However, they were also renowned for their brutality. In January–August 1976, a force of 100 LYM/MKG militiamen took part in the sieges and subsequent massacres of the Palestinian refugee camps situated at the coastal town of Dbayeh in the Matn District, and at Karantina, Al-Maslakh and Tel al-Zaatar in East Beirut. At the latter battle, the LYM/MKG intensified the blockade of the refugee camp by launching on 22 June a full-scale military assault alongside the Phalangists that lasted for 35 days, and the cruelty displayed by LYM/MKG members' in this assault and other atrocities, earned them the unflattering nickname "The Ghosts of the Cemeteries" (Arabic: أشباح المقابر | "'Ashbah al-Maqabir") – Bash Maroun's men were normally seen wearing necklaces made from human body parts cut from their victims.