Islamic Unification Movement
Encyclopedia
The Islamic Unification Movement – IUM ( | Harakat al-Tawhid al-Islami), also named Islamic Unity Movement or Mouvement de Unification Islamique (MUI) in French
, but best known as ‘Al-Tawhid’, ‘At-Tawhid’, or ‘Tawheed’, is a Lebanese
Sunni Muslim fundamentalist political party. It plays an active role in Lebanese internal politics since the Lebanese Civil War
in the early 1980s.
in 1982 from a splinter faction of the Lebanese Islamic Group
led by Sheikh
Said Shaaban, one of Lebanon’s Islamist movements’ few charismatic Sunni religious leaders. A hardliner who believed that force was a good solution in politics, the radical Shaaban broke away from the Islamic Group soon after the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
, in protest for that Party’s leadership decision of adopting a non-violent, moderate political line in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, the two organizations have always maintained a good relationship, especially with Sheikh
Fathi Yakan
, founder and Secretary-general of the Islamic Group.
At the height of its power in 1985, the IUM splintered, when dissident leaders Khalil Akkawi and Kanaan Naji left the Movement to set up their own groups, the Mosques’ Committee and the Islamic Committee. Involved in imposing an Islamic administration on Tripoli in the 1980s, these latter two groups formed together with the IUM an umbrella organization, Al-Liqa' al-Islami.
wing of the Muslim Brotherhood
. Consistent with these principles, Shaaban and its Movement ostensibly rejected Nationalism
, sectarianism and democratic pluralism in favor of an Islamic rule that "absorbs and dissolves all social differences and unites them in one crucible".
Shaaban sought ways to unite Sunnis and Shi’ites, for example by suggesting that the holy Qur'an
and the Prophet’s biography provide foundations on which all Muslim groups and sects can unite. Instead of arguing about sectarian representation in the parliament, he suggests that Muslims call for Islamic rule based on the Sharia
, without which no government can be legitimate.
As such, the IUM strongly opposed the Christian-dominated political order in Lebanon and deeply resented the Syrian military intervention of June 1976 to help the Maronites
who, Shaaban himself asserted, would have otherwise fled to Cyprus
or Latin America
.
The Movement allegedly enjoyed since the mid-1980s close political ties with Iran
and Hizbollah, forged by Sheikh
Shaaban frequent visits to Tehran
and contacts with that Party’s leaders in Lebanon, which considers the IUM leader doctrinally a follower of Ayatollah
Khomeini. Some sources even state that Shaaban was born and raised in a Shiite family of Batroun
in Northern Lebanon and only later became a Sunni.
While accepting the validity of the Iranian Revolution
and emphasizing that the path started by Khomeini should be followed by all Muslims, the IUM leadership does not call for the establishment of an Iranian-style order in Lebanon, knowing that this would alienate their own Sunni followers. Indeed, Sheikh
Shaaban’s speech delivered during the 3rd anniversary of Khomeini’s death failed to mention his own relation to the latter and its theories.
Hashem Minqara, their 1,000-men strong militia, also designated ‘Tawheed’, was created in 1982 and trained by the PLO, being initially provided with light weapons drawn from LAF and ISF stocks or purchased on the black market. Upon the withdrawal of the Palestinian factions loyal to Yasser Arafat
from Tripoli in December 1983, the Tawheed seized the opportunity to replenish themselves with vehicles, additional weapons and ammunition from PLO arms caches left behind. This allowed the IUM militia to raise a mechanized force made of ex-PLO gun-trucks (Spanish Santana 88 Ligero Militar Jeeps, Land Rover
s, and Toyota Land Cruisers) equipped with heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles and anti-aircraft autocannons, plus mortars and a few truck-mounted BM-11 130mm MBRLs for its artillery branch.
Its fighters consolidated their control over Tripoli in 1983-1984 by temporary defeating a number of their secular left-wing and nationalist rivals, in particular the predominantely Alawite
Arab Democratic Party (ADP) and the multi-confessional Lebanese Communist Party
(LCP). They also clashed with the pro-Syrian Syrian Social Nationalist Party
(SSNP) and Baath Party
factions, and with the Syrian Army
units stationed in Lebanon.
