People’s Liberation Army (Lebanon)

People's Liberation Army – PLA
Participant in Lebanese civil war (1975-1990)
People's Liberation Army flag (1975-1991)
Active	Until 1991
Groups	Progressive Socialist Party, Lebanese National Movement
Leaders	Kamal Jumblatt, Walid Jumblatt
Headquarters	Baakline
Strength	17,000 fighters
Originated as	3,000 fighters
Allies	Lebanese National Movement (LNM), Lebanese Arab Army (LAA), Amal Movement, Popular Nasserite Organization (PNO), Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Syrian Army
Opponents	Lebanese Front, Lebanese Forces, Lebanese Army, Al-Mourabitoun, Sixth of February Movement, Organization of Communist Action in Lebanon (OCAL), Amal Movement, Syrian Army, Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

The People's Liberation Army – PLA (Arabic: Jayish al-Tahrir al-Sha’aby) or Armée de Libération Populaire (ALP) in French was the military wing of the left-wing Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), which fought in the Lebanese civil war. The PSP and its militia were members of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) from 1975 to 1982.

Although the PSP was officially a secular political party, its military wing was not only well-organized, but also one of the largest sectarian militias in Lebanon. It was first founded unofficially by the Party’s president Kamal Jumblatt at the height of the 1958 civil war with a strength of about 1,000-2,000 militiamen, which fought alongside the Pan-Arab/leftist anti-government forces against the Lebanese Army, and the pro-government conservative Christian and Muslim militias in Beirut and the Chouf District.

Disbanded upon the conclusion of the war, the PSP was left without an official paramilitary branch until early 1975, when – despite Kamal Jumblatt's initial reluctance to engage in paramilitarism – the Party's leadership board decided to quietly raise a new militia force with the help of the PLO (mainly from Fatah, PFLP and DPFLP) in response to the Christian rightist Parties’ own clandestine military build-up. Initial progress was slow, however, since the PSP was only able to gather a few hundred militiamen and because of the secrecy surrounding the formation of its militia, it even lacked an official title. Under Kamal Jumblatt's leadership, the PSP was a major element in the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) alliance, which supported the recognition of Lebanon's Arab identity and sympathised with the Palestinians. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out in April 1975, as a member of the LNM the PSP was an active founder of the movement's military wing, the Joint Forces (LNM-JF).