View source for Lebanese Youth Movement (MKG)

{{Infobox War Faction
| name             = Lebanese Youth Movement (MKG) <br> حركة الشباب اللبنانية
| war              = [[Lebanese Civil War]] (1975-1990)
| image            =
| caption          =
| active           = Until 1977
| leaders          = "Bash Maroun"
| headquarters     = [[Dekwaneh]], [[East Beirut]]
| area             = [[East Beirut]], [[Mount Lebanon]]
| size             = 500-1,000 fighters
| predecessor      =
| partof           = [[Lebanese Front]]<br>[[Lebanese Forces (Militia)|Lebanese Forces]]
| allies           = {{flagicon image|Flagofgocparty.gif}} [[Guardians of the Cedars]] (GoC)<br>{{Flagicon image|Lebanesearmyfirstflag.png|size=23px}} [[Army of Free Lebanon]] (AFL)<br>[[File:Al-Tanzim logo.png|22px|border]] [[Al-Tanzim]]<br>[[File:Ahrar flag.gif|23px|border]] [[Tigers Militia]]<br> [[Tyous Team of Commandos]] (TTC)
| opponents        = {{flagicon|Lebanon}} [[Lebanese National Movement]] (LNM)<br>{{Flagicon image|Lebanesearmyfirstflag.png|size=23px}} [[Lebanese Arab Army]] (LAA)<br>{{flagicon|Palestine}} [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO)<br>{{flagicon|Syria}} [[Syrian Army]]
}}
The '''Lebanese Youth Movement – LYM'''
([[Arabic]]: حركة الشباب اللبنانية | ''Harakat al-Shabab al-Lubnaniyya''), also known as the '''Maroun Khoury Group (MKG)''', was
a [[Christianity in Lebanon|Christian]] [[far-right]] militia which fought in the [[Lebanese Civil War#First phase (1975–1977)|1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War]].
==Origins==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File: Abu Arz (GoC), Bach Maroun (LYM) and Abu Kamal (NLP) 1976.jpg|200px|thumb|[[Abu Arz]] (GoC), [[Bach Maroun]] (LYM, centre) and [[Abu Kamal]] ([[Tigers Militia (Lebanon)|NLP Tigers]]) at Tell al-Zaatar, 1976]] -->
The LYM was founded in the early 1970s as an association of [[Maronite Christianity in Lebanon|Maronite]] [[right-wing]] university students, who strongly opposed the [[Cairo Agreement (1969)|1969 Cairo Agreement]] and the presence of [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) guerrilla factions in [[Lebanon]], by [[Maroun el-Khoury]] (''nom de guerre'' "Bash Maroun"), the son of the former head of the [[Dekwaneh]] district of [[East Beirut]], [[Naim el-Khoury]].
==Political beliefs==
Being violently [[anti-communist]] and anti-[[Palestinian people|Palestinian]], the group's ideology stemmed from the extremist [[Phoenicianism|Phoenicist]] identities espoused by the [[Guardians of the Cedars]].
==The LYM in the 1975-77 civil war==
The LYM/MKG joined the [[Lebanese Front]] in January 1976 and raised its own [[militia]] with training, funds and weapons being provided by the [[Tigers Militia]] led by [[Camille Chamoun]].  It consisted of about 500-1,000 fighters, backed by a small mechanized force made of ex-[[Lebanese Armed Forces|Lebanese Army]] [[Panhard AML|Panhard AML-90]] [[Armored car (military)|armoured cars]] and [[gun truck]]s or '[[Technical (vehicle)|technical]]s'. The latter consisted of commandeered [[Land Rover series|Land-Rover series II-III]], [[Santana Motor|Santana Series III]] (Spanish-produced version of the Land-Rover series III), [[Toyota Land Cruiser (J40)]], [[Dodge Power Wagon|Dodge W200 Power Wagon]], [[Dodge D series#Third generation (1972–93)|Dodge D series (3rd generation)]], [[GMC (automobile)|GMC Sierra Custom K25/K30]] and [[Chevrolet C/K (second generation)|Chevrolet C-10/C-15 Cheyenne light pickup]]s armed with [[heavy machine guns]], [[recoilless rifles]] and [[anti-aircraft]] [[autocannons]].  Personally commanded by Bash Maroun, they usually operated in the [[Dekwaneh|Ras-el-Dekwaneh]], [[Ain El Remmaneh]] and [[El Mansouria, Lebanon|Mansouriye]] districts, manning the local sections of the [[Green Line (Lebanon)|Green Line]], but also fought in other areas (namely at the [[Battle of the Hotels]]), earning a reputation of fierce combatants.
