Opertaional Lebanese Army
Brigades in 1990
Loyal to General Michel Aoun
The Fifth Brigade
The Fifth Brigade consisted of approximately 2,000 mostly Maronite troops under the command of Colonel Khalil Kanaan. The brigade's administrative headquarters was located in Sarba, north of Jounieh, a Lebanese Forces stronghold. It consisted of three infantry battalions and an artillery unit stationed in Brumanna, east of Beirut.
The Seventh Brigade
The Seventh Brigade was composed of 1,700. A contingent of the Seventh Brigade was stationed in the Byblos district, north of Beirut. The brigade's headquarters was located in Amshit, just north of Jounieh.
The Eighth Brigade
The Eighth Brigade, commanded by Colonel Salim Kassis, was the strongest, best equipped, best trained, and most elite unit in the Lebanese Army. It consisted of 2,000 men, about 80 percent of whom were Christians from the northern region of Akkar, with the remaining 20 percent Sunni Muslims. It included a mechanized battalion equipped with ninety armored personnel carriers, an armored battalion with thirty three M-48 tanks, and a missile battalion equipped with eighteen pieces of field artillery. It was stationed at the Presidential Palace at Baabda and at the Ministry of Defense in the Yarzah section of Beirut. In 1983 the Eighth Brigade bore the brunt of fighting against Druze militia in Suq al Gharb and against leftist militia in West Beirut.
The Ninth Brigade
The Ninth Brigade, established in 1983, was commanded by Colonel Sami Rihana, a Greek Orthodox. The majority of his soldiers were Christians from northern Lebanese cities, such as Tripoli, although the brigade also contained Sunni and Shia soldiers and officers. It was headquartered in Hazimieh, and one of its battalions was deployed in the Beirut port area.
The Tenth Brigade
The Tenth Brigade consisted of 1,800 soldiers, most of whom were Christians,
under the command of Colonel Nassib Eid. Its troops manned the Beirut-Damascus
highway to the Kafr Shima-Ash Shuwayfat front. The brigade was enlarged
in 1984 when some soldiers and officers defecting from the Fourth Brigade
joined it. The Tenth Brigade was composed of three airborne battalions
and an artillery unit. The army's commando forces under Lieutenant Colonel
Yusuf Tahan were attached to the Tenth Brigade.
Loyal to Elias Hrawi
The Sixth Brigade
The mainly Shia Muslim Sixth Brigade in the mid 1980s had been commanded
by a Christian officer, Colonel Lufti Jabar, and consisted of 1,600 soldiers
and officers. Its mission had been to maintain order in West Beirut. It
refused to participate in the February 1986 combat between the Shia Amal
militia and the Lebanese Army, and as a result, the Fifth Brigade was expelled
from West Beirut. After the Sixth Brigade split off from the army command
structure, it was taken over by a new officer, Major General Abd al Halim
Kanj, and its ranks swelled to 6,000 men as Muslims from other army brigades
deserted to join their coreligionists. The Sixth Brigade was stationed
in Shihab barracks in the southern suburbs of Beirut and was under the
operational control of the Amal militia.