The IUM/Tawheed operated mainly on northern Lebanon, at Tripoli and its environs, though its militants were also active at the Sunni quarters of West Beirut and Sidon
, and at the Jabal Amel
region of southern Lebanon.
and run by the Sunni businessmen Tariq Fakhr al-Din, which was employed mainly for arms-smuggling operations and to levy illegal taxes on the transit trade of agricultural products and other goods.
Fanatical and ruthless fighters, Tawheed militiamen were responsible for several acts of violence in Tripoli against the local cells of the Alawite
ADP and LCP
. On October 1983, the IUM/Tawheed executed a series of terrorist attacks against the Tripoli offices of the Communist Party, targeting Party cadres and their families. In one occasion, Tawheed fighters rounded up some 52 top Communist members, forced them to renounce their atheism
and then summarily shot them, dumping the victims’ bodies into the Mediterranean.
Other actions held later that year targeted Syrian Army
units stationed in Lebanon – on 19 December, the Tawheed was involved in the massacre of 15 Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint in Tripoli, carried out in retaliation for the seizure by the Syrians of one of their commanders the previous day.
The IUM also run its own radio and television stations – the ”Voice of Right” (Arabic: Sawt al-Haq) and the “Crescent” (Arabic: al-Hilal), respectively – which continued to operate in the post-war period, until being forcibly closed down in September 1997 by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces
(ISF) during a nation-wide crack-down on Sunni religious extremists.
A former member, Khalid El-Masri
, was illegally kidnapped by the CIA. German reports assert that El-Masri himself reported his being a member of "El-Tawhid" or "Al-Tawhid" when he applied to Germany for refugee status, in 1985. The reference to "El-Tawhid" may have been confused with the group Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi lead, Al Qaeda in Iraq, used to be called "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad". "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad", the former name for Zarqawi's group, translates as the "movement for monotheism and struggle".
In the fall of 1985 the Syrian army entered Tripoli and crushed Islamic Unity's militia, though it permitted Sha'ban to maintain leadership of his now unarmed movement.
Intermittent clashes occurred in the Tripoli area during the Spring and Summer of 1986, this time between the Tawheed and the pro-Syrian SSNP faction, until Syrian troops finally moved in to enforce a truce at the request of local community leaders.
In Tripoli on December 18, 1986 the Tawheed commander Samir al-Hassan was arrested by the Syrians. His men responded by killing 15 Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint, which brought the wrath of the Syrians on the Tawheed. Aided by ADP, LCP, SSNP and Baath Party militias, the Syrians managed to defeat decisively the Tawheed, killing many of its fighters, arresting others and scattered the remaider.
From 1988 to 2000, the Movement’s guerrillas at the Jabal Amel
fought alongside the Shia Islamic Resistance against the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) and their South Lebanese Army (SLA) proxies in the Israeli-controlled “security zone.”
Shaaban and the IUM were careful not to antagonize the Syrian authorities, particularly after they defeated their own militia in late 1986. Indeed, he always spoke favorably of the Syrian military presence in Lebanon as a framework for unified, armed action against Israel
, a policy which was continued by its successors in the 1990s.
The Movement remains politically active though, currently led by Secretary-General Sheikh
Minqara, being a member of the pro-Syrian March 8 alliance
.
In 2005, the IUM joined the Islamic Labor Front
, an alliance of several Islamic parties and personalities in Lebanon.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, but best known as ‘Al-Tawhid’, ‘At-Tawhid’, or ‘Tawheed’, is a Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
Sunni Muslim fundamentalist political party. It plays an active role in Lebanese internal politics since the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
in the early 1980s.
Origins
The IUM was founded in TripoliTripoli, Lebanon
Tripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in Lebanon. Situated 85 km north of the capital Beirut, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Geographically located on the east of the Mediterranean, the city's history dates back...
in 1982 from a splinter faction of the Lebanese Islamic Group
Islamic Group (Lebanon)
The Islamic Group is a Sunni Islamist group or gathering in Lebanon. Jamaa Islamiya was founded in 1952 as the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its leader is Faisal Mawlawi. The party has a military wing known as the al-Fajr Forces...
led by Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Said Shaaban, one of Lebanon’s Islamist movements’ few charismatic Sunni religious leaders. A hardliner who believed that force was a good solution in politics, the radical Shaaban broke away from the Islamic Group soon after the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
Israeli invasion of Lebanon
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon could refer to:*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1978 South Lebanon conflict;*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War;*The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1993 Lebanon War;...
