MILITARY : Determined Non-Sectarian Approach Putting Lebanese Army Together Again

Strutting across a manicured lawn to the rhythmic pounding of drums and martial music, the blue-uniformed cadets of the Lebanese army dropped to their knees, accepted the swords of officers from their president and pledged to uphold the sovereignty and constitution of Lebanon.

On this festive Army Day recently, it was hard to believe that this was the same army that had been beset by the foul national virus that kept Lebanon plunged in civil war for more than 15 years: corruption and militant sectarianism that pitted Muslim against Christian, brigade against brigade.

In the aftermath of the war, the army was left fuming, feuding and underpaid, and rebuilding it as a national institution resembled nothing so much as reassembling Humpty Dumpty after the fall. But the force, now 45,000 strong, is definitely on the mend.

What’s more, the army has deployed throughout Beirut and central Lebanon--including strongholds of Islamic militants such as Hezbollah in south Beirut and parts of the Bekaa Valley, and of the Druze in the Shouf Mountains. For the first time since the beginning of thewar, the Lebanese army now controls much of Lebanon, although Islamic militants still hold sway in the south and in the western Bekaa, and Syria deploys about 35,000 troopsthroughout the country.

The key to the army’s comeback, analysts here say, was supreme determination on the part of its top command, headed by Gen. Emile Lahoud, to turn the military force that would replace dozens of unruly militias and assert the new government’s authority in Lebanon into a non-sectarian institution putting the nation’s interests first.

Brigades once manned with just one sect each, or a predominance of one sect, are now integrated. Army battalions are rotated at frequent intervals, familiarizing the troops with all regions of Lebanon.

Before the country’s civil war started in 1976, sectarian considerations outweighed competence and performance in the distribution of positions. Today, the army is living by the principle of “he who succeeds is chosen.”

Even if 90% of those who pass advancement examinations are from a single sect, they are all promoted, an army spokesman explained.

Replacement of military hardware was facilitated in 1992, when the United States once again began providing Lebanon with non-lethal military assistance. Lebanon went on a buying spree, making a $40-million purchase that included 700 Willis jeeps, 350 cargo trucks, assorted trailers, ambulances, patrol boats, helmets and flak jackets.

The army took another step toward national reconciliation when it accepted 3,000 ex-militiamen into its ranks after extensive and rigorous “reconciliation courses.”

Lahoud has made it clear, however, that he wants to limit the presence of ex-militiamen to no more than 10% of the nation’s armed forces.

Disarming Lebanon’s many militias has been one of the army’s greatest success stories, but three groups still challenge the army’s control:

* Palestinian groups, mostly opponents of Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat’s peace agreement with Israel, have been allowed to keep lightweight weapons for self-defense, a legacy of the massacres in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in 1982.

* Hezbollah, or Party of God, acting as a resistance force against Israeli presence in southern Lebanon, has been given relatively free rein there through an agreement brokered with Iran and Syria.

* The Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army operates in Israel’s self-declared security zone in the south.

The final healing of the army, analysts agree, will only come with the evacuation of all foreign forces from Lebanon.

And many Lebanese officials fear that the army’s newfound credibility could be lost if it is forced into a showdown with Hezbollah and the huge Shiite Muslim community it represents.

But the timetables are not set by the army. Damascus will ultimately decide the army’s fate in southern Lebanon as Syria navigates its own course of peace with Israel, which still controls 440 square miles of Lebanese territory. The army’s march toward national reconciliation continues to be an obstacle course of political considerations.

Taking More Land

For the first time since the beginning of the civil war of 1975-90, the Lebanese army now controls most of Lebanon. Islamic militants still hold sway in the south and in the western Bekaa Valley, and Syria deploys about 35,000 troops throughout the country.