa Chamran, one of the co-founders of Amal.
In summer 1982 Husayn Al-Musawi, deputy head and official spokesman of Amal, broke away to form the Islamist Islamic Amal Movement. In May 1985, heavy fighting erupted between Amal and Palestinian camp militias for the control of the Shatila and Burj el-Barajneh refugee camps in Beirut, sparking the so-called "War of the Camps". Over the following two years the fighting took place in four distinct phases, totalling around eight months of conflict. Amal, despite having tanks, artillery and support from the Lebanese army’s 6th Brigade, failed in its objective of dislodging PLO fighters from the refugee camps and was left significantly weakened.Middle East International No 298, 17 April 1987; Godfrey Jansen pp.3-4 The siege of the refugee camps caused tension between Amal and Hezbollah who were opposed to the offensive.
In December 1985 Nabih Berri of Amal, Walid Jumblatt of the Druze Progressive Socialist Party, and Elie Hobeika of the Lebanese Forces signed the Tripartite Accord in Damascus which was supposed to give strong influence to Damascus regarding Lebanese matters. The agreement never came into effect due to Hobeika's ousting.
In mid-February 1987 fighting broke out in West Beirut between Amal and the Druze PLA in what became known as the "War of the Flag". The conflict was sparked when a PLA fighter entered the Channel 7 TV station (French: Télé Liban – Canal 7) building in the Tallet el-Khayyat quarterHokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975–1985) (2012), p. 27. and replaced the Lebanese national flag with the PSP flag. Its positions thinly manned due to the War of the Camps, an alliance of PSP, LCP/Popular Guard and SSNP drove out Amal of most of its former positions in West Beirut. As a result, on 21 February, 7,000 Syria commandos, under the command of Major-General Ghazi Kanaan, were deployed into West Beirut. Assisted by Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) gendarmes they immediately closed over fifty militia “offices” and banned the carrying of weapons in public. Young men with beards were detained.Middle East International No 295, 4 March 1987; Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; Jim Muir pp.3-5
On February 17, 1988 the American Chief of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) observer mission in Lebanon, Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, was abducted and later killed after meeting with Amal's political leader of southern Lebanon. It was believed that Hezbollah abducted Higgins, though the party to this day denies it and insists that it was done to create problems between them and the Amal movement.Ranstorp, Hizb'allah in Lebanon (1997), p. 101. In April 1988, Amal launched an all-out assault on Hezbollah positions in south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, which became known as the War of Brothers. By May 1988 Hezbollah gained control of 80% of the Shi'ite suburbs of Beirut through well-timed assaults.Hezbollah: Between Tehran and Damascus
In 1989 Amal accepted the Taif agreement (mainly authored by el-Husseini) in order to end the civil war.
On 17 July 1990 fighters from the Palestinian Fatah militia moved into the Iqlim al-Tufah hills, southeast of Sidon in an attempt to separate fighters from Amal and Hizbullah. Fifteen people had been killed in the fighting. Fatah had played a similar role during clashes in the same area in January.Middle East International No 380, 15 July 1990; Jim Muir pp.5-6 A later report describes two weeks of fighting around Sidon, culminating with Hizbullah taking the village of Jarjouh from Amal on 16 July. This report puts the number of dead at around two hundred.Middle East International No 381, 3 August 1990; Jim Muir pp.8-9
In September 1991, with background in the Syrian controlled end of the Lebanese Civil War in October 1990, 2,800 Amal troops joined the Lebanese army.
