clear proclamation of the Arab identity of Lebanon, and increased support for the Palestinians. In order to coordinate the military and political actions of the LNM an executive structure, the Central Political Council – CPC (Arabic: Majliss Tajammu al-kinda) or Bureau Politique Central (BPC) in French, was set up shortly after the outbreak of the hostilities at the town of Aley, a mountain tourist resort in the Chouf District, which became the military headquarters of the Front. The Council was presided over from its inception by Kamal Jumblatt of the PSP, with Mohsen Ibrahim of the OCAL appointed as Executive Secretary; after Kamal's death in 1977, he was replaced by his son Walid Jumblatt, who led the LNM until 1982. Among the participants in the LNM were the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), the Communist Action Organization in Lebanon (CAOL or OCAL), the PSP, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon (SSNP), both a Syrian-led Ba'ath Party branch and an Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party branch, al-Mourabitoun (a Nasserist group) and several other minor Nasserist groupings. Several Palestinian organizations joined the LNM, notably many from the Rejectionist Front. Both the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) were active participants. The Shia Amal Movement, although supporting some of the LNM's positions, did not join it formally. Minor groups Above and beyond this, an 'alphabet soup' of other lesser-known smaller Parties were associated with the LNM, namely the Revolutionary Communist Group – RCG, the Lebanese Revolutionary Party – LRP, the Front of Patriotic Christians – PFC, the Democratic Lebanese Movement – DLM, the Movement of Arab Lebanon – MAL, the Arab Revolutionary Movement – ARM, the Partisans of the Revolution, the Vanguards of Popular Action – VPA, the Organization of Arab Youth – OAY, the Units of the Arab Call – UAC, the Movement of Arab Revolution – MAR, the Sixth of February Movement, the 24 October Movement – 24 OM, the Lebanese Movement in Support of Fatah – LMSF, the Union of Working People's Forces – UWPF, the Union of Working People's Forces-Corrective Movement – UWPF-CM, the Knights of Ali, the Black Panthers, etc. Most of them were marginal political organizations of revolutionary or populist trend (Arab nationalist, libertarian/anarchist, liberal/idealist, radical socialist, Marxist–Leninist, Hoxhaist, Trotskyist, or Maoist) that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and despite their rather limited base