Revolutionary Guard

The Revolutionary Guard Corps ("Liwa Haris al-Jamahiriya") or Jamahiriyyah Guard is a Libyan paramilitary elite unit that plays the role of key protection force of the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi. Composed of 3,000 men hand-picked from Gaddafi's tribal group in the Surt region, the Guard is well armed, being provided with T-54 and T-62 tanks, APCs, MLRS, SA-8 and ZSU-23-4 SAMs taken from the army inventory. [cite book|author=Pollack, Kenneth M.|title=Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948–1991|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=2002|pages=386|id=ISBN 0-8032-3733-2] [cite book|author=Cordesman, Anthony|title=The Military Balance in the Middle East|publisher=Greenwood|year=2004|pages=108|id=ISBN 0-2759-8399-4] Its current commander is Hasan al-Kabir al-Gaddafi, [cite journal| last =Eljahmi| first = Mohamed | title = Libya and the U.S.: Qadhafi Unrepentant| journal =Middle East Quarterly| volume = 13| issue = 1| date = 2006 Winter| publisher = Middle East Forum| url = http://www.meforum.org/article/878] cousin of Libya's ruler. [Citation| last = Gershowitz| first = Suzanne| title = Same Old Kadafi| newspaper = The Baltimore Sun| date = 2005-04-15| year = 2006| url = http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22313/pub_detail.asp]

The Revolutionary Guard developed from the Revolutionary Committees, even if the latter had at first been introduced only into workplaces and communities, and not extended to the military. After the early 1980s, however, the Revolutionary Guard, as a paramilitary wing of the Revolutionary Committees, became entrenched within the armed forces. They served as a parallel channel of control, a means of ideological indoctrination in the barracks, and an apparatus for monitoring suspicious behavior. The Revolutionary Guards reportedly held the keys to ammunition stockpiles at the main military bases, doling it out in small quantities as needed by the regular forces. Their influence increased after a coup attempt in May 1985, that was blocked mainly thanks to the action of the Revolutionary Guard that engaged regular army units in a series of street battles. [cite book|author=Metz, Helen Chapin|title=Libya|publisher=US GPO|year=2004|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/lytoc.html|pages=267|id=ISBN 1-4191-3012-9]

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