, in protest for that Party’s leadership decision of adopting a non-violent, moderate political line in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, the two organizations have always maintained a good relationship, especially with Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Fathi Yakan
Fathi Yakan
Sheikh Dr. Fathi Yakan was an Islamic cleric who held a seat in the parliament of Lebanon in 1992. He was born in Tripoli. He was among the pioneers of the Islamic movement in the 1950s and the head of the Islamic Action Front...
, founder and Secretary-general of the Islamic Group.
At the height of its power in 1985, the IUM splintered, when dissident leaders Khalil Akkawi and Kanaan Naji left the Movement to set up their own groups, the Mosques’ Committee and the Islamic Committee. Involved in imposing an Islamic administration on Tripoli in the 1980s, these latter two groups formed together with the IUM an umbrella organization, Al-Liqa' al-Islami.
Political beliefs
Known to be anti-Syrian in policy and Sunni Muslim in composition, the IUM’s ideological anti-western and anti-Communist views stemmed from the radical Sunni SalafiSalafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...
wing of the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
. Consistent with these principles, Shaaban and its Movement ostensibly rejected Nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, sectarianism and democratic pluralism in favor of an Islamic rule that "absorbs and dissolves all social differences and unites them in one crucible".
Shaaban sought ways to unite Sunnis and Shi’ites, for example by suggesting that the holy Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and the Prophet’s biography provide foundations on which all Muslim groups and sects can unite. Instead of arguing about sectarian representation in the parliament, he suggests that Muslims call for Islamic rule based on the Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, without which no government can be legitimate.
As such, the IUM strongly opposed the Christian-dominated political order in Lebanon and deeply resented the Syrian military intervention of June 1976 to help the Maronites
Maronites
Maronites , is an ethnoreligious group in the Middle East that have been historically tied with Lebanon. They derive their name from the Syriac saint Mar Maron whose followers moved to Mount Lebanon from northern Syria establishing the Maronite Church....
who, Shaaban himself asserted, would have otherwise fled to Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
or Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
The Movement allegedly enjoyed since the mid-1980s close political ties with Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Hizbollah, forged by Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Shaaban frequent visits to Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
and contacts with that Party’s leaders in Lebanon, which considers the IUM leader doctrinally a follower of Ayatollah
Ayatollah
Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...
Khomeini. Some sources even state that Shaaban was born and raised in a Shiite family of Batroun
Batroun
The coastal city of Batroun located in northern Lebanon is one of the oldest cities of the world. Batroun is home to a Lebanese Red Cross First Aid Center.- Etymology :...
in Northern Lebanon and only later became a Sunni.
While accepting the validity of the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
and emphasizing that the path started by Khomeini should be followed by all Muslims, the IUM leadership does not call for the establishment of an Iranian-style order in Lebanon, knowing that this would alienate their own Sunni followers. Indeed, Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Shaaban’s speech delivered during the 3rd anniversary of Khomeini’s death failed to mention his own relation to the latter and its theories.
Military structure and organization
Controlled by the IUM’s Military Command Council (Arabic: Majliss al-Kiyadi al-Harb) headed by SheikhSheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Hashem Minqara, their 1,000-men strong militia, also designated ‘Tawheed’, was created in 1982 and trained by the PLO, being initially provided with light weapons drawn from LAF and ISF stocks or purchased on the black market. Upon the withdrawal of the Palestinian factions loyal to Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
from Tripoli in December 1983, the Tawheed seized the opportunity to replenish themselves with vehicles, additional weapons and ammunition from PLO arms caches left behind. This allowed the IUM militia to raise a mechanized force made of ex-PLO gun-trucks (Spanish Santana 88 Ligero Militar Jeeps, Land Rover
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...
s, and Toyota Land Cruisers) equipped with heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles and anti-aircraft autocannons, plus mortars and a few truck-mounted BM-11 130mm MBRLs for its artillery branch.
