Lebanon's armed forces and the Arab-Israeli war, 1948-49

Journal of Palestine Studies

Volumn 34, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 24-41

  Hughes, Matthew ^a  

^a BRUNEL UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

MILITARY INTERVENTION; POLITICAL HISTORY; WAR;

ASIA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; ISRAEL; LEBANON; MIDDLE EAST; PALESTINE; WORLD;

EID: 18744371556     PISSN: 0377919X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/jps.2005.34.2.024     Document Type: Article

References (174)

1. Coleman Noahson, "The Lebanese Army Code" (master's thesis, American University of Beirut, 1952), pp. xxx, 4.
2. Walid Khalidi and Yassin Suweyd, Al-Qadzyya al-Falastiniyya wa al-Khatar al-Nahyuni [The Palestinian Problem and the Zionist Danger] (Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, Lebanese General Staff Fifth Branch & Ministry of Defence, 1973), p. 553.
3. War diaries, 1st, 2d, and 3d Battalion de Chasseurs Libanais, 2d battalion of artillery and battalion of tanks/armored cars in author's possession (courtesy of General Yassin Suweyd of the Lebanese army).
4. Author interview, General Yassin Suweyd, 13 March 2004.
5. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 13 May 1949 and 15 December 1947, in Gregory Murphy, ed., US State Department Central Files. Lebanon 1945-1949. Internal Affairs (Decimal Number 890E) and Foreign Affairs (Decimal Numbers 790E and 711.90E) (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1987) (microfilm).
6. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 7 July 1949, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon.
7. Edward Azar et al., eds., The Emergence of a New Lebanon: Fantasy or Reality? (New York: Praeger, 1984), pp. 82, 84;
8. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 7 July 1949, US State Department Central Files, Lebanon.
9. War diary, 3d Battalion de Chasseurs Libanais, 7-11 May 1948.
10. Azar, The Emergence, p., 82;
11. N. E. Bou-Nacklie, "Les Troupes Spéciales: Religious and Ethnic Recruitment, 1916-46," International Journal of Middle East Studies 25 (1993), p. 653;
12. Nasri Diab, L'année du destin 1948: le Liban et Israil face à face (Beirut: FMA, 1993), p. 197;
13. 'Izzat Haddad, "Mu'assasat al-Jaysh wa al-Mujtama' fi Lubnan" [The Institution of the Army and Society in Lebanon], Al-Difa' al-Watani al-Lubnani 2 (May 1990), p. 60;
14. Itamar Rabinovich, The War for Lebanon, 1970-1985 (Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1984), p. 71;
15. Sami Rihana, Histoire de l'armée libanaise contemporaine (Lebanon: Rahbani, 1988), pp. ii, 175.
16. Bou-Nacklie, "Les Troupes Spéciales," pp. 651-2.
17. See also Oren Barak, "Commemorating Malikiyya: Political Myth, Multiethnic Identity, and the Making of the Lebanese Army," History and Memory 13, no. no. 1 (2001), p. 65.
18. Azar, The Emergence, p. 83.
19. See also Bou-Nacklie, "Les Troupes Spéciales," pp. 651-52.
20. Azar, The Emergence, p. 83.
21. Beirut Press Summary 1-7 September 1948 in American Legation Beirut to Secretary of State, 7 September, 1948, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon.
22. Azar, The Emergence, p. 84.
23. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 31 December 1947, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon.
24. American Legation Beirut to Secretary of State, 23 September 1948, in Paul Kesaris, ed., US State Department Central Files. Palestine: United Nations Activities 1945-1949 (Decimal Number 501.BB Palestine and 501.MA Palestine) (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1987) (microfilm).
25. Reuven Erlich, Be-svach ha-levanon, 1918-1958 [The Lebanon Triangle: The Policy of the Zionist Movement and the State of Israel towards Lebanon, 1918-1958] (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 2000), pp. 172-73.
26. Kirsten Schulze, Israel's Covert Diplomacy in Lebanon (Houndmills: Basingstoke, 1998), pp. 27-28.,
27. Yoav Gelber, Nitsanai ha-ha'vatselet [A Budding Fleur-de-Lis: Israeli Intelligence Services during the War of Independence, 1948-49] (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 2000), vol. 1, pp. 467, 495.
28. 'Amal (Beirut), 8 June 1948, p. 2;
29. Diab, L'année du destin 1948, p. 216.
