Claim: The Army of Free Lebanon was formed in 1976 as a splinter faction of the Lebanese Army, the military of the Lebanese Republic, which includes an army, air force and navy.
Evidence: The AFL began to be established on January 23, 1976, in Beirut by Lebanese Colonel Antoine Barakat who declared loyalty to the then President of Lebanon Suleiman Frangieh. The Army of Free Lebanon – AFL (Arabic: جيش لبنان الحر‎, Jayish Lubnan al-Horr) or "Colonel Barakat's Army" (Arabic: جيش بركات‎, Jayish Barakat), also designated Armée du Liban Libre (ALL) and Armée du Colonel Barakat in French, was a predominantly Christian splinter faction of the Lebanese Army that came to play a major role in the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War. The Lebanese Armed Forces ([LAF] Arabic: القوات المسلحة اللبنانية | Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa al-Lubnāniyya) or Forces Armées Libanaises (FAL) in French, also known as the Lebanese Army (Arabic: الجيش اللبناني or "Armée libanaise" in French), is the military of the Lebanese Republic. It consists of three branches, the army, the air force, and the navy.