ARAB MEDALS -- Lebanon

[Ed_Haynes]

As with almost all other Arab ODM, sources are QUITE thin for Lebanon, and we are stuck with a few online fragments.

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/medals/lebanon.html

http://www.medals.org.uk/lebanon/lebanon.htm

http://www.omsa.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=617

http://www.netdialogue.com/yy/Asia/Lebanon/Lebanon.htm

http://www.coleccionesmilitares.com/cintas/cintasas.htm#l and click on Lebanon

[Ed_Haynes]

Medal C?mmemorative du Liban, 1926 / Commemorative Medal for Lebanon, 1926

Sometimes shown as a French medal, but actually a medal of the protectorate ("puppet") government in Lebanon.

Awarded only to French troops who assisted in the creation and maintenance of a Lebanon separate from Syria in opposition to the Druze rising of 18 July 1925 and who defended the new State from the invasion from Syria in 1926 (leading to repeated bombardment of Damascus). By June 1927, peace had been restored. The medal was not awarded to Lebanese troops.

This medal is sometimes recorded as French award, though it was actually awarded by the government of Lebanon (albeit a Lebanon under intimate French sponsorship and manipulation).

Established: 9 March 1926. A French decree of 16 June 1927 granted the right to wear the medal in French.

Obverse: Circular bronze medal, 30 mm. An upright palm branch with crossed swords at the base. The incuse legend in both Arabic and French on the right and ?POUR LE LIBAN? on the left. The first variety of the medal is suspended from a ring. A later (and more common) version (shown) is suspended from an ornamental straight-bar suspender with olive branches and the inscription ?LIBAN" in French and Arabic.

Reverse: A mountain scene with setting sun and the date ?1925?.

Ribbon: Red with six medium blue stripes.

[Dave Danner]

The War Medal, or M?daille de Guerre, or al-wisām al-Harbī (الوسام الحربي). I believe this is the Lebanese equivalent of the French Croix de Guerre, although no devices are authorized to indicate different levels of citation.

[Ed_Haynes]

This is a nice one, Dave. Have information, but have never seen an illustration this clear.

Wisam al-Herb / Order of War

Awarded to the army for acts of bravery in war or in the cause of national security.. This has also been termed the ?War Medal?.

Established: 2 June 1948

My sense of this as a rough CdG equivalent coincides with yours.

[Dave Danner]

Lebanese Order of Merit / Ordre du m?rite libanais / وسام الإستحقاق اللبناني

Created in 1922, as noted on Ed's site, and currently governed by the Code of Decorations of 12 June 1959 (d?cret-loi 122 du 12.6.1959). Comes in four regular classes and two special classes, the Extraordinary Grade and the Grand Cordon.

Extraordinary Grade (الرتبة الاستثنائية):

Grand Cordon (الوشاح الأكبر):

1st Class:

[Dave Danner]

2nd Class:

3rd Class:

4th Class:

[Dave Danner]

National Order of the Cedar / Ordre national du c?dre / وسام الأرز الوطني

According to the Lebanese government, it was created by a Law of 31.12.1936, so some discrepancy in dates in the sources. As with the Lebanese Order of Merit, currently regulated by the Code of Decorations of 1959. Like the French Legion of Honor, it comes in five grades: Grand Cordon, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Knight (or Chavalier):

Grand Cordon:

Grand Officer:

Commander:

[Dave Danner]

Officer:

Chevalier:

[Dave Danner]

I have an order of precedence at home, but I think the next would be the Navy and Air Force orders. The War Medal (the Croix de Guerre equivalent) and the Military Medal (the M?daille Militaire equivalent) have the same precedence as in France, after orders except in certain cases for the M?daille Militaire.

Aviation Order/Medal of the Eagle / La m?daille de l?Aigle / وسام النسر للطيران

The Aviation Order of the Eagle is sometimes called the Medal of the Eagle, since wisām is used for both terms. For some reason, the third word of the Arabic name, Tayarān ("Flying" or "Aviation"), is left off of the French and English names in official Lebanese sources. It was established by the 1959 Code of Decorations and comes in four classes: the Excellent Class and the 1st through 3rd Class.

Excellent (ممتازة) Class:

3rd Class:

Navy Medal/Order / M?daille de la Marine / الوسام البحري

Established in 1974 (d?cret No. 6929 du 7.1.1974) in the same four classes as the Medal of the Eagle: Excellent, 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

Excellent (ممتازة) Class:

3rd Class:

[Dave Danner]

War Medal / M?daille de Guerre / الوسام الحربي - Established by the Law of 2 June 1948. As discussed above, probably analogous to the French Croix de Guerre.

Military Medal / M?daille Militaire / الميدالية العسكرية - Also established by the Law of 2 June 1948. Probably analogous to the French M?daille Militaire.

Medal for the War Wounded / M?daille des Bless?s de Guerre / وسام الجرحى - Also established by the Law of 2 June 1948. Analogous to the French M?daille des Bless?s.

[Dave Danner]

Medal of Competence / M?daille de la Comp?tence / ميدالية الجدارة - Established in 1962 (d?cret No. 8610 du 29.1.1962). Jadara, the Arabic name, translates as worthiness or suitability, so the French and English versions with "compentence" might be softer than what is intended. My guess would be a general merit or good conduct-type medal.

Medal of Military Valor / M?daille de la Valeur Militaire / وسام التقدير العسكري - Established in 1971 by the d?cret No. 1669 du 18.8.1971. Comes in two grades: silver for officers and bronze for NCOs and enlisted soldiers/sailors/airmen.

