Sons of the South

The Sons of the South – SotS (Arabic: أبناء العرقوب transliterated Abna’a Al-Orkoub) were a small and obscure Lebanese Christian terrorist faction based in southern Lebanon, allegedly funded and trained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) intelligence service. Believed to be a mere cover for the Guardians of the Cedars (GoC) or South Lebanon Army (SLA), the Sons of the South were formed in 1983 and usually operated in the Jabal Amel region close to the Israeli-controlled ‘Security Zone’. The group emerged in July 1984, when they kidnapped Sheikh Mohammed Hassan Amin, a preeminent Shiite cleric of Southern Lebanon whom the IDF accused of inciting guerrilla attacks on Israeli and SLA soldiers. Since this incident, the Sons of the South have not been held responsible for further terrorist attacks or kidnappings and it is believed that this group was disbanded around the mid-1990s, possibly by order of the Israeli authorities. They are no longer active.