Popular Guard



The Popular Guard or PG (Arabic: الحرس الشعبي | Al-Harass al-Sha'abiy), Garde Populaire (GP) in French were the military wing of the Lebanese Communist Party, from 1969. The LCP militia, which fought in the early years of the Lebanese Civil War and was a part of the Lebanese National Movement and its successor the Lebanese National Resistance Front.

Origins
The LCP’s militia was not only well organized, but also the largest secular and non-sectarian militia. It was founded in 1958 unofficially during the 1958 civil war. Fighting alongside the anti-government forces against the governmental forces and the Multinational Force in Lebanon. In early 1969, the Lebanese Communist Party decided to create the "Popular Guard" to defend the border villages in South Lebanon.

On January 6, 1970, the LCP issued for the establishment of the "Popular Guard" as an impact of occupying Kfar Kila and Houla villages in South Lebanon and kidnapping people in these towns by the Israeli Defence Forces. Prior to the war, the Popular Guard militia initially received covert support from the USSR, Syria, Iraq, Libya and from well-connected left-wing sympathizers in Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Eastern Bloc Countries and East Germany. Weapons were purchased in the international black market or directly from eastern bloc countries, namely Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania.

Furthermore, the LCP started sending its militamen to training camps in Jordan under the control of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Jordanian Communist Party. Moreover, the LCP's links with the Iraqi Communist Party and the Syrian Communist Party lead them to form good ties with the Iraqi Government and the Syrian Government to train militants and purchase high-tech soviet arms.

Military structure and actions
By the beginning of the 1975 civil war, the Popular Guard were able to muster 5,000 as both regular and irregular militiamen. The Popular Guard militiamen wore the olive green battle dress with either a black or red beret and a kaffiyeh.

After the return of George Hawi the Popular Guard joined the Lebanese National Movement-PLO Joint Forces. The Popular Guard involved in many battles against the Lebanese Christian right-wing Lebanese Front.

On October 24, 1975, the Popular Guard fought within the Lebanese National Movement alongside with the PLO in the Battle of the Hotels in Downtown Beirut against the Lebanese Front.

Resistance against IDF
On September 16, 1982, the General Secretary of the LCP George Hawi and the General Secretary of Communist Action Organization in Lebanon Muhsin Ibrahim announced the launch of the Lebanese National Resistance Front which contains many leftist and pan-Arab parties and factions to resist the Israeli Defence Forces occupation of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon and Beqaa.

Pistols

 * TT pistol
 * Makarov pistol
 * M1911 pistol
 * CZ 75

Carbines and Rifles

 * Škorpion vz. 61
 * M1 Garand
 * MP 40
 * StG 44
 * Mosin–Nagant
 * MAS-49 rifle
 * SKS
 * AK-47 assault rifle (Other variants including AKM, Zastava M70, AK-63, AK-74, AK-103, Chinese Type 56, Romanian AIM and Former East German MPi assault rifles)
 * FN FAL
 * FN CAL
 * Heckler & Koch G3
 * M16A1

Machine guns and autocannons

 * RPK Light machine gun
 * RPD Light machine gun
 * DP-28 Light machine gun
 * SG-43 Goryunov
 * PK General-purpose machine gun
 * Type 67 General-purpose machine gun
 * Rheinmetall MG 3 General-purpose machine gun
 * M1919A4 General-purpose machine gun
 * DShK 12.7 mm Heavy machine gun(Mainly mounted on Technicals)
 * NSV 12.7 mm Heavy machine gun taken off of tanks (Mainly mounted on Technicals)
 * KPV 14.5 mm Heavy machine gun mounted on Technicals
 * ZPU (ZPU-1,ZPU-2,ZPU-4) 14.5 mm Anti-aircraft guns (Mainly mounted on Technicals)

Sniper rifles

 * Dragunov SVD
 * PSL (rifle)
 * Gepard anti-materiel rifles
 * M40 rifle
 * Steyr SSG 69

Rocket propelled and grenade systems

 * RPG-7 shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher
 * RPG-2 shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher
 * Type 69 RPG shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher
 * F1 hand grenade
 * RGD-5
 * M2 mortar
 * 122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30)
 * M40 recoilless rifle mounted on Technicals
 * Type 63 multiple rocket launcher mounted on Technicals

Vehicles

 * M38A1 MD jeeps, Land-Rover series II-III, Toyota Land Cruiser (J40), Peugeot 504, GAZ-66 light trucks, and GMC cargo trucks) equipped with heavy machine guns
 * Technicals (Armed with DShK, NSV, KPV, ZPU, ZU-23-2, and M40)
 * 122 mm BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher

Battles

 * The 1958 civil war against right-wing Christian militias
 * The Battle of the Hotels (Part of 2 years war) against the Lebanese Front
 * The 1978 South Lebanon conflict against the Israeli Defence Forces
 * The 1982 Lebanon War and Siege of Beirut against Israeli Defence Forces, Lebanese Forces, and South Lebanon Army
 * The Mountain War against the Lebanese Forces, the Lebanese Army and the Multinational Force in Lebanon
 * The Battle of Tripoli against the Islamic Unification Movement and other radical Islamist factions
 * The 2006 Lebanon War alongside with Hezbollah against Israeli Defence Forces