Its fighters consolidated their control over Tripoli in 1983-1984 by temporary defeating a number of their secular left-wing and nationalist rivals, in particular the predominantely Alawite
Alawite
The Alawis, also known as Alawites, Nusayris and Ansaris are a prominent mystical and syncretic religious group centred in Syria who are a branch of Shia Islam.-Etymology:...
Arab Democratic Party (ADP) and the multi-confessional Lebanese Communist Party
Lebanese Communist Party
The Lebanese Communist Party – LCP or Parti communiste libanais in French, is a communist political party in Lebanon...
(LCP). They also clashed with the pro-Syrian Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Syrian Social Nationalist Party
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party , is a secular nationalist political party in Lebanon and Syria. It advocates the establishment of a Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Israel, Cyprus, Kuwait,...
(SSNP) and Baath Party
Baath Party
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was a political party mixing Arab nationalist and Arab socialist interests, opposed to Western imperialism, and calling for the renaissance or resurrection and unification of the Arab world into a single state. Ba'ath is also spelled Ba'th or Baath and means...
factions, and with the Syrian Army
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army, officially called the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the...
units stationed in Lebanon.
The IUM/Tawheed operated mainly on northern Lebanon, at Tripoli and its environs, though its militants were also active at the Sunni quarters of West Beirut and Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
, and at the Jabal Amel
Jabal Amel
Jabal Amel or Amil is a mountainous region of Southern Lebanon.The region is named after the Banu 'Amilah, a Yemenite tribe who, along with the kindred tribes of Hamadan, Lakhm, and Judham, settled in Syria, Palestine, parts of Jordan, and Lebanon. The area was known in ancient times as Jabal...
region of southern Lebanon.
Illegal activities and controversy
The IUM had its main strongholds at the predominantly Sunni district of Bab al-Tibbaneh in the western part of Tripoli, where the group’s headquarters was located, and the Dinniyah sub-urban area east of the city. They also controlled the nearby clandestine port of al-Mahdi, set up at Tripoli’s western outskirts at El MinaEl Mina
El-Mina or El Mina,which means "harbour" in Arabic, is a coastal city in Northern Lebanon. El-Mina occupies the location of the old Phoenician city of Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city...
and run by the Sunni businessmen Tariq Fakhr al-Din, which was employed mainly for arms-smuggling operations and to levy illegal taxes on the transit trade of agricultural products and other goods.
Fanatical and ruthless fighters, Tawheed militiamen were responsible for several acts of violence in Tripoli against the local cells of the Alawite
Alawite
The Alawis, also known as Alawites, Nusayris and Ansaris are a prominent mystical and syncretic religious group centred in Syria who are a branch of Shia Islam.-Etymology:...
ADP and LCP
Lebanese Communist Party
The Lebanese Communist Party – LCP or Parti communiste libanais in French, is a communist political party in Lebanon...
. On October 1983, the IUM/Tawheed executed a series of terrorist attacks against the Tripoli offices of the Communist Party, targeting Party cadres and their families. In one occasion, Tawheed fighters rounded up some 52 top Communist members, forced them to renounce their atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and then summarily shot them, dumping the victims’ bodies into the Mediterranean.
Other actions held later that year targeted Syrian Army
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army, officially called the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the...
units stationed in Lebanon – on 19 December, the Tawheed was involved in the massacre of 15 Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint in Tripoli, carried out in retaliation for the seizure by the Syrians of one of their commanders the previous day.
The IUM also run its own radio and television stations – the ”Voice of Right” (Arabic: Sawt al-Haq) and the “Crescent” (Arabic: al-Hilal), respectively – which continued to operate in the post-war period, until being forcibly closed down in September 1997 by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces
Internal Security Forces
The Internal Security Forces – ISF or Forces de Sécurité Intérieure in French, are the national police and security force of Lebanon. Modern police were established in Lebanon in 1861, with creation of the Gendarmerie...
(ISF) during a nation-wide crack-down on Sunni religious extremists.
A former member, Khalid El-Masri
Khalid El-Masri
Khalid El-Masri is a German citizen who was kidnapped in the Republic of Macedonia, flown to Afghanistan, allegedly beaten, stripped, raped, and interrogated and tortured by the CIA for several months as a part of the War on Terror, and then released...
