Saad Haddad
Saad Haddad was a Lebanese military officer and the founder and head of the South [Lebanon Army] during the Lebanese Civil War. Originally a Major in the Lebanese Army, he defected and formed the SLA and created the separatist State of Free Lebanon backed by Israel. For years Haddad was widely identified as a Zionist and closely collaborated with and received arms and political support from Israel against Lebanese government forces, Hezbollah, and the Syrian Army. Haddad died of cancer in his house in Marjayoun.
Early life
Haddad was born to a Lebanese [Melkite Christians|Greek Catholic] family in Marjayoun. He received part of his training at Fort Benning in the United States.Lebanese Civil War
During the 1970s, there was a cyclical pattern of guerrilla attacks carried out by Palestinian militants on Israel and by the Israel Defense Forces on Palestinian targets in Lebanon. After the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanese-generated security concerns grew for Israel. At the same time, the breakdown of Lebanon's central government provided opportunities for Israel to act. Around 1975, Israel sponsored the creation of a surrogate force, Lebanese Christian Major Saad Haddad was the first officer to defect from the Lebanese Army to ally himself with Israel, a defection which led to the formation of the pro-Israel Free Lebanon Army, based in a corridor, the "Security Zone" along Lebanon's southern border from 1982 after Israel's invasion of Lebanon. This force, which called itself the Free Lebanon Army, was intended to prevent infiltration into Israel of Palestinian guerrillas. In 1978, 1978 [South Lebanon conflict|Israel invaded Lebanon], clearing out Palestine Liberation Organization strongholds as far north as the Litani River.On 18 April 1979, Haddad proclaimed the area controlled by his force Independent Free Lebanon. The following day, he was branded a traitor to the Lebanese government and officially dismissed from the Lebanese Army.
Another consequence of the Israeli invasion was the establishment in southern Lebanon of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, whose mission was to separate the various combatants. Haddad's militia collaborated with Israel and received the bulk of its arms, equipment, supplies and ordnance from Israel. There are eyewitness accounts that support the claim that Saad Haddad's troops were involved in the massacres of Sabra and Shatila in 1982. In the massacre an estimated 763 - 3,500 civilians were killed. Though Hadad and his men were exonerated by an Israeli panel, the SLA was still known to engage in ruthless behavior, such as the "brutal conditions" of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners at the infamous al-Khiam prison.
During the last few years of his life, Saad Haddad headed the Christian radio station "Voice of Hope", initially set up and funded by George Otis of High Adventure Ministries. The Voice of Hope was set up as a charitable endeavor to help the Christian enclave in Southern Lebanon, but it quickly became politicized when Haddad used it for political diatribes aimed at his many enemies. High Adventure billed it as the only privately owned radio station in the Middle East that was broadcasting the Gospel, but its message was often tainted by the necessary affiliation with Haddad's militia, as its operation depended upon his protection and authority, resulting in a very curious blend of scripture lessons and political commentary which the staff at the station could not control or regulate.
In 1984, Haddad died of cancer. His successor as the head of the SLA was general Antoine Lahad.