30. American Legation Beirut to Secretary of State, 22 July 1948, US State Department Central Files. Palestine.
31. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 7 January 1949, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon.
32. See also Dan Kurzman, Genesis: The First Arab-Israeli War (New York: New American Library, 1970), pp. 330-31.
33. Sami Rihana, "Al-Jaysh al-Lubnani: 'Amil Istiqrar wa Tawazun fi al-Bilad" [The Army of Lebanon: An Element of Stability and Balance in the Country], Al-Difa' al-Watani al-Lubnani 7 (Jan. 1994), p. 47.
34. Kurzman, Genesis, pp. 326, 328.
35. See also Diab, L'année du destin 1948, p. 204.
36. Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948: War Escape and the Emergence of the Palestinian Refugee Problem (Brighton: Sussex-Press, 2001), p. 130;
37. Walid Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am 'ala Harb 1948 [Fifty Years after the 1948 War] (Beirut: Dar al-Nahar, 1998), p. 54;
38. Jon and David Kimche, Both Sides of the Hill: Britain and the Palestine War (London: Secker & Warburg, 1960), pp. 128, 149-52.
39. Barak, "Commemorating Malikiyya," p. 66;
40. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, p. 57.
41. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 2 May 1948, US State Department Central Files. Palestine.
42. Reuven Erlich and Guy Ma'ayan, "Metoda integrativit le-heker milhemet 1948 - ha-mikreh shel qravot malkieh (mal-yuni 1948)" [An Integrative Model to the Research of the War of 1948 - The Case of the al-Malikiyya Battles (May-June 1948)], Historyya 6 (Aug. 2000), p. 104.
43. "Le rôle des armées syrienne et libanaise dans la campagne de Palestine," Le Jour (Beirut), 4 June 1948.
44. Le Jour (Beirut), 19 May 1948.
45. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 25 May 1948, US State Department Central Files. Palestine.
46. War diary, 1st Battalion de Chasseurs Libanais, 19 May 1948.
47. Erlich and Ma'ayan, "Metoda integrativit," pp. 118-20;
48. Beirut in Arabic, 24 May 1948, in BBC Written Archives Centre Caversham. (BBC), Summary of World Broadcasts (SWB) 53/3 (June 1948), p. 69.
49. Netanel Lorch, Qorot milhemet ha-a'tsmaut [History of the War of Independence] (Tel Aviv: Masada, 1989 [1959]), pp. 257-64.
50. Some sources give a date of 18-19 May for this assault: Ahmed Illaw, Al-Mu'assasat al-'Askarriya al-Lubnaniyya (Al-Jaysh) [The Lebanese Military Institution (The Army)] (master's thesis, Lebanese Military Institution, 1983), pp. 137-38;
51. Khalidi and Suweyd, Al-Qadiyya al-Falastiniyya, pp. 553-54;
52. Kimche, Both Sides of the Hill, p. 173.
53. Other sources give 28-29 May for the assault, a figure corroborated by the Yiftach brigade official history: Barak, "Commemorating Malikiyya," p. 66;
54. Erlich and Ma'ayan, "Metoda integrativit," pp. 97-98;
55. IDF History Branch General Staff, Toldot milhemet ha-qomemiyyut [History of the War of Independence] (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1959), pp. 174-75;
56. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, pp. 57-58;
57. Lorch, Qorot milhemet, pp. 257-64;
58. Yehuda Slutsky, ed., Sefer toldot ha-haganah, me-ma'avak le-milchama [History of the Haganah, from Struggle to War], vol. 3 (Tel Avi: Am Oved, 1973), Appendix 2, p. 1596.
59. Yiftach history: Yehuda Helman, Yiftach: ahuzat ha-sufa [Yiftach: Driven by Storm] (Tel Aviv: Veterans of the Yiftach Brigade, 1970), pp. 98-100, 139, 233ff.
60. Erlich cites both dates: Be-svach ha-levanon, pp. 180, 195.
61. Barak, "Commemorating Malikiyya," p. 66;
62. Diab, L'année du destin 1948, p. 204;
63. Walid Khalidi, ed., All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 (Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992), pp. 428-29, 470-71.
64. Kimche, Both Sides of the Hill, p. 173;
65. war diary, 3d Battalion de Chasseurs Libanais, May-June 1948;
66. Le Jour (Beirut), 17 May 1948;
67. Erlich, Be-svach ha-levanon, pp. 180-81.
68. Lorch, Qorot milhemet, pp. 257-64;
69. Edward Luttwak and Dan Horowitz, The Israeli Army (London: Allen Lane, 1975), p. 34.
70. IDF, Toldot milhemet, p. 184.
71. Kurzman, Genesis, pp. 331-32.
72. A copy of the military incidents of Sniper Battalion No.3 during the battle for Malikiyya 4-6 June 1948, Report by Battalion Commander, 6 June 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 9.
