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Saad Haddad was the founder and head of the South Lebanon Army (SLA).
At the beginning of the civil war in Lebanon, Haddad, a major in the Lebanese Army commanded a battalion to engage the PLO in south Lebanon. It was here where he joined other rebel Christian soldiers to form the Free Lebanon Army. Haddad's militia collaborated with Israel and received the bulk of its arms, equipment, supplies and ordnance from Israel. The SLA was generally regarded as Israel's proxy in southern Lebanon, and controlled Israel's self-proclaimed "Security Zone" following its invasion of Lebanon beginning in 1982. There have also been accusations from various international observers of SLA participation in the 1982 massacres at the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. In 1984 Haddad died of cancer. His successor as the head of the SLA was general Antoine Lahad.
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