Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party

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Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party
حزب طليعة لبنان العربي الاشتراكي
LeaderAbd al-Majid al-Rafei
Founded1966 (1966)
HeadquartersBeirut, Lebanon
IdeologyBa'athism
Socialism
Secularism
Saddamism
Anti-Zionism
International affiliationIraqi-led Ba'ath Party
ColorsBlack, Red, White and Green
Battles/WarsLebanese Civil War
1978 South Lebanon conflict
Battle of the Hotels
Siege of Beirut
Parliament of Lebanon
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Party flag
Logo of the Ba'ath Party

The Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party (Arabic: حزب طليعة لبنان العربي الاشتراكي Hizb Al-Taliyeh Lubnan Al-'Arabi Al-Ishtiraki) is a political party in Lebanon. The party was led by Abd al-Majid al-Rafei[1][2] until his death in July 2017. It is the Lebanese regional branch of the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party. The party held its second congress in October 2011. Founders of the party included Dr. Abd al-Majid al-Rafe'ii, Jihad George Karam, Rafiq Naseeb al-Faqih,Rashid Abo Falah,Karam Mohamed al-Sahili, Hani Mohammad Sho'aib, Ammar Mohammad Shibli, Hassan Khalil Gharib and Wassef El Harakeh.[2] Although formally affiliated to the Sunni-dominated regime in Baghdad, the majority of the party's members were Lebanese Shiites.[3]

The existence of the Lebanese branch of the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party has much longer roots than its Syrian-led counterpart. Following the 1966 split in the Ba'ath Party between Iraqi and Syrian-dominated factions, the pro-Iraqi party was led by Abd al-Majid Rafei.[4][5]

At first, the pro-Iraqi party and the pro-Syrian party worked side-by-side in the Lebanese National Movement (also known as the National Front), but with tension increasing between them, the two parties were on a war footing.[6] The party was active in 1960s demonstrations,[7] and al-Rafei was detained by Lebanese authorities for his political activities.[8] However, he was a candidate from Tripoli in the 1968 general election.[9] The party expanded during the first half of the 1970s,[10] and in the 1972 general election al-Rafi was elected to parliament from Tripoli.[11] Ali al-Khalil, a former member, was elected from Tyre. The party was active in southern Lebanon.In nabatieh it was headed by hani mohammad Shoaib.The party was built with generous aid from Iraq.[12]

Syrias Intervention in Lebanon[edit]

Lebanese Civil War[edit]

During the Lebanese Civil War, the Lebanese parliament formed the National Dialogue Committee in 1975. Assem Qanso of the pro-Syrian party became a member, but no figures from the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath Party were given a seat on the committee.[13] The party was a member of the Lebanese National Movement, a political alliance led by Kamal Jumblatt of the Progressive Socialist Party, and had an organized a militia of around 2000 armed men that received its funding and weapons by Iraq.[14][15]

The party was a big critic of both Syria and Israels invasions of Lebanon. The party supported the Lebanese arab identity and wanted an arab state. It was a main factor in the battle of the hotels and Israels invasions of Lebanon 1978 and 1982.

Following the execution of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr by Saddam Hussein in April 1980, the party came into conflict with Amal Movement, which culminated in tit-for-tat assassinations and clashes in Shia majority suburbs of Dahieh until late 1981.[16][17] In November 1981, Tahsein al-Atrash, leader of the Ba'ath branch at the time, was shot dead.[18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Aḥmad, Aḥmad Yūsuf. al-Ḥarb al-isrāʼīlīya ʻalā Lubnān: at-tadāʻīyāt al-lubnānīya wa-'l-isrāʼīlīya wa-taʼtīrātuhā al-ʻarabīya wa-'l-iqlīmīya wa-'d-duwalīya ; buḥūt wa-munāqašāt an-Nadwa al-Fikrīya allatī naẓẓamahā Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-ʻArabīya. Bairūt: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-ʻArabīya, 2006.
  2. ^ a b Staff writer. جمعية سياسية باسم "حزب طليعة لبنان العربي الاشتراكي" [Political society as the "vanguard party, Arab Socialist Party of Lebanon] (in Arabic). Lebanon Knowledge Development Gateway. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  3. ^ El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
  4. ^ Solh, Raghid El-. Lebanon and Arabism. London: I. B. Tauris in association with the Centre for Lebanese Studies, 2004. p. 331
  5. ^ Rabinovich, Itamar, and Itamar Rabinovich. The War for Lebanon, 1970-1985. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985. p. 79
  6. ^ Rabinovich, Itamar (1985). The war for Lebanon, 1970–1985. Cornell University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-8014-9313-3.
  7. ^ El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
  8. ^ El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
  9. ^ Zumiyya, Jamal (1972). The parliamentary election of Lebanon 1968. Vol. 2. BRILL Archive. p. 106.
  10. ^ El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
  11. ^ Tachau, Frank (1994). Political parties of the Middle East and North Africa. Greenwood Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-313-26649-2.
  12. ^ El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
  13. ^ El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
  14. ^ El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
  15. ^ Cassese, Antonio (1986). The Current Legal Regulation of the Use of Force. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 205. ISBN 978-90-247-3247-0.
  16. ^ Reisinezhad, Arash (2018). The Shah of Iran, the Iraqi Kurds, and the Lebanese Shia. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-89947-3. ISBN 9783319899473. S2CID 187523435.
  17. ^ Shaery-Eisenlohr, Roschanack (2011). Shi'ite Lebanon: Transnational Religion and the Making of National Identities. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231144278.
  18. ^ O'Ballance, Edgar (1998). Civil war in Lebanon, 1975–92. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-312-21593-4.