Origin The origins of the Amal movement lie with the Lebanese cleric of Iranian origin Imam Musa al-Sadr. In 1974, the Harakat al-Mahrumin (Movement of the Deprived)Nasr, The Shia Revival (2006), p. 85. was established by al-Sadr and member of parliament Hussein el-Husseini to attempt to reform the Lebanese system. While acknowledging its support base to be the "traditionally under-represented politically and economically disadvantaged" Shi'a community,Byman, Deadly Connections: States that Sponsor Terrorism (2005), p. 82. it aimed, according to Palmer-Harik, to seek social justice for all deprived Lebanese.Palmer-Harik, Hezbollah: The Changing Face of Terrorism (2004), page unknown. Although influenced by Islamic ideas, it was a secular movement trying to unite people along communal rather than religious or ideological lines. The Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Beirut, Mgr. Grégoire Haddad, was among the founders of the Movement.Augustus Richard Norton, Hezbollah: A Short History Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.Hizbullah, a progressive Islamic party? - Interview with Joseph Alagha
On January 20, 1975, the Lebanese Resistance Detachments (also referred to in English as 'The Battalions of the Lebanese Resistance') were formed as a military wing of The Movement of the Disinherited under the leadership of al-Sadr, and came to be popularly known as Amal (from the acronym Afwaj al-Mouqawma Al-Lubnaniyya). In 1978, al-Sadr disappeared in mysterious circumstances while visiting Libya, the Amal movement's regional supporter at the time. There are credible allegations that Yasser Arafat asked Gaddafi to "disappear" al-Sadr. Hussein el-Husseini became leader of Amal and was followed by Nabih Berri in April 1980 after el-Husseini resigned. One of the consequences of the rise of Berri, a less educated leader, the increasing secular yet sectarian nature of the movement and move away from an Islamic context for the movement was a splintering of the movement.
Military structure and organization The movement's militia was secretly established on 20 January 1975 with the help of the Palestinian Fatah, who provided weapons and training at their Beqaa facilities. The formation of Amal was revealed in July that year when an accidental explosion of a landmine at one of the Fatahland camps near Baalbek killed over 60 Shia trainees, which caused considerable embarrassment to Fatah and forced Al-Sadr to admit publicly the militia's existence.Weinberger, Syrian Intervention in Lebanon: The 1975-76 Civil War (1986), p. 157.Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990 (2005), page unknown. When the civil war finally broke out in April 1975, Amal's strength stood at about 1,500–3,000 armed militants, backed by a motor force of gun trucks and technicals fitted with heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles and anti-aircraft autocannons.
By the mid-1980s however, the movement totalled 14,000–16,000 militiamen trained and armed by Syria, of which 3,000–6,000 were full-time uniformed regularsMakdisi and Sadaka, The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990 (2003), p. 44, Table 1: War Period Militias. and the remaining 10,000 part-time male and female irregulars. Amal's regular forces were bolstered by 6,000 ex-Lebanese Army soldiers from the Sixth Brigade, a predominantly Shia Muslim formation that went over to their co-religionists following the collapse of the government forces in February 1984.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 137.Nerguizian, Cordesman & Burke, The Lebanese Armed Forces: Challenges and Opportunities in Post-Syria Lebanon (2009), pp. 56-57.Barak, The Lebanese Army – A National institution in a divided society (2009), p. 155. Commanded by the Shi'ite Colonel (later, Major general) Abd al-Halim Kanj,Collelo, Lebanon: a country study (1989), p. 223.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 99. and headquartered at the Henri Chihab Barracks at Jnah in the south-western Chyah suburb of West Beirut, this formation was subsequently enlarged by absorbing Shia deserters from other Army units, which included the 97th Battalion from the Seventh Brigade.Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985) (2012), p. 87. Outside the Lebanese Capital, Amal militia forces operating in Baalbek and Hermel received support from certain elements of the mainly Shi'ite First Brigade stationed in the Beqaa Valley.Bicard, Prospects for Lebanon – The Demobilization of the Lebanese Militias (1999), p. 16.
List of Amal Commanders Musa al-Sadr (1975–1978) Hussein el-Husseini (1978–1980) Nabih Berri (1980–Present)
Amal junior Commanders Akel Hamieh (a.k.a. 'Hamza') Mohamad Saad Daoud Daoud Mahmood Fakih Hassan Jaafar