[Dave Danner]

These next two decorations are for intelligence and internal security organizations.

Medal of General Security / M?daille de la S?ret? G?n?rale / ميدالية الأمن العام- Established in 1975 by d?cret No.9538 du 28.1.1975. The General Directorate of General Security was established in 1921 as the Premier Bureau. It became the directorate in 1945 and was subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior. It became a General Directorate in 1959. It is an intelligence agency and an internal security force.

Medal of State Security / M?daille de la S?curit? de l'Etat / ميدالية أمن الدولة- Established in 1994 by d?cret No. 5327 du 5.7.1994. The General Directorate of State Security was decreed in 1984 and established in 1985. It is primarily an intelligence and counterintelligence agency, but also does VIP protection. Both of these agencies have very broad and overlapping mandates.

Edited February 8, 2007 by Dave Danner

[Dave Danner]

These next few are civilian decorations which I would assume are roughly equivalent to the French merit orders which were later consolidated into the National Order of Merit. I don't have much information on them.

Order of Public Instruction / Ordre de l'Instruction Publique /وسام المعرف - Established in 1930. Since this example is referred to as the Bronze version, I would guess there are other classes.

Order of Merit in Public Health / Ordre du M?rite de la Sant? /وسام الإستحقاق الصحي

Order of Agricultural Merit / Ordre du M?rite Agricole /وسام الإستحقاق الزراعي

Labor Medal / M?daille du Travail /وسام العمل - This one is in gold, so again I assume there are other classes.

[Dave Danner]

Last are commemorative medals.

Medal of Palestine / M?daille de la Palestine / ميدالية فلسطين - for the 1948 war.

Medal of 31 December 1961 / M?daille du 31 d?cembre 1961 / ميدالية 31 كانون الأول 1961- for those serving at the time of the failed coup by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

Medal of National Unity / M?daille de l?Unit? Nationale / وسام الوحدة الوطنية- awarded to all Lebanese military and internal security forces on active duty between 13-31 October 1990, when the Lebanese Civil War of 1975?90 was ended.

Medal of the Dawn of the South / M?daille de l?Aube du Sud / وسام فجر الجنوب- for the redeployment of the Army in south Lebanon in July 1991.

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gents

With regards Lebanese medals this one is turning up on Irish Medal bars belonging to UNIFIL veterans, all though I expect its unofficial and wont be found on a serving Irish soldiers medal bar.

LEBANESE ARMY MILITARY MERIT, III CLASS

Kevin in Deva.

Edited February 29, 2008 by Kev in Deva

[Antonio Prieto]

My contribution. I dont know the name

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gents,

pictures of my one & only:

Lebanese Order of Merit / Ordre du m?rite libanais / وسام الإستحقاق اللبناني

4th Class.

Kevin in Deva

[Kev in Deva]

THE REAR:

I presume the two rectangular areas were for engraving the receipiants details?

Kevin in Deva

Edited February 10, 2007 by Kev in Deva

[Kev in Deva]

Maker / Designer Mark: Right-hand side of medal: G. CORM.

Kevin in Deva

[Dave Danner]

My contribution. I dont know the name

General Michel Sleiman, Commander in Chief of the Lebanese Army.

[Dave Danner]

I made a post earlier in this thread which seems to have disappeared.

Lebanese officers are given daily planners by the Lebanese Army magazine Jaysh, which have in them a guide to insignia and decorations. The following are the pages on orders and medals from a mid-1990s version which came from a Lebanese officer I went to IOBC with.

[Dave Danner]

Page 2:

[Ed_Haynes]

Nice post, Dave. Had not seen this one before. Sometimes the internet eats things?

[Dave Danner]

It certainly consumes all my time and energy. Why not a post or two?

In following the precedence, keep in mind that Arabic reads from right to left.

As you can see, the highest grades of the Order of Merit come first, followed by all the grades of the Order of the Cedar. Then come the regular grades of the Order of Merit.

Then, similar to French precedence, the Military Medal and the War Medal (CdG equivalent) come next, followed by the Medal of Military Valor.

Then come the Air Force and Navy orders. So I got that one wrong.

Then the Wound Medal and the two commemorative medals from 1990 and 1991. The older campaign and commemorative medals aren't included since this is a guide for serving officers, not a reference book.

The Medal of Competence is not present. I'm not sure why. As you can see from the photo of Gen. Sleiman, it is a military decoration. It is first on the third row and ranks ahead of the Medal of Military Valor. The last medal on his third row, after the Medal of Military Valor, is the Medal of 31 December 1961.

On Sleiman's 2nd row, there is a medal with a device after the Military Medal and before the War Medal. I have no idea what that is.

In the 4th row, #1 is the Medal of General Security and #2 is the Medal of State Security. I have no idea what the last one is.

In the 5th row, they appear to be foreign. The blue-white-red of the first one is not exactly Arab colors. #2 might be the Syrian Order of Civil Merit. #3 might be the Military Service Medal from Kuwait, or it might not.

In the 6th row, the 1st one, which looks like something blue with a dove on it, might be some sort of peace medal. The last two are the Medal of National Unity and the Medal of the Dawn of the South.

[Kev in Deva]

Here are pictures of:

Order of Public Instruction / Ordre de l'Instruction Publique /وسام المعرف - Established in 1930.

Silver version recently on auction on US Ebay.

Kevin in Deva