Independent Nasserist Organization
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The Independent Nasserist Organization (INO, also known as al-Murabitun; Arabic Harakatu-l-naSiriyyīna-l-mustaqillīn) is a Nasserist political organization in Lebanon. Its motto was "Liberty, Socialism and Unity".
Formed in 1958, its membership was mainly composed by Muslims of both the Shi'a and the Sunni sects, and some Druze members, but often referred to as a Sunni movement. It was Arab socialist and secular, as well as radically pan-Arab and Arab nationalist, and although never a large movement it formed an important part of the opposition to the Maronite-dominated order in Lebanon. It was a member of the Front for Progressive Parties and National Forces, later reorganized as the Lebanese National Movement (LNM). It was a strong ally of the Palestinian movement.
It was one of a number of Nasserist movements, including the Movement of Unionist Nasserites, which split from the INO in 1982 under the leadership of Samir Sabbagh.
Before and during the Lebanese Civil War it organized an armed militia known as al-Murabitun, which held positions on the antigovernment side in West Beirut and Tripoli. The party was nearly destroyed and its leader, Ibrahim Kulaylat, forced into exile, after clashes with the Druze PSP and the Shi'a Amal Movement in 1985. The PSP had been an earlier ally of the INO, but was now urged into alliance with Amal by Syria, which had turned on the PLO, which was in turn allied with the INO.
