[3] The Libyan troops were essentially abandoned and had to find their own way home (if at all), and the ADF thereby became a purely Syrian force (which did include the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA)).

The headquarters of their 'Arab Deterrent Force' was at the Bekaa market town of Chtaura and their troops were billetted all the way up the valley, around the Greek Orthodox town of Zahle - where Cody and I had seen the Syrians and Phalangists cooperating in 1976 - at the airbase at Rayak, in Baalbek, and Hermel.In 1981, the Syrian forces fought the Battle of Zahleh.

Mclaurin wrote '..At the height of the battle, several Syrian Army units, totalling about 20,000 troops, were within an area 10–20 km around Zahleh.

On July 21, 1977, The Lebanese and Palestinian factions agreed on a compromise that would see the withdrawal of all PLO soldiers inside a 15 kilometer zone just off the Israeli Border and the Lebanese government would work in conjunction with the Arab Deterrent Force to ensure security of Lebanon.

June 1983 would seem the fracturing of the compromise between the Lebanese Government, the Arab Deterrent Forces and the Syrian Peacekeepers especially after the 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon.