Lebanon in the 1930s witnessed the emergence of two paramilitary youth sport organizations of sectarian cast with clear fascist tendencies in Beirut and other Lebanese cities, the Lebanese Phalanges led