Lebanese Youth Movement (MKG)
| Lebanese Youth Movement (MKG) | |
|---|---|
| Participant in Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) | |
| Active | Until 1977 |
| Groups | Lebanese Front, Lebanese Forces |
| Leaders | Bashir Maroun el-Khoury (aka “Bash Maroun”) |
| Headquarters | Dekwaneh, east Beirut |
| Size | 500-1,000 fighters |
| Allies | Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF), Guardians of the Cedars (GoC), Army of Free Lebanon (AFL), Al-Tanzim, Tigers Militia, Tyous Team of Commandos (TTC), Israel Defense Forces (IDF) |
| Opponents | Lebanese National Movement (LNM), Lebanese Arab Army (LAA), Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Syrian Army |
The Lebanese Youth Movement – LYM (Arabic: حركة الشباب اللبنانية | Harakat al-Shabab al-Lubnaniyya), also known as the Maroun Khoury Group (MKG), was a Christian far-right militia which fought in the 1975-77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War.
The LYM was founded in the early 1970s as an association of Maronite right-wing university students, who strongly opposed the 1969 Cairo Agreement and the presence of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrilla factions in Lebanon, by Bashir Maroun el-Khoury (nom de guerre "Bash Maroun"), the son of the former head of the Dekwaneh district of East Beirut, Naim el-Khoury.
Being violently anti-communist and anti-Palestinian, the group's ideology stemmed from the extremist Phoenicist theories espoused by the Guardians of the Cedars.
The LYM/MKG joined the Lebanese Front in January 1976 and raised its own militia with training, funds and weapons being provided by the Kataeb Party and Israel. It consisted of about 500-1,000 fighters, backed by a small mechanized force made of ex-Lebanese army Panhard AML-90 armoured cars and guntrucks or 'technicals'. The latter were commandeered Land-Rover series II-III, Toyota Land Cruiser (J40), Dodge Power Wagon W200, GMC Sierra Custom K25/K30 and Chevrolet C-10 Cheyenne light pickups fitted with heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles and anti-aircraft . Personally commanded by Bash Maroun, they usually operated in the Ras-el-Dekwaneh, Ain el-Rammaneh and Mansouriye districts, manning the local sections of the Green Line, but also fought in other areas (Namely at the Battle of the Hotels), earning a reputation of fierce combatants.
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