Guardians of the Cedars
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The Guardians of the Cedars are a patriotic Lebanese Nationalist Party and former militia in Lebanon. It was formed by Étienne Saqr (a.k.a. Abu Arz) and others along with the Lebanese Renewal Party in the early 1970s. It operated in the Lebanese Civil War under the slogan: Lebanon, at your service.
The group is self-described as secular, although this fact is disputed. Policies and allegiances during Lebanon's civil war would indicate that the group has a strong Maronite Christian influence.
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[edit] Creation
The Guardians of the Cedars started to form a militia in the years leading up to the Lebanese Civil War and commenced military operations in April 1975.
In September 1975, Communiqué No. 1 was issued to denounce advocates of the partition of Lebanon. The second communiqué contained a bitter attack on the Palestinians. The third articulated the party's attitude on the issue of Lebanese identity: Lebanon should dissociate itself from Arabism. The party spread its messages by means of graffiti in East Beirut, including such slogans as: "No to Syria, no to the Palestinian Resistance, no to Arabism; Lebanon will be the graveyard of the Palestinian Terrorists."
The Guardians joined with other national-patriotic mainly-Christian Lebanese militias in 1976 to form the Lebanese Front.
[edit] Participation in the Lebanese Civil War
Guardians of the Cedars was able to field about 500-1000 fighters during the Lebanese Civil War. It claimed that they were protecting Lebanon "with the word and the sword". Yet, some supporters maintain that the group played a non-sectarian or non-religious role. Despite their relatively small number (around 6,000 at their peak), the Guardians were involved in some of the heaviest engagements of the war. The Guardians troops were among the bravest and well-diciplined militias during the war.
[edit] 1970's
In March 1976, they confronted Palestinian and leftist forces in West Beirut. A Guardians unit was also dispatched to Zaarour, above the mountain road to Zahle, to support Phalangist forces. In April, Guardian fighters held a line in the area of Hadeth, Kfar Shima, and Bsaba, south of Beirut, against a coalition of Palestinian, PSP, and SSNP forces.
In the summer of 1976, the Guardians were among the first militias to assault Tel al-Zaatar, the last remaining Palestinian military camp and terrorist base in east Beirut, which fell after a 52-day siege. The actions of the Guardians and their allies following the capture of the camp have been widely reported as amounting to a massacre of many of its civilian inhabitants. During this battle, Saqr led a unit of Guardians force to Chekka, where Christian civilians were being slaughtered by leftist-Palestinian forces, and fought off the attackers. Only Syrian troops interference saved leftist-Palestinian forces from the total defeat.
The Guardians and allied Christian militias then invaded the Koura region in northern Lebanon and reached Tripoli, to support Christian residents trapped by fighting. In 1978 as part of the Lebanese Front they fearlessly battled the Syrian army in Beirut and again in 1981 in the Battle of Zahle.
[edit] 1980's
In 1985 the Guardians of the Cedars mounted a fierce defense of Kfar-Fallus and Jezzine, defeating Palestinians and Shiite-Druze militias and saved thousands Christians of South Lebanon. Towards the close of the 1980s, and continuing to 2000, most of the remaining fighting in Lebanon occurred in the south, inside the Israeli-occupied zone. The Guardians and other militias largely reorganized into the South Lebanon Army, preserving much of the early ideology while adopting new military tactics.
[edit] Political Beliefs
The political ideology of Guardians of the Cedars is a comprehensive and deep form of Lebanese nationalism. This is rooted in the several controversial beliefs:
- Lebanon in an ancient nation of unique ethnicity
- modern Lebanese people descended from the Canaanites, and are not related to Arabs
- the Lebanese, and not the Greeks, are the founders of today's western civilisation
This has led the Guardians of the Cedars to maintain that Lebanese people are not Arabs. The political consequence of this stance advocates the 'de-Arabisation' of Lebanon. Similarly, followers draw a distinction between Arabic and 'Lebanese', aiming to restore the form created by Lebanese philosopher Said Akl. The Guardians of the Cedars have adopted positions hostile to Pan-Arabism. Saqr himself had fought against pan-Arab forces back in the Lebanon Crisis of 1958. After heavy Palestinian involvement in the Lebanese Civil War, the Guardians cultivated ties with the Israeli military, receiving weapons and support. Some followers maintain that this was a collaboration of necessity, and not an ideological agreement with the Israelis. Others disagree, claiming that collaboration with Israel was based on the conviction that there was a commonality of interest between the two countries. Other similarly-aligned militias, such as the Phalangists and the Tigers, also cooperated semi-secretly with Israel.
[edit] Attitude to Palestinians
Saqr summed the Guardians of the Cedars attitude to Palestinians in an interview with the Jerusalem Post on July 23 1982: "It is the Palestinians we have to deal with. Ten years ago there were 84,000; now there are between 600,000 and 700,000. In six years there will be two million. We can’t let it come to that." His solution: "Very simple. We shall drive them to the borders of ’brotherly’ Syria ... Anyone who looks back, stops or returns will be shot on the spot. We have the moral right, reinforced by well-organized public relations plans and political preparations."
GoC slogan during the civil war was "It's the duty of every Lebanese to kill a Palestinian".[1]
[edit] End of the militia
1989 saw the Guardians once more fighting the Syrians, this time alongside the Lebanese Army, in support of the Lebanese government of General Michel Aoun. In a statement in 1990, the GoC greeted the occupation of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein by asserting that "Arabism is the undisputed lie of the 20th century." The Guardians called upon the people to rally around the leadership of General Aoun, and demanded the withdrawal of Lebanon from the Arab League.
As the Lebanese Civil War drew to a close in 1990, political changes weakened the right-wing movements which had existed in earlier decades. In October 1990, as part of the end of the war, the reorganized Lebanese government forced Prime Minister Aoun out of power.
Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces militia captured Saqr because he had supported Aoun. During this incident, he suffered an unspecified injury. He was forced to seek refuge in Jezzine, and finally left Lebanon for Europe after Israel pulled its forces out of Lebanon. Several other members of the Guardians are presently wanted by the Lebanese government, in order to answer for war-crimes.
From the end of the civil war in 1990 until the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 the Guardians of the Cedars formed an element of the now-defunct South Lebanon Army. Since that date their military operations have ceased and they operate solely politically, campaigning to remove the Syrian presence in Lebanon.
Today, the newly-reorganized GoC is a legal and fully-functional political party; lately, the term Harakat al-Qawmiyya al-Lubnaniyya (Lebanese Nationalism Movement) was added to its name.
[edit] See also
- Lebanese Renewal Party
- Étienne Saqr
- Phoenicianism
- Lebanese Front
- Lebanese Civil War
- Tel al-Zaatar Massacre
[edit] References
- Mordechi Nissan, The Conscience of Lebanon
- Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War
- GoC sites
- Stance on Palestinians
[edit] External links
- Lebanese Politics - Lebanese political discussions
- Guardians of the Cedars
