The Popular Nasserist Organization – PNO (Arabic: التنظيم الشعبي الناصري, romanized:Al-Tanzim al-Sha'aby al-Nassery) is a Sidon-based Nasserist party originally formed in 1973 by Maarouf Saad, a Sunni Muslimpan-Arab politician and member of Parliament (MP) later killed by the Lebanese Army during a February 1975 dock strike held in that port city.[1]
The PNO's military wing, the National Liberation Army – NLA (Arabic: جيش التحرير الوطني, romanized:Jayish al-Tahrir al-Watani) or Armée de Liberation Nationale (ALN) in French, was founded in March 1975 at Sidon by Mustafa Saad, son of the late Maarouf. Secretly trained and armed by Fatah, the NLA was initially financed by Yasser Arafat's organization and Libya, later replaced in the mid-1980s by the Sidon-born Saudi-Lebanese millionaire Rafic Hariri, in order to protect his business interests in the Sidon area.[2][3]
A small but disciplined fighting force, predominately Sunni Muslim with some Shia Muslims and Christians, the NLA comprised some 500-1,000 uniformed male and female fighters[4] organized into conventional 'Commando', Infantry, Signals, and Military Police branches.
Weapons and equipment
Most of the NLA's own weapons and equipment were provided by the PLO, Libya and Syria or pilfered from Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Internal Security Forces (ISF) reserves after their collapse in January 1976. Additional weaponry, vehicles and other, non-lethal military equipment were procured in the international black market.
A Syrian BTR-152 armoured personnel carrier patrols the streets of the Lebanese port city of Saida (Sidon), March 1978.
Closely allied with the Al-Mourabitoun, the PNO/NLA joined the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) in April 1975,[26] playing a somewhat significant role in the controversial siege of the Christian coastal town of Damour alongside the Al-Mourabitoun, the PLO and Palestine Liberation Army units on 20–22 January 1976.[27][28] It later took part in the 'Spring offensive' held in March of that year on the Mount Lebanon region.
↑Traboulsi, Identités et solidarités croisées dans les conflits du Liban contemporain; Chapitre 12: L'économie politique des milices: le phénomène mafieux (2007), parte III.
Afaf Sabeh McGowan, John Roberts, As'ad Abu Khalil, and Robert Scott Mason, Lebanon: a country study, area handbook series, Headquarters, Department of the Army (DA Pam 550-24), Washington D.C. 1989. -
Boutros Labaki & Khalil Abou Rjeily, Bilan des guerres du Liban (1975-1990), Collection "Comprendre le Moyen-Orient", Éditions L'Harmattan, Paris 1993. ISBN978-2738415257 (in French)
Chris McNab, 20th Century Military Uniforms (2nd ed.), Grange Books, Kent 2002. ISBN978-1-84013-476-6
Chris McNab, Soviet Submachine Guns of World War II: PPD-40, PPSh-41 and PPS, Weapon series 33, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2014. ISBN978-1-78200-794-4
Denise Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990, Fayard, Paris 2005. ISBN978-2-213-61521-9 (in French) –
Fawwaz Traboulsi, Identités et solidarités croisées dans les conflits du Liban contemporain; Chapitre 12: L'économie politique des milices: le phénomène mafieux, Thèse de Doctorat d'Histoire – 1993, Université de Paris VIII, 2007. (in French) –
Joseph Hokayem, L'armée libanaise pendant la guerre: un instrument du pouvoir du président de la République (1975-1985), Lulu.com, Beyrouth 2012. ISBN9781291036602, 1291036601 (in French) –
Marius Deeb, The Lebanese Civil War, Praeger Publishers Inc., New York 1980. ISBN978-0030397011
Moustafa El-Assad, Civil Wars Volume 1: The Gun Trucks, Blue Steel books, Sidon 2008. ISBN9953-0-1256-8{{isbn}}: ignored ISBN errors (link)
Mordechai Nisan, The Conscience of Lebanon: A Political Biography of Etienne Sakr (Abu-Arz), Frank Cass Publishers, London 2003. ISBN978-0-7146-8378-2
Rex Brynen, Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon, Boulder: Westview Press, Oxford 1990. ISBN0 86187 123 5 –
Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, London: Oxford University Press, (3rd ed. 2001). ISBN0-19-280130-9 –
Samer Kassis, 30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon, Beirut: Elite Group, 2003. ISBN9953-0-0705-5
Samir Makdisi and Richard Sadaka, The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990, American University of Beirut, Institute of Financial Economics, Lecture and Working Paper Series (2003 No.3), pp.1–53. –
Steven J. Zaloga, Tank battles of the Mid-East Wars (2): The wars of 1973 to the present, Concord Publications, Hong Kong 2003. ISBN962-361-613-9 –
Tom Cooper & Efim Sandler, Lebanese Civil War Volume 2: Quiet before the Storm, 1978-1981, Middle East@War No. 41, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull UK 2021. ISBN978-1-914059-04-9
Tom Najem and Roy C. Amore, Historical Dictionary of Lebanon, Second Edition, Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Boulder, New York & London 2021. ISBN9781538120439, 1538120437
Further reading
Dima de Clerck & Stéphane Malsagne, Le Liban en guerre (1975-1990), Hors collection Histoire et géographie, Belin éditeur, Paris 2020. ISBN9782410016987, 2410016987 (in French)
Fawwaz Traboulsi, A History of Modern Lebanon: Second Edition, Pluto Press, London 2012. ISBN978-0745332741
Jean Sarkis, Histoire de la guerre du Liban, Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. ISBN978-2-13-045801-2 (in French)
Samir Kassir, La Guerre du Liban: De la dissension nationale au conflit régional, Éditions Karthala/CERMOC, Paris 1994. ISBN978-2865374991 (in French)
Walid Khalidi, Conflict and Violence in Lebanon: Confrontation in the Middle East, Cambridge, MA: Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, 1983. ISBN978-0876740378, 0876740379
William W. Harris, Faces of Lebanon: Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions, Princeton Series on the Middle East, Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, New Jersey, 1997. ISBN978-1558761155, 1-55876-115-2
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