After independence, he trained as an artilleryman at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy, then as a general staff officer at the Ecole de Guerre in Paris.

Lamari's sons include Farid (a military dentist)[3] and Mourad, an adviser at the Algerian embassy to Belgium.

[citation needed] In the military coup of 1992 that started the Algerian Civil War, he was prominent among the officers demanding then-President Chadli Bendjedid's resignation.

In July 1993, as Liamine Zeroual became Minister of Defense, Mohamed Lamari became Chief of Staff, a post in which he would remain for more than a decade of war.

In his capacity as head of the CCLAS, he was accused by Mohamed Samraoui of ultimately controlling the Organisation of Young Free Algerians, a pro-government armed group claiming credit for various attacks on civilians.