Sixth of February Movement

The Sixth of February Movement or '6th FM' (Arabic: حركة السادس من فبراير | Harakat al-Sadis min Fibrayir) was a small, predominantly Sunni Nasserist political party and militia active in Lebanon from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s.

Sixth of February Movement – 6th FM
حركة السادس من فبراير
Leaders(unknown)
Dates of operationUntil 1986
Group(s)Lebanese National Movement
Size150 fighters
AlliesLebanese National Movement (LNM), Al-Mourabitoun, Communist Action Organization in Lebanon (OCAL), Kurdish Democratic Party – Lebanon (KDP-L), Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
OpponentsLebanese Front, Lebanese Forces, Lebanese Army, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), Amal Movement, Syrian Army, Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
Battles and warsLebanese civil war (1975–1990)

Structure and organization

Based at West Beirut, the '6th FM' strength was estimated at about 100–150 fighters armed and trained by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The civil war years 1975–1986

The '6th FM' joined the ranks of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) and its military wing, the Joint Forces (LNM-JF), during the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War, fighting alongside other Nasserist-oriented factions. However, the political collapse of the LNM in the wake of the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent departure of the PLO from Beirut meant that the smaller Nasserist militias ('6th FM' included) had to fend for themselves. Their unwavering support for the PLO resulted in the adoption of a hostile stance regarding Syria's military presence in Lebanon and when the War of the Camps broke out at Beirut in May 1985, the '6th FM' allied itself with the pro-Arafat Palestinian refugee camp militias, the Al-Mourabitoun, the Communist Action Organization in Lebanon (OCAL), and the Kurdish Democratic Party – Lebanon (KDP-L) against a powerful coalition of Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), and Shia Muslim Amal movement militia forces backed by Syria,[1] the Lebanese Army,[2] and anti-Arafat dissident Palestinian guerrilla factions. Eventually, the '6th FM' bore the brunt of this all-out offensive until being finally suppressed by the Amal Movement in June 1986. This faction is no longer active.

See also

Notes
  1. Stork, Joe. "The War of the Camps, The War of the Hostages" in MERIP Reports, No. 133. (June 1985), pp. 3–7, 22.
  2. O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 158.

References
  • Edgar O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon, 1975–92, Palgrave Macmillan, London 1998. ISBN 0-333-72975-7
  • Rex Brynen, Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon, Boulder: Westview Press, Oxford 1990. ISBN 0 86187 123 5 –
  • Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, London: Oxford University Press, (3rd ed. 2001). ISBN 0-19-280130-9 –
  • William W. Harris, Faces of Lebanon: Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions, Princeton Series on the Middle East, Markus Wiener Pub, 1997. ISBN 978-1558761155, 1-55876-115-2
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