Kataeb Party - Kataeb Regulatory Forces

Kataeb Regulatory Forces

The Phalange party’ militia was not only the largest and best organized political paramilitary force in Lebanon but also the oldest. It was founded in 1937 as the “Militants’ organization” by the President of the Party Pierre Gemayel and William Hawi, an Lebanese-American glass industrialist, who led them during the 1958 civil war. Fighting alongside the pro-government forces, the Phalangists defended the Metn region.

Disbanded in January 1961 by order of the Kataeb Party' Political Bureau, Hawi created in their place the Kataeb Regulatory Forces. In order to coordinate the activities of all Phalange paramilitary forces, the Political Bureau set up the Kataeb War Council (Arabic: Majliss al-Harbi) in 1970, with William Hawi being appointed as head. The seat of the Council was allocated at the Kataeb Party’s Headquarters at the heart of Ashrafieh quarter in East Beirut and a quiet expansion of KRF units followed suit, complemented by the development of a training infrastructure.

Two company-sized Special Forces units, the “1st Commando” and the “2nd Commando” were created in 1963, soon followed by the “Pierre Gemayel” squad (later a company) and a VIP protection squad. To this was added in 1973 another commando platoon (Arabic: Maghaweer) and a “Combat School” was secretly opened at Tabrieh, near Bsharri in the Keserwan District; another special unit, the “Bashir Gemayel brigade” – named after Pierre Gemayel’s youngest son, Bashir – was formed in the following year, absorbing the old “PG” company in the process.

Considered by many analysts as the best organized of all militia “fiefs” in the whole of Lebanon under the leadership of "chef" Boutros Khawand, it was administrated by a network of Phalangist-controlled business corporations headed by the GAMMA Group “brain-trust”, backed by the DELTA computer company, and the SONAPORT holding. The latter run since 1975 the legal commercial ports of Jounieh and Beirut, including the infamous clandestine “Dock Five” – “Cinquième basin” in French – from which the Phalange extracted additional revenues by leving illegal taxes and carried out drug- and arms-smuggling operations. The KRF was also served by a clandestine-built airstrip, the Pierre Gemayel International Airport, opened in 1976 at Hamat, north of Batroun, and had its own radio station "The Voice of Lebanon" (Arabic: Iza’at Sawt Loubnan) or "La Voix du Liban" (VDL) in French set up in that same year.

Stubborn and ruthless fighters with a reputation for Going All the Way Phalangist fighters are known for their courage and bravery.

On July–August of that same year, the Phalangists headed alongside its allies, the Army of Free Lebanon, Al-Tanzim, NLP Tigers Militia, Guardians of the Cedars (GoC), the Tyous Team of Commandos (TTC) and the Lebanese Youth Movement (LYM) in the sieges – and subsequent massacres – of Karantina, al-Masklah and Tel al-Zaatar Massacres at the Muslim-populated slum districts and adjacent Palestinian refugee camps of East Beirut, and at the town of Dbayeh in the Metn.

During the 1975-76 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, the Kataeb Regulatory Forces’ own mobilization and street action skills allowed the Kataeb to become the primary and most fearsome fighting force in the Christian-conservative camp.

At Beirut and elsewhere, Phalange’ militia sections were heavily committed in several battles against Lebanese National Movement (LNM) leftist militias and suffered considerable casualties, notably at the Battle of the Hotels in October 1975 where they fought the al-Murabitoun and the Nasserite Correctionist Movement (NCM), and later at the ‘Spring Offensive’ held against Mount Lebanon in March 1976.