Souk El Gharb
In early September 1983, under the command of Colonel Nayef Kallas, Fourth Brigade's units were deployed at the towns of Khalde, Aramoun, Kabr Chmoun and Shahhar – where they relieved the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) militia garrisons that had repulsed the first wave of ground assaults by the Druze People's Liberation Army (PLA) militia led by Walid Jumblatt and were running out of supplies – in the Chouf District, being entrusted with the mission of defending the southern approaches of Beirut. Like their colleagues of the Eighth Brigade led by Colonel Michel Aoun at Souk El Gharb, the Fourth Brigade bore the brunt of the Druze PLA attacks for three days, until it began to show signs of a confessional split in the ranks, since its Druze soldiers were reluctant to fight their coreligionists.