Army of Free Lebanon The Army of Free Lebanon – AFL ( Arabic : جيش لبنان الحر transliteration " Jaiysh Lubnan al - Horr " ) or ‘ Colonel Barakat ’ s Army ’ ( Arabic : جيش بركات transliteration " Jaiysh Barakat " ) , also designated Armée du Liban Libre ( ALL ) or ‘ Armée du Colonel Barakat ’ in French , was a predominantely Christian splinter faction of the Lebanese Army that came to play a major role in the 1975 - 77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War . Emblem . Upon its formation , the AFL adopted as logo a rectangular ( or square ) red and blue ‘ flash ’ with a stylished white cedar tree in the middle , which was hastily painted on its armoured and transport vehicles . Sometimes the motto ‘ Free Lebanon ’ ( Arabic : " Lubnan al - Horr " ) written in Arabic script was painted alongside the flash on the hull and turret of the tanks . Origins . The AFL was created on January 23 , 1976 in Beirut by Lebanese Colonel Antoine Barakat who declared loyalty to the then President of Lebanon Suleiman Frangieh . A Maronite from Frangieh ’ s hometown Zgharta , Barakat rose with the troops of the Beirut Command in response for Lieutenant Ahmed al - Khatib ’ s rebellion two days earlier at the head of the breakway Lebanese Arab Army ( LAA ) . Another officer , the head of Jounieh garrison Major Fouad Malek , supported the Barakat - led faction , as did Major Saad Haddad the commander of the Marjayoun garrison in the south . Structure . Unit organization . Headquartered at Fayadieh barracks , a major military facility situated in the vinicty of the Ministry of Defense complex at Yarze , the AFL numbered some 3 , 000 uniformed regulars , mostly Christian Maronites and Greek - Catholic s . Like the LAA , the AFL retained much of the regimental structure of the old Lebanese Armed Forces ( LAF ) , with the bulk of the force comprising some 2 , 000 soldiers in four battalions and a company - sized contingent from the Army Para - commando regiment ( Arabic : فوج المغاوير transliteration " Fauj al - Maghaweer " ) being allocated at Fayadieh , serving under Col . Barakat ’ s direct orders . Outside Beirut , a 500 - strong battalion was based at Jounieh barracks headed by Maj . Malek , whilst another battalion of equal strength led by Maj . Haddad was stationed at Marjayoun barracks . Weapons and equipment . Each fraction fielded conventional armour , infantry and artillery companies , provided with Panhard AML - 90 and Staghound armoured car s , AMX - 13 and M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks , M42 Duster SPAAGs , and tracked M113 and AMX - VCI or wheeled Panhard M3 VTT armoured personnel carrier s . For logistical support , Col . Barakat ’ s troops relied on US M151A1 MUTT light jeeps , British Land - Rover Mk I - IIA light pick - ups , plus heavier Saviem SM8 TRM 4000 4x4 , Berliet GBC 8KT 6x6 , Soviet KrAZ 255 6x6 and US M35A2 2 - 1 / 2 ton 6x6 cargo trucks . These liaison and transport vehicles were also employed as gun - trucks in the direct fire support role on AFL ground operations , fitted with heavy machine guns ( HMGs ) , recoilless rifles , and a few anti - aircraft autocannons . The artillery formations fielded British QF Mk III 25 Pounder field guns , French Mle 1950 BF - 50 155mm howitzers and British Bofors 40 mm L / 60 anti - aircraft guns . The AFL in the Lebanese civil war 1976 - 78 . Closely allied with the Christian rightist militias of the Lebanese Front , the AFL battled the leftist Lebanese National Movement ( LNM ) , the LAA and the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) guerrilla factions at Beirut , but also fought in northern Lebanon . In early March 1976 , a number of Christian AFL soldiers from the Jounieh garrison even departed without permission from their commanding Officer to their home town of Kobayat in the Akkar region of Northern Lebanon , which was being threatened by LAA attacks . That same month , Barakat ’ s troops bolstered the hard - pressed Republican Guard battalion and Marada Brigade militiamen loyal to President Frangieh in defending the Presidential Palace at Baabda from a two - pronged combined LNM - LAA assault , though prior to the attack the President had decamped to the safety of Jounieh . They also provided armour and artillery support to the Christian militias on the closing stages of the Battle of the Hotels and later in the sieges of the PLO - held Palestinian refugee camps of Jisr el - Basha and Tel al - Zaatar at East Beirut between June and August 1976 . During the “ Hundred Days War ” in early February 1978 , the AFL was itself besieged and bombarded by the Syrian Army in their Fayadieh barracks , though they later helped the NLP Tigers and the newly constituted Lebanese Forces ’ Command in driving the Syrians out from East Beirut . Disbandment . On March 1977 , the newly elected President of Lebanon Elias Sarkis began slowly to reorganize the battered Lebanese Armed Forces ( LAF ) structure , which had split into four sectarian factions . The first fraction of the AFL to be re - integrated into the official battle order of the re - organized Lebanese Army in June 1977 was the Jounieh garrison , whose commander Fouad Malek was promoted to Colonel and sent to the École de Guerre in Paris , where he deserted in 1978 to become the head of the Lebanese Forces ( LF ) official representation at the French Capital . In March 1978 at Beirut , Col . Barakat handed over the Fayadieh barracks back to the official authorities , thus effectively signalling the disbandment of the AFL and the return of his troops to the LAF structure . A different fate however , awaited the ex - AFL troops of the Marjayoun garrison in the south . By late 1976 , pressure from PLO and LNM - LAA militias finally forced Major Saad Haddad to evacuate the town and withdraw unopposed to the town of Qlayaa , close to the border with Israel . Here Major Haddad and his men placed themselves under the protection of the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) , eventually providing the cadre – after merging with local Christian , Shia Muslim and Druze militias – of the so - called ‘ Free Lebanese Army ’ ( FLA ) , otherwise known as the South Lebanon Army ( SLA ) .