The Future Movement used a security firm to assemble a private force, officials say. But the fighters were no match for Hizbullah.

BEIRUT — For a year, the main Lebanese political faction backed by the U.S. built a Sunni Muslim militia here under the guise of private security companies, Lebanese security experts and officials said.

The fighters, aligned with Saad Hariri’s Future Movement, were trained and armed to counter the heavily armed Shi’a Muslim militant group Hizbullah and protect their turf in a potential military confrontation.

But in a single night late last week, the curious experiment in private-sector warfare crumbled.

Attacked by Hizbullah, the Future Movement fighters quickly fled Beirut or gave up their weapons. Afterward, some of the fighters said they felt betrayed by their political patrons, who failed to give them the means to protect themselves while official security forces stood aside and let Hizbullah destroy them.

“We are prepared to fight for a few hours but not more,” said one of the Sunni fighters in the waning moments of the battle. “Where do we get ammunition and weapons from? We are blocked. The roads are blocked. Even Saad Hariri has left us to face our fate alone.”

The head of a conventional private security firm in Beirut, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Sunni force was “not really ready.”

“You can’t just spend millions of dollars to build an army in one year,” he said. “They have to be motivated and believe in something. They have to be willing to die.”

Lebanon’s U.S.-backed government and the Iranian-backed opposition led by Hizbullah have been mired in a political stalemate for more than a year. The country has been without a president since November.

Hariri’s deputies have denied his movement was building a militia, though ranking military officials, independent analysts and employees of the security firm called Secure Plus say it was doing just that.

With speed that surprised observers, Hizbullah last week took over West Beirut and crushed the Future Movement’s fighters.

Hizbullah said its move was aimed at stopping the government, which had outlawed the militant group’s private communication system, from hampering its ability to confront Israel. But it appears the Shi’a militia’s main targets were the Future fighters, some of them operating under the guise of Secure Plus.

For months, Lebanese security officials in the army and the Internal Security Forces warily watched the growth of the Future-Secure Plus fighting force. Officials close to and inside Hizbullah said they were monitoring the growth of the potential threat.

Over the last year, Secure Plus went from a small security company to an organization with 3,000 employees and unofficial associates on the payroll, mostly poor Sunnis from the country’s north. Some were armed with pistols and assault rifles.

Secure Plus declined multiple requests for interviews. Hariri’s media office denied there were any official links between Secure Plus and the Future Movement.

Reprinted from the Los Angeles Times