==Controversy==
However, they also became infamous for their brutality. In January–August 1976, a force of 100 LYM/MKG militiamen took part in the sieges and subsequent massacres of the [[Palestinian refugee]] situated at the coastal town of [[Dbayeh]] in the [[Matn District]], and at [[Karantina massacre|Karantina]], [[Al-Maslakh]] and [[Siege of Tel al-Zaatar|Tel al-Zaatar]] in East Beirut. At the latter battle, the LYM/MKG intensified the blockade of the refugee camp by launching on 22 June a full-scale military assault that lasted for 35 days,<ref>Kazziha, ''Palestine in the Arab dilemma'' (1979), p. 54.</ref><ref>Cobban, ''The Palestinian Liberation Organisation: People, Power, and Politics'' (1984), p. 73.</ref> and the cruelty displayed by LYM/MKG members' in this assault and other atrocities, earned them the unflattering nickname "The Ghosts of the Cemeteries" ([[Arabic]]: أشباح المقابر | '''Ashbah al-Maqabir'') – Bash Maroun's men were normally seen wearing necklaces made from human body parts cut from their victims.<ref>Kazziha, ''Palestine in the Arab dilemma'' (1979), p. 54.</ref>
==Disbandement==
The LYM/MKG was subsequently absorbed into the [[Lebanese Forces (Militia)|Lebanese Forces]] structure in 1977, thereafter ceasing to exist as an independent organization. Under LF command, they later again played a key role in the eviction of the [[Syrian Army]] out from the Christian-controlled [[East Beirut]] in February 1978 during the [[Hundred Days' War]].
== See also ==
*[[Al-Tanzim]]
*[[Guardians of the Cedars]]
*[[Lebanese Forces (Militia)|Lebanese Forces]]
*[[Lebanese Front]]
*[[Lebanese Civil War]]
*[[List of weapons of the Lebanese Civil War]]
*[[Siege of Tel al-Zaatar|Tel al-Zaatar Massacre]]
*[[Karantina Massacre]]
*[[Kataeb Regulatory Forces]]
*[[Phoenicianism]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}
== References ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Denise Ammoun, ''Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990'', Éditions Fayard, Paris 2005. {{ISBN|978-2-213-61521-9}} (in [[French language|French]]) – [https://books.google.com/books?id=aGHk5M0CGcoC&pg=PT234]
*Helena Cobban, ''The Palestinian Liberation Organisation: People, Power, and Politics'', Cambridge University Press, 1984. {{ISBN|0521272165}}
* Fawwaz Traboulsi, ''A History of Modern Lebanon: Second Edition'', Pluto Press, London 2012. {{ISBN|978-0745332741}}
* Jean Sarkis, ''Histoire de la guerre du Liban'', Presses Universitaires de France - PUF, Paris 1993. {{ISBN|978-2-13-045801-2}} (in [[French language|French]])
* Jonathan Randall, ''The Tragedy of Lebanon: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers, and American Bunglers'', Just World Books, Charlottesville, Virginia 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-935982-16-6}}
* Rex Brynen, ''Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon'', Boulder: Westview Press, Oxford 1990. {{ISBN|0 86187 123 5}} – [https://prrn.mcgill.ca/research/papers/brynen2.htm]
*[[Robert Fisk]], ''Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War'', London: Oxford University Press, (3rd ed. 2001). {{ISBN|0-19-280130-9}} – [https://books.google.com/books?id=VrXpeELOUNsC&pg=PA145]
* Marius Deeb, ''The Lebanese Civil War'', Praeger Publishers Inc., New York 1980. {{ISBN|978-0030397011}}
* Samir Kassir, ''La Guerre du Liban: De la dissension nationale au conflit régional'', Éditions Karthala/CERMOC, Paris 1994. {{ISBN|978-2865374991}} (in [[French language|French]])
*Walid Kazziha, ''Palestine in the Arab dilemma'', Taylor & Francis, 1979. {{ISBN|0856648647}}
* William W. Harris, ''Faces of Lebanon: Sects, Wars, and Global Extensions'', Princeton Series on the Middle East, Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton 1997. {{ISBN|978-1558761155}}, 1-55876-115-2
{{refend}}
===Secondary sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Moustafa El-Assad, ''Civil Wars Volume 1: The Gun Trucks'', Blue Steel books, Sidon 2008. {{Listed Invalid ISBN|9953-0-1256-8}}
* Samer Kassis, ''30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon'', Beirut: Elite Group, 2003. {{ISBN|9953-0-0705-5}}
* Samer Kassis, ''Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon 1975-1981'', Trebia Publishing, Chyah 2012. {{ISBN|978-9953-0-2372-4}}
{{refend}}
==External links==
* http://www.ouwet.com/n10452/news/bash-maroun-rip/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015195103/http://www.ouwet.com/n10452/news/bash-maroun-rip/ |date=2008-10-15 }}
*[http://www.gotc.org/ Guardians of the Cedars official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210190207/http://www.gotc.org/ |date=2009-02-10 }}
*[http://armeelibanaise.kazeo.com/ Histoire militaire de l'armée libanaise de 1975 à 1990] (in [[French language|French]])
*[https://histoiredelarmeelibanaise.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/chamussy-rene-chronique-dune-guerre-le-liban-1975-1977-ed-desclee-1978/ Chamussy (René) – Chronique d’une guerre: Le Liban 1975-1977 – éd. Desclée – 1978] (in [[French language|French]])
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[[Category:Israeli–Lebanese conflict]]
[[Category:Lebanese Front]]
[[Category:Factions in the Lebanese Civil War]]