Sons of Lebanon?

Via AbuMaq, a fascinating piece from Lebanon by the LA Times' Borzou Daraghi on "a curious experiment in private-sector warfare," where a U.S. backed Sunni faction, the Futures movement, tried to build a militia, under the guise of private security firms that handled payment,training and equipping. It appears they missed the whole "unit cohesion" part of the effort, proving once again that you can't just cobble together an effective fighting force, no matter how much money you throw at it.

For months, Lebanese security officials in the army and the Internal Security Forces warily watched the growth of the Future-Secure Plus fighting force. Officials close to and inside Hezbollah said they were monitoring the growth of the potential threat.

Over the last year, Secure Plus went from a small security company to an organization with 3,000 employees and unofficial associates on the payroll, mostly poor Sunnis from the country's north. Some were armed with pistols and assault rifles.

"We have . . . thousands of young people in plainclothes working with us all over the country," a company official said before the clashes started.

Even those who feared the development hoped the Future movement's growing military capacity would create a "balance of terror" with the more heavily armed Shiite fighters, government officials and members of the group say.

How did the Sunni private security/militia force going by the name Secure Plus do in their first real trial by fire? Not so good:

When the clashes began last week, the Sunni fighters proved no match for Hezbollah's firepower, discipline and intelligence capabilities.

Secure Plus and Future movement offices and strongholds were pummeled. Hezbollah first targeted Future movement positions in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods, easily defeating them.

Meanwhile, the Shiite militiamen encircled but did not enter Sunni strongholds, terrorizing fighters into giving up without causing huge casualties on either side.

Hezbollah also shut down the Future movement's media outlets, cutting off its ability to rally public support.

The Sunni fighters may have been lulled into a false belief that Hezbollah would not enter into full-fledged confrontation. The security company executive said the Future fighters were caught off guard by the speed of the offensive.

"Maybe they thought they could hold Hezbollah off for a few days or a few weeks before help arrived," he said. "They faced an onslaught that they had never planned for."

Comments

[LA Times Middle East]

Your post was mentioned:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/05/lebanon-saudis.html