, was illegally kidnapped by the CIA. German reports assert that El-Masri himself reported his being a member of "El-Tawhid" or "Al-Tawhid" when he applied to Germany for refugee status, in 1985. The reference to "El-Tawhid" may have been confused with the group Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi lead, Al Qaeda in Iraq, used to be called "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad". "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad", the former name for Zarqawi's group, translates as the "movement for monotheism and struggle".
Tripoli 1982-86
In August 1984, violent clashes eruped between the Tawheed and the ADP, with the former been supported by the Mosques Committee and the Islamic Committee. The Tawheed’s position was strengthened when they gained control of the port area on 22 August, after a fierce battle on the streets of Tripoli that left more than 400 dead. Street fighting dragged for some days until 18 September, when it was brought to an end by a Syrian-mediated peace agreement between the IUM and the ADP.In the fall of 1985 the Syrian army entered Tripoli and crushed Islamic Unity's militia, though it permitted Sha'ban to maintain leadership of his now unarmed movement.
Intermittent clashes occurred in the Tripoli area during the Spring and Summer of 1986, this time between the Tawheed and the pro-Syrian SSNP faction, until Syrian troops finally moved in to enforce a truce at the request of local community leaders.
In Tripoli on December 18, 1986 the Tawheed commander Samir al-Hassan was arrested by the Syrians. His men responded by killing 15 Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint, which brought the wrath of the Syrians on the Tawheed. Aided by ADP, LCP, SSNP and Baath Party militias, the Syrians managed to defeat decisively the Tawheed, killing many of its fighters, arresting others and scattered the remaider.
South Lebanon 1988-2000
The defeat at the battle of Tripoli did not meant the end of IUM/Tawheed military activities at Beirut, Sidon, and southern Lebanon, for underground guerrilla cells continued to operate in these areas until the end of the civil war, and even afterwards.From 1988 to 2000, the Movement’s guerrillas at the Jabal Amel
Jabal Amel
Jabal Amel or Amil is a mountainous region of Southern Lebanon.The region is named after the Banu 'Amilah, a Yemenite tribe who, along with the kindred tribes of Hamadan, Lakhm, and Judham, settled in Syria, Palestine, parts of Jordan, and Lebanon. The area was known in ancient times as Jabal...
fought alongside the Shia Islamic Resistance against the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) and their South Lebanese Army (SLA) proxies in the Israeli-controlled “security zone.”
The post-war years
Aside from rare instances of mild criticism, SheikhSheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Shaaban and the IUM were careful not to antagonize the Syrian authorities, particularly after they defeated their own militia in late 1986. Indeed, he always spoke favorably of the Syrian military presence in Lebanon as a framework for unified, armed action against Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, a policy which was continued by its successors in the 1990s.
The Movement remains politically active though, currently led by Secretary-General Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Minqara, being a member of the pro-Syrian March 8 alliance
March 8 Alliance
The March 8 Alliance is a coalition of various political parties in Lebanon. It has been the ruling coalition since January 25, 2011 when the alliance managed to nominate Najib Mikati as the new prime minister.-History:...
.
In 2005, the IUM joined the Islamic Labor Front
Islamic Labor Front
The Islamic Labor Front , founded in 2006, is a gathering of several Islamic parties and personalities in Lebanon led by Sunni Daaiya Fathi Yakan....
, an alliance of several Islamic parties and personalities in Lebanon.
See also
- Hezbollah
- Lebanese civil warLebanese Civil WarThe Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
- Lebanese Islamic GroupIslamic Group (Lebanon)The Islamic Group is a Sunni Islamist group or gathering in Lebanon. Jamaa Islamiya was founded in 1952 as the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its leader is Faisal Mawlawi. The party has a military wing known as the al-Fajr Forces...
- Islamic Labor FrontIslamic Labor FrontThe Islamic Labor Front , founded in 2006, is a gathering of several Islamic parties and personalities in Lebanon led by Sunni Daaiya Fathi Yakan....
Further reading
- Denise Ammoun, Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990, Fayard, Paris 2005. ISBN 978-2213615219 (in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) - Robert FiskRobert FiskRobert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, London: Oxford University Press, (3rd ed. 2001). ISBN 0192801309
External links
- http://www.attawhed.org/ – Islamic Unification official site.
- http://www.daawa.net/ – Islamic Labor Front official site (in Arabic).