73. Edgar O'Ballance, The Arab-Israeli War, 1948 (London: Faber & Faber, 1956), p. 112.
74. Khayriyya Qasmiyya, ed., Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, 1912-1948 [Memoirs of Fawzi al-Qawuqji] (Beirut: Dar al-Quds & PLO Research Centre, 1975), vol. 2, pp. 206-9.
75. Author interview, Colonel Ahmed 'Illaw, 11 March 2004.
76. Hani al-Hindi, "Jaysh al-Inqadh, 1947-49" [Salvation Army, 1947-49], Shu'un Falastiniyya 23/24 (July-August 1973), p. 126.
77. Erlich, Be-svach ha-levanon, pp. 172-74;
78. Khalidi and Suweyd, Al-Qadiyya al-Falastiniyya, pp. 558-59.
79. 'Illaw, Al-Mu'assasat al-'Askarriya, p. 141;
80. Khalidi and Suweyd, Al-Qadiyya al-Falastiniyya, p. 558.
81. Diab, L'année du destin 1948, p. 193.
82. Haddad, "Qiyamat al-Jaysh," pp. 6-7, 9;
83. Editorial, Al-Nahar, 1 June 1948, p. 1.
84. After Israel's 1982-83 invasion of Lebanon, discussions were held with senior Lebanese officers to try to find the remains of these soldiers.
85. There were also thirteen wounded and a light tank damaged by a mine: Erlich and Ma'ayan, "Metoda integrativit," pp. 118-20;
86. Khalidi and Suweyd, Al-Qadiyya al-Falastiniyya, pp. 557-58;
87. author interview, General Yassin Suweyd, Lebanese Army, 13 March 2004. See also Gelber, Nitsanai, pp. i, 414;
88. Haddad, "Qiyamat al-Jaysh," p. 9;
89. "Ma'rakat al-Malikiyya" [The Battle of Malikiyya], Al-Jaysh 92 (Dec. 1992), p. 58.
90. Al-Nahar, 8 June 1948, p. 2;
91. Beirut in Arabic, Arabic News Agency and Damascus in Arabic, 6 June 1948, in BBC, SWB 54/3, 10 June 1948, p. 84;
92. Diab, L'année du destin 1948, pp. 215-16;
93. Haddad, "Qiyamat al-Jaysh," p. 8;
94. Le Jour (Beirut), 8 June 1948.
95. Al-Nahar, 9 June 1948, p. 1;
96. Beirut, 11 June 1948, p. 1;
97. 'Illaw, Al-Mu'assasat al-'Askarriya, pp. 140-41.
98. Beirut, 11 June 1948, p. 1.
99. Martin van Creveld, The Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defence Force (New York: Public Affairs, 1998), p. 74;
100. Trevor Dupuy, Elusive Victory: The Arab-Israeli Wars, 1947-1974 (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), p. 13;
101. Walid Khalidi, ed., From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948 (Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1971), Appendices 8-9;
102. Nafez Nazzal, "The Zionist Occupation of Western Galilee, 1948 " JPS 3, no. 3 (Spring, 1974), pp. 198-99;
103. Slutsky, Sefer toldot, vol. 3, Appendix 2, p. 1364.
104. Netanel Lorch, Israel's War of Independence, 1947-1949 (Hartford, CT: Hartmore, 1968), pp. 79-80.
105. Kurzman, Genesis, p. 610.
106. Luttwak, Israeli Army, p. 40.
107. Kurzman, Genesis, p. 332.
108. Rogan and Shlaim, War for Palestine, pp. 85, 195-98.
109. Haim Levenberg, Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine, 1945-48 (London: Frank Cass, 1993), pp. 200-201.
110. Quoted in al-Hindi, "Jaysh al-Inqadh," p. 40.
111. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, vol. 2, p. 239.
112. General Volunteer Inspectorate to ALA GOC, 7 June 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 9/57.
113. Al-Hindi, "Jaysh al-Inqadh," p. 40, 42-43.
114. Al-Hindi, "Jaysh al-Inqadh," p. 47.
115. Quoted in al-Hindi, "Jaysh al-Inqadh," p. 47.
116. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, vol. 2, pp. 202-4.
117. Al-Hindi, "Jaysh al-Inqadh," p. 42;
118. see the telegrams in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
119. Diab, L'année du destin 1948, pp. 171-72.
120. See also O'Ballance, Arab-Israeli War, p. 159.
121. American Legation Beirut to Secretary of State, 16 February 1948, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon.
122. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, vol. 2, p. 239.
123. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, pp. 94-95.
124. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, vol. 2, p. 231.
125. Luttwak, Israeli Army, p. 42.
126. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, p. 111;
127. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, pp. ii, 219, 239.
128. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, p. 111.
129. Telegram, Shuqayr to al-Hindi, 18 October 1948, in Qiwuqji papers, IPS, file 11;
