Summary
The Palestine Liberation Organization’s official military force, one of the three levels of the Palestinian military apparatus in 1970s Lebanon alongside local camp-based militias and the guerrilla organizations, whose soldiers trained alongside the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian national armed services (Beyond the Lines — Social Networks and Palestinian Militant Organizations in Wartime Lebanon, PDF p.70).
Details
- The PLA initially comprised three brigades — the Ain Jalut Brigade (originally stationed in Egypt), the Qadisiyya Brigade (originally located in Iraq and moved to Jordan and Syria in 1967) and the Hittin Brigade (originally based in Syria); elements of all three participated extensively in the Lebanese Civil War, some under Syrian command, and Syrian-commanded PLA units provided artillery fire against Tel al-Za’tar in 1976 (Beyond the Lines — Social Networks and Palestinian Militant Organizations in Wartime Lebanon, PDF p.67, p.70).
- In early 1982 a fourth brigade, the Badr Forces, deployed in Beirut and in the hills above Damour; when Israel invaded in June 1982, between six and ten thousand PLA soldiers were stationed in Lebanon (Rubenberg 1983a, 12, as cited) (Beyond the Lines — Social Networks and Palestinian Militant Organizations in Wartime Lebanon, PDF p.70).
- In the 1982 invasion in South Lebanon, camp-based militias long outlasted the better-trained guerrilla forces and PLA battalions after contact with PLO headquarters was lost in the first days (Beyond the Lines — Social Networks and Palestinian Militant Organizations in Wartime Lebanon, PDF p.81-82).
- PLA soldiers were among the Palestinian fighters who attacked Damour on January 20, 1976 (Beyond the Lines — Social Networks and Palestinian Militant Organizations in Wartime Lebanon, PDF p.65).
Related pages
Beyond the Lines — Social Networks and Palestinian Militant Organizations in Wartime Lebanon, Palestine Liberation Organization, Fateh, Tel al-Za’tar, Lebanon invasion 1982