Draft:Northern Aley Clashes

The Northern Aley Clashes or The First Aley war were a series of military confrontations between the right-wing Lebanese nationalist Phalangists alongside their allies and the left-wing Arab nationalist Lebanese National Movement, mainly led by the Progressive Socialist Party, during the Lebanese Civil War.

Northern Aley Clashes
Part of Lebanese Civil War
Date May 1975 - June 1977 Location Aley district, Mount Lebanon, Lebanon Result Kataeb and right wing allied victory Leftist militias retreat to Southern Aley
Belligerents
Kataeb Party National Liberal Party Tigers Militia Al-Tanzim	Lebanese National Movement PSP SSNP-L PLO
Commanders and leaders
Pierre Gemayel William Hawi  † Bachir Gemayel Camille Chamoun Dany Chamoun Fawzi Mahfouz	Kamal Jumblatt  † Inaam Raad Yasser Arafat
Casualties and losses
240 fighters killed	700+ fighters killed

Background

Northern Aley, part of the Mount Lebanon region, was home to a mix of Christian and Druze communities, but the Christian villages in the area were closely associated with the Kataeb (Phalanges), which served both as a political organization and a local militia. When the Lebanese Civil War erupted in 1975, the Kataeb became a primary target due to their role in defending Christian areas and their opposition to the LNM and Palestinian armed groups. The region's mountainous terrain made it difficult to defend, leaving many Christian villages vulnerable to attacks, raids, and forced occupation. The clashes were not merely sporadic skirmishes but part of a coordinated effort to challenge Kataeb influence in Northern Aley. ^[1][2][3]

Clashes

By April 1975, the Palestine Liberation Organization now had allies, fighting began in the Northern Aley area, skirmishes would go on day and night throughout the conflict. Bachir Gemayel, son of Pierre Gemayel and field commander of the Kataeb Regulatory Forces in the Mount Lebanon Governorate was tasked to handle the attack on Christians in the aley region by the Leftist coalition. Though secular^[4], both sides were defending their respective religions in this life or death situation, Which is why the Lebanese civil war is dubbed as one of the most sectarian conflicts in history. ^[5]

The Phalangists' allies such as Dany Chamoun and Camille Chamoun, were arguably more involved in this conflict than the Kataeb were. Dany's Tigers Militia, the military wing of the National Liberal Party, were known to be brutal and often radical, hardened by scars of massacres and war.^[6] NLP and Phalangist fighters was made up of mostly unpaid volunteers, militiamen would buy their own rifles, bullets and vests.^[7] As the fighting was raging on in Aley in 1976, Bachir Gemayel met up with Lebanese President, Suleiman Frangieh, to discuss how to resolve the conflict in Aley.

On March 15th 1977, Lebanese National Movement leader Kamal Jumblatt, was assassinated in Baakleen. Despite the evidence that Hafez al-Assad's Syria had assassinated Jumblatt, the Druze community blamed the Phalangists, mainly because many Christians were celebrating and expressing satisfaction at the event, which enraged the Druze. On March 16th, militiamen from the People's Liberation Army, the military wing of the Progressive Socialist Party, began slaughtering and massacring Christian civilians in the Chouf region in retaliation for Kataeb's alleged involvement in the assassination. This would be known as the Chouf massacres. ^[8][9][10]

Ceasefire

The clashes in Northern Aley gradually subsided in 1977 following a ceasefire agreement mediated by local leaders and Syria, alongside pressure from national political figures seeking to reduce sectarian bloodshed. While fragile and intermittently violated, the ceasefire allowed displaced Christian families to cautiously return to some villages and provided a temporary halt to large-scale attacks. It also marked a shift in the region’s dynamics, as both Kataeb forces and the Lebanese National Movement reassessed their positions, consolidating control over areas they could defend and avoiding further immediate escalations. Despite the ceasefire, tensions remained high, and Northern Aley continued to experience sporadic violence in the years that followed. ^[11][12]

References

1. "Lebanese Civil War | Summary, History, Casualties, & Religious factions | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2025-09-10. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
2. Shehabeddine, Nabila. "LibGuides: Lebanese Civil War: 1975-1990: Home". aub.edu.lb.libguides.com. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
3. Ufheil-Somers, Amanda (1982-09-11). "Israel in Lebanon, 1975-1982". MERIP. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
4. "Phalange Party". lebanon.mom-gmr.org. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
5. "The Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) - War Wings Daily". 2025-03-21. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
6. "The Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) - War Wings Daily". 2025-03-21. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
7. kuwaitTimes (2025-04-11). "Lebanon's civil war fighters still working for reconciliation - kuwaitTimes". Kuwait Times. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
8. ictj (2014-07-30). "Christian massacres in Chouf and in West Beirut". Civil Society Knowledge Centre. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
9. ictj (2014-07-30). "Maasser el Chouf killing". Civil Society Knowledge Centre. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
10. "TROIS RAPPORTS SUR LES MASSACRES DU CHOUF EN SEPTEMBRE 1983 Entre 1 200 et 1 500 victimes chrétiennes" (in French). 1984-03-02. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
11. "Syrian Troops Move to Stop Revenge Killings in Lebanon". The Washington Post. 1977-03-19. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
12. Ufheil-Somers, Amanda (1982-09-11). "Israel in Lebanon, 1975-1982". MERIP. Retrieved 2025-09-19.