130. telegram, Shuqayr to al-Hindi, 26 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file, 11.
131. Telegram, Shuqayr to, Amer, 24 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11;
132. telegram, Mashour to al-Hindi, 26 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11;
133. telegram, Mahdi to Shuqayr, 24 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11;
134. telegrams from July-August 1948 in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 10/2;
135. telegram, General Secretary of Palestinian Salvation Committee to the Head in Baghdad, 8 November 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
136. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, vol. 2, p. 265.
137. Telegram, Qawuqji to Chehab, 28 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
138. Telegram, Qawuqji to al-Hindi, 29, October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
139. Telegram, Qawuqji to al-Hindi, 30 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11 and later telegrams in same file.
140. UN Mediator's HQ Advance Command Post, Haifa, Palestine, Summary of Daily Operation Activities, 2 November 1948, US State Department Central Files. Palestine.
141. See also GOC 1st Yarmuk battalion to Qawuqji, 4 November 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 9/79;
142. Dupuy, Elusive, p. 194;
143. telegram, Qawuqji to Amer, 29 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
144. Kurzman, Genesis, p. 615.
145. Telegram, Qawuqji to units of ALA, 9 November 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
146. Lorch, Israel's War, p. 456.
147. Palestine Post, 1 November 1948.
148. IDF, Toldot milhemet, p. 321ff.
149. Eshel, Hativat carmeli, p. 295ff.
150. IDF, Toldot milhemet, p. 321ff;
151. Lorch, Israel's War, p. 456;
152. Van Creveld, The Sword, pp. 98-99.
153. 1st Yarmuk battalion casualties [a table] from 29-31 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 9/76 a/b. For rape, see Justice Document from, 1948 in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 9/76a.
154. Report by IDF Chief of Operations to Press Correspondents, 21 July 1948, in BBC, SWB, 61/3, 29 July 1948, pp. 68.
155. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, vol. 2, p. 231;
156. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, p. 111.
157. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, pp. ii, 220-21.
158. Tsadok Eshel, Hativat carmeli be-milhemet ha-qomemiyyut [The Carmeli Brigade in the War of Independence] (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1973), pp. 278-79.
159. Qasmiyya, Mufakkarat Fawzi al-Qawuqji, vol. 2, p. 267;
160. author interview, General Yassin Suweyd, Lebanese Army, 13 March 2004, with information from Mawsu'at al-Tarikh al-Lubnani: al-Tarikh al-Siyasi wa al-'Askari, 1516-1946 [The Encyclopaedia of Lebanese History: The Political and Military Aspects, 1516-1946] (forthcoming 2004), vol. 9, Khalidi and Suweyd, Al-Qadiyya al-Falastiniyya, p. 559.
161. UN Mediator's HQ Advance Command Post, Haifa, Palestine, Summary of Daily Operation Activities, 28 October 1948, US State Department Central Files. Palestine.
162. Telegram, Qawuqji to Wazir, 31 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
163. UN Mediator's HQ Advance Command Post, Haifa, Palestine, Summary of Daily Operation Activities, 30 October 1948, US State Department Central Files. Palestine;
164. telegram Qawuqji to Shuja', 31 October 1948, in Qawuqji papers, IPS, file 11.
165. Erlich, Be-svach ha-levanon, pp. 218-19.
166. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 25 March 1949, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon.
167. Kurzman, Genesis, p. 614.
168. Al-Hindi, "Jaysh al-Inqadh," pp. 127-28;
169. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, p. 119;
170. Kurzman, Genesis, p. 614.
171. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 21 February 1949, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon;
172. Khalidi, Khamsun 'Am, p. 143;
173. American Legation Damascus to Secretary of State, 8 December 1948, US State Department Central Files. Palestine.
174. American Legation Beirut (Pinkerton) to Secretary of State, 25 March 1949 and 17 June 1949, US State Department Central Files. Lebanon.