Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid has called for the re-establishment of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a proxy force that helped the Israeli army occupy southern Lebanon in the 1980s.
In an opinion piece published in The Economist on 8 October, Lapid called for “reorganizing Lebanon’s political structure and, importantly, rebuilding its army.”
Lapid advocated regime change in Lebanon, saying, “the international community will need to appoint a sort of oversight committee for Lebanon to manage its civilian life for a set period until elections can be held and a new government can take control.”
Crucial to this effort would be the establishment of a collaborator Lebanese army loyal to Israel and its Western and Gulf allies.
“Lebanese soldiers currently earn $120 a month, and even this money does not always arrive. With investment that would be negligible in international terms, a South Lebanese army can be built, positioned south of the Awali River, acting as a buffer between Israel and Hizbullah,” Lapid claimed.
“In the past the South Lebanon Army that existed in this area was of a totally different and more limited nature. Crucially, it was a completely separate entity from the Lebanese Armed Forces, the official army of Lebanon, and acted without coordination or instruction from the country’s government. It must be different this time,” Lapid added.
Lapid claimed it would be easy to recruit Lebanese by paying soldiers in a new army $500 a month. New recruits would then be trained by French, Emirati, and US military officers.
The South Lebanon Army (SLA) was established by Israel in 1976 after the collapse of the Lebanese government due to civil war.
The SLA served as a collaborationist force in the wake of the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in 1982. Led by general Antoine Lahad, the SLA was composed of men from all different religions, but Christians accounted for 60 percent of the force.
Hezbollah, the Islamic resistance movement that Israel is now attempting to destroy, grew out of the Shia resistance to the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon.
According to a 1986 CIA assessment, the SLA helped Israel maintain a “security zone” in southern Lebanon. Its fighters, rather than Israeli soldiers, bore the brunt of the casualties in the fight against the Lebanese resistance, thereby “minimizing politically unacceptable Israeli losses.”