{{Short description|Lebanese Shia militia active during the Lebanese Civil War}} {{Infobox War Faction | name = Knights of Ali <br /> فرسان علي | war = Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) | image = | caption = | active = 1967–1976 | leaders = * Salaheddine Khalil * Ahmad Safwan | headquarters = Naba'a (Beirut) | size = 1,000 fighters | predecessor = Unknown | partof = {{flagicon image|Flag of Lebanon (1943-1990).svg}} Lebanese National Movement | allies = {{tree list}} * 22px|border Lebanese Arab Army * 24px|border Amal Movement ** {{flagicon image|Flag of the Amal Movement (version).svg}} Lebanese Resistance Regiments * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Progressive Socialist Party.svg}} PSP ** {{flagicon image|People's Liberation Army (Lebanon).jpg}} People's Liberation Army {{small|(until 1976)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Lebanese Communist Party.svg}} LCP ** {{flagicon image|Red flag.svg}} Popular Guard * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.svg}} SSNP-L ** 20px Eagles of the Whirlwind * {{flagicon image|Flag of Mourabitoun.svg|22px}} Al-Mourabitoun * 22px|border ASAP-L * 22px|border CAOL * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Ba'ath Party.svg}} Ba'ath Party * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Popular Nasserist Organization.svg|22px}} PNO * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Toilers League (Lebanon).svg}} Toilers League * 25px UWPF * {{flagicon|PLO}} PLO ** {{flagicon|Fatah}} Fatah ** {{flagicon image|Hand drawn PFLP logo.jpg|size=22px}} PFLP ** {{flagicon image|Flag of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.svg}} DFLP ** {{flagicon image|Red flag.svg}} Palestinian Liberation Front ** 20px As-Sa'iqa * {{flagicon|Syria|1980}} Syria ** {{flagicon image|Flag of the Syrian Arab Army.svg}} Syrian Arab Army {{tree list/end}} | opponents = {{tree list}} * 22px|border Lebanese Front ** {{flagicon image|Flag of Kataeb Party.svg}} Kataeb Party *** 15px Kataeb Regulatory Forces ** 23px|border NLP *** 22px|border Tigers Militia ** {{flagicon image|Flag of Al-Tanzim.svg}} Al-Tanzim ** {{flagicon image|Flag of the Guardians of the Cedars.svg}} Guardians of the Cedars ** 22px|border Lebanese Youth Movement ** {{flagicon image|Flag of the Tyous Team of Commandos.svg}} Tyous Team of Commandos ** 22px|border Marada Brigade * 22px|border Army of Free Lebanon * {{flagicon image|Flag of Lebanon (1943-1990).svg}} Lebanese Armed Forces * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Progressive Socialist Party.svg}} PSP ** {{flagicon image|People's Liberation Army (Lebanon).jpg}} People's Liberation Army {{small|(after 1976)}} {{tree list/end}} | area = * West Beirut * Southern Lebanon * Bekaa Valley | status = Disbanded | ideology = * Anti-Imperialism * Shia Interests }}
The ''''Knights of Ali'''' (Arabic: فرسان علي | ''Fursan Ali''), also known as the ''''Youth of Ali'''', were a small Shia political movement and militia that used to operate at West Beirut, being a member of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) during the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War.
==History== The group was first established in 1967 by Salaheddine Khalil at the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, but was temporarily disbanded in 1973. That same year, Khalil was replaced by Ahmad Safwan who reestablished the movement, which operated mainly in the Shia-majority neighborhood of Naba'a in Beirut.
===Lebanese Civil War, 1975–1976=== When the civil war began in April 1975, the movement, now based in Naba'a, transformed itself into a 400-strong militia to counter the right-wing Christian Lebanese Front militias, and took part in the fighting at Sin el Fil and Sad el-Bauchrieh.<ref>{{cite web |title=خمسة أحزاب انتهت في الحرب |url=https://www.almodon.com/politics/2017/4/13/%D8%AE%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A8 |website=Almodon |access-date=13 April 2017}}</ref>
According to journalist Robert Fisk, some Christians allegedly accused the 'Knights of Ali' of the Black Thursday massacre, where more than 50 Christians were massacred in retaliation for the murder of a Palestinian man in West Beirut and mutilated, whose severed genitalia were placed in their mouths and whose bodies were dumped in a Muslim cemetery at the mainly Muslim Beirut district of Bashoura, close to the Green Line separating East and West Beirut.<ref>Johnson, ''All honourable men: the social origins of war in Lebanon'' (2001), p. 11.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-07-25 |title=Black Thursday |url=https://civilsociety-centre.org/sir/black-thursday |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=Civil Society Knowledge Centre |language=en |archive-date=2019-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212011202/https://civilsociety-centre.org/sir/black-thursday |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2013 |title=Lebanon's Legacy of Political Violence: A Mapping of Serious Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lebanon, 1975–2008 |url=https://www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Report-Lebanon-Mapping-2013-EN_0.pdf |publisher=International Center for Transitional Justice}}</ref> The 'Knights of Ali' claimed to stand for the Shi'ite Movement of the Deprived which was headed by Imam Musa al-Sadr, but he was quick to dissociate his Movement from this atrocity.<ref>Salibi, ''Crossroads to Civil War: Lebanon 1958-1976'' (2005), p. 104.</ref>
The 'Knights of Ali' became void after the fall of Naba'a on 6 August 1976, and they were disbanded later that year by Ahmad Safwan after being subjected to an assassination attempt by the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Popular Liberation Forces (PLF) militia.<ref>{{cite web |title=خمسة أحزاب انتهت في الحرب |url=https://www.almodon.com/politics/2017/4/13/%D8%AE%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A8 |website=Almodon |access-date=13 April 2017}}</ref>
== See also == *Black Thursday (Lebanon) *Lebanese National Movement *Lebanese Civil War *Lebanese Front *List of weapons of the Lebanese Civil War *War of the Camps
==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}
==References== *Kamal Suleiman Salibi, ''Crossroads to Civil War: Lebanon 1958-1976'', Caravan Books Inc., New York 2005 (3rd edition). {{ISBN|978-0882060101}} *Michael Johnson, ''All honourable men: the social origins of war in Lebanon'', Centre for Lebanese Studies, Oxford and London, Oxford University and I.B. Tauris, 2001. {{ISBN|978-1860647154}}, 1860647154 *Tom Najem and Roy C. Amore, ''Historical Dictionary of Lebanon'', Second Edition, Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Boulder, New York & London 2021. {{ISBN|9781538120439}}, 1538120437
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knights Of Ali}} Category:Israeli–Lebanese conflict Category:Lebanese National Movement Category:Factions in the Lebanese Civil War