known as "Joint Forces" (LNM-JF), which numbered some 18,900 militiamen (not including allied Palestinian factions). Manpower was distributed as follows: the PSP militia (the People's Liberation Army) and the LCP militia (the Popular Guard) each had 5,000 men; the SSNP militia had 4,000 men; the pro-Syria Ba'athists and pro-Iraqi Ba'athists had 2,000 and 1,500 men respectively. The others militias shared the remainder. This number was to increase in the following months with the inclusion of 21,900 Palestinian guerrilla fighters from both the Rejectionist Front (RF) and mainstream PLO factions, later joined by 4,400 Lebanese regular soldiers from the Lebanese Arab Army (LAA) led by Lieutenant Ahmad al-Khatib who went over to the LNM-PLO side in January 1976. In the end, the LNM-PLO-LAA combined military forces reached an impressive total of 45,200 troops by March that year, aligned against the 12,000-16,000 right-wing troops their Lebanese Front adversaries were able to muster. Sponsor countries and organizations The LNM-JF received financial aid and arms from many countries such as Syria, Libya, Iraq and South Yemen, in addition to Palestinian support; besides lending their political backing and contributing with their organizational skills, experienced Palestinian cadres from RF and PLO groups provided weapons, equipment, and in many cases, military leadership to the Lebanese leftist militias. In addition, they also provided training, which was conducted at the refugee camps in the major cities or at PLO bases in southern Lebanon, mainly in the Beqaa Valley (a.k.a. "Fatahland"). Participation in the Lebanese Civil War 1975-1982 As fighting escalated, the LNM allied itself with the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and by early 1976 the LNM controlled 80% of Lebanon's territory. But as its relations with Damascus deteriorated, the pro-Syrian Ba'ath branch, Union of Working People's Forces and an important SSNP faction left the movement, and formed alongside Amal Movement the Front of Patriotic and National Parties. In June 1976, the Syrian Army, fearing that a Palestinian victory would weaken its own strategic position, received a request from the Lebanese Front to intervene on their behalf. After strong initial resistance, the LNM/PLO forces began losing ground, and once the Arab states eventually approved the Syrian intervention after the Cairo and Riyadh conferences, the common forces accepted a cease-fire. The Syrian Army then took the role of peace-keepers, as part of Arab League's Arab Deterrent Force (ADF), between the belligerents. In 1977, Walid Jumblatt became the head of the