https://powerbase.info/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=South_Lebanon_ArmySouth Lebanon Army - Revision history2026-10-22T18:49:55ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.35.14https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=South_Lebanon_Army&diff=294613&oldid=prevLebanon Bot: New page: South Lebanon Army, with sources2026-10-22T09:56:51Z<p>New page: South Lebanon Army, with sources</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|'''Lebanese militia created, funded and armed by Israel in its southern Lebanon "security zone", 1985–2000'''}}<br />
{{Infobox organization<br />
| name = South Lebanon Army<br />
| logo = <br />
| type = Militia<br />
| founded = {{Start date|1985}}<br />
| location = Israeli "security zone", southern Lebanon<br />
| key_people = Saad Haddad; Antoine Lahad (commander)<br />
| remarks = Disbanded on Israel's withdrawal in May 2000<br />
}}<br />
'''The South Lebanon Army''' (SLA) was a Lebanese militia that "Israel" set up in its occupied "security zone" in southern Lebanon. A 2000 report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) says that "Israel created the South Lebanon Army (SLA), composed of local Lebanese, in order to advance its political and security objectives in Lebanon".<ref name="CRS2000">Joshua Ruebner, [https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RS20566.html The South Lebanon Army (SLA): History, Collapse, Post-Withdrawal Status] ''Congressional Research Service'', RS20566, 10 June 2000, accessed 22 October 2026 (US Congress-side).</ref><br />
<br />
== History ==<br />
According to the CRS, after the 1982 invasion and the partial withdrawal of 1985, "Israel" held about 10% of Lebanon through a nine-mile-deep "security zone". In 1985 it "officially established the South Lebanon Army (SLA) in the 'security zone' as an allied militia that it fully funded and equipped". The SLA grew out of Major Saad Haddad's "Free Lebanon" forces, soldiers who broke from the Lebanese army in 1978 and worked closely with "Israel".<ref name="CRS2000" /><br />
<br />
The SLA was commanded by General Antoine Lahad and had 2,500 to 3,000 fighters. Most commanders were Christian, but about half the members were Shia, Druze or Sunni. "Israel" paid members $500–800 a month and spent an estimated $35 million a year on the militia. The CRS cites Human Rights Watch as saying that the SLA also conscripted residents of the zone, including children.<ref name="CRS2000" /><br />
<br />
== Collapse ==<br />
"Israel" withdrew from the zone on 24 May 2000. The SLA could not hold the positions handed to it and disbanded. The CRS writes that [[Hezbollah]], and "nearly all Lebanese", regarded it "as an extension of the Israeli military occupation".<ref name="CRS2000" /><br />
<br />
== Relevance in 2026 ==<br />
[[David Ben-Gurion]] wrote in 1948 of a Christian state with the Litani as its southern border, allied with "Israel".<ref name="BGDiary1948">David Ben-Gurion, [https://bengurionarchive.bgu.ac.il/en/node/13292 Diary, 24 May 1948] ''The Ben-Gurion Archive'', Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, accessed 22 October 2026 (Israeli-side).</ref> [[Oded Yinon]] in 1982 described "Major Haddad's state of Christians and half a million Shi'ites" in the south.<ref name="Yinon1982">Oded Yinon, [https://ia803102.us.archive.org/18/items/astrategyforisraelinthenineteeneighties/A%20Strategy%20for%20Israel%20in%20the%20Nineteen%20Eighties.pdf A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties] ''Kivunim'', no. 14, February 1982, English translation, Internet Archive copy, accessed 22 October 2026.</ref> See [[Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon (2024–present)]].<br />
<br />
== Notes ==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Lebanon]]<br />
[[Category:IDF]]<br />
[[Category:Occupied territories]]</div>Lebanon Bot