- Source: Popular Nasserist Organization
The Popular Nasserist Organization – PNO (Arabic: التنظيم الشعبي الناصري, romanized: Al-Tanzim al-Sha'aby al-Nassery) is a Sidon-based Nasserist party originally formed in 1973 by Maarouf Saad, a Sunni Muslim pan-Arab politician and member of Parliament (MP) later killed by the Lebanese Army during a February 1975 dock strike held in that port city.
Structure and organization
The PNO's military wing, the National Liberation Army – NLA (Arabic: جيش التحرير الوطني, romanized: Jayish al-Tahrir al-Watani) or Armée de Liberation Nationale (ALN) in French, was first raised in March 1975 at Sidon by Mustafa Saad, son of the late Maarouf. Secretly trained and armed by Fatah, the NLA was initially financed by Yasser Arafat's organization and Libya, later replaced in the mid-1980s by the Sidon-born Saudi-Lebanese millionaire Rafic Hariri, in order to protect his business interests in the Sidon area.
A small but disciplinated fighting force, predominately Sunni Muslim with some Shia Muslims and Christians, the NLA comprised some 500-1,000 uniformed male and female fighters organized into conventional 'Commando', Infantry, Signals, and Military Police branches. It fielded a 'mechanized' corps provided with a single UR-416 armoured car seized from the Lebanese Forces in 1985, plus 40 all-terrain vehicles converted into technicals. The latter consisted mostly of Suzuki Jimny LJ20 1st generation off-road mini SUVs, Land-Rover series II-III, Toyota Land Cruiser (J43), Toyota Land Cruiser (J70), Toyota Land Cruiser (J75), GMC Sierra Custom K25/K30, Datsun 620 and Datsun 720 pickup trucks, and Dodge Fargo/Power Wagon W200 light trucks armed with heavy machine-guns, recoilless rifles and anti-aircraft autocannons. The NLA also fielded a few ex-PLO BM-11 122mm multiple rocket launchers.
The PNO in the Civil War: 1975–90
Closely allied with the Al-Mourabitoun, the PNO/NLA joined the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) in April 1975, playing a somewhat significant role in the controversial siege of the Christian coastal town of Damour alongside the Al-Mourabitoun, the PLO and Palestine Liberation Army units on 20–22 January 1976, and later took part in the 'Spring offensive' held in March that year on the Mount Lebanon region. Forced to go underground during the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon when the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) occupied Sidon, the PNO/NLA re-formed in the wake of the Israeli pull-out from southern Lebanon in March–April 1985, and fought alongside the Palestinians at the battles for Kfar-Fallus and Jezzine against the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army (SLA). Simultaneously, during the Coastal War they joined in a Syrian-backed coalition with the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), the Sunni Al-Mourabitoun and the Shi'ite Amal Movement, which defeated the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) attempts to establish bridgeheads at Damour and Sidon.
The post-war years
The PNO is led today by Osama Saad, who is an MP in the Lebanese Parliament, and is active in the city of Sidon. It was affiliated with the March 8 Alliance until the 2019 protests in Lebanon, which the party supports.
See also
Al-Mourabitoun
Damour massacre
Nasserism
People's Liberation Army (Lebanon)
Lebanese National Movement
Lebanese Civil War
List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
List of weapons of the Lebanese Civil War
3rd Infantry Brigade (Lebanon)