Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party

The Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party (Arabic: حزب طليعة لبنان العربي الاشتراكي Hizb Al-Taliyeh Lubnan Al-'Arabi Al-Ishtiraki) is a political party in Lebanon. The party was led by Abd al-Majid al-Rafei[1][2] until his death in July 2017. It is the Lebanese regional branch of the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party. The party held its second congress in October 2011. Founders of the party included Dr. Abd al-Majid al-Rafei, Jihad George Karam, Rafiq Nasib Alfaqiya, Karam Mohamed Assahli, Hani Mohamed Shoiab, Ammar Mohamed Shabli, Hassan Khalil Gharib and Asaf Habin Alharakat.[2]

Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party حزب طليعة لبنان العربي الاشتراكي
Leader	Abd al-Majid al-Rafei
Founded	1966
Headquarters	Beirut, Lebanon
Ideology	Ba'athism
International affiliation	Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party
Colors	Black, Red, White and Green
Parliament of Lebanon	0 / 128
Party flag
Politics of Lebanon Political parties Elections

The existence of the Lebanese branch of the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party has much longer roots than its Syrian-led counterpart. Following the 1966 split in the Ba'ath Party between Iraqi and Syrian-dominated factions, the pro-Iraqi party was led by Abd al-Majid Rafei.[3][4]

At first the pro-Iraqi party and the pro-Syrian party worked side-by-side in the Lebanese National Movement (also known as the National Front), but with tension increasing between them, the two parties were on a war footing.[5] The party was active in 1960s demonstrations,[6] and al-Rafei was detained by Lebanese authorities for his political activities.[7] However, he was a candidate from Tripoli in the 1968 general election.[8] The party expanded during the first half of the 1970s,[9] and in the 1972 general election al-Rafi was elected to parliament from Tripoli.[10] Ali al-Khalil, a former member, was elected from Tyre. The party was active in southern Lebanon, and was built with generous aid from Iraq.[11]

During the Lebanese Civil War, the Lebanese parliament formed the National Dialogue Committee in 1975. Assem Qanso of the pro-Syrian party became a member, but no figures from the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath Party were given a seat on the committee.[12] The party was a member of the Lebanese National Movement, a political alliance led by Kamal Jumblatt of the Progressive Socialist Party.[13] Tahsein al-Atrash, leader of the Ba'ath branch at the time, was shot dead in November 1981.[14]

See also

• Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Lebanon Region
• Lebanese Civil War
• Lebanese National Movement

References

1. Aḥmad, Aḥmad Yūsuf. al-Ḥarb al-isrāʼīlīya ʻalā Lubnān: at-tadāʻīyāt al-lubnānīya wa-'l-isrāʼīlīya wa-taʼtīrātuhā al-ʻarabīya wa-'l-iqlīmīya wa-'d-duwalīya ; buḥūt wa-munāqašāt an-Nadwa al-Fikrīya allatī naẓẓamahā Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-ʻArabīya. Bairūt: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥda al-ʻArabīya, 2006.
2. Staff writer. جمعية سياسية باسم "حزب طليعة لبنان العربي الاشتراكي" [Political society as the "vanguard party, Arab Socialist Party of Lebanon] (in Arabic). Lebanon Knowledge Development Gateway. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
3. Solh, Raghid El-. Lebanon and Arabism. London: I. B. Tauris in association with the Centre for Lebanese Studies, 2004. p. 331
4. Rabinovich, Itamar, and Itamar Rabinovich. The War for Lebanon, 1970-1985. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985. p. 79
5. Rabinovich, Itamar (1985). The war for Lebanon, 1970–1985. Cornell University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-8014-9313-3.
6. El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
7. El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
8. Zumiyya, Jamal (1972). The parliamentary election of Lebanon 1968. 2. BRILL Archive. p. 106.
9. El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
10. Tachau, Frank (1994). Political parties of the Middle East and North Africa. Greenwood Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-313-26649-2.
11. El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
12. El-Khazen, Farid (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-674-08105-5.
13. Cassese, Antonio (1986). The Current Legal Regulation of the Use of Force. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 205. ISBN 978-90-247-3247-0.
14. O'Ballance, Edgar (1998). Civil war in Lebanon, 1975–92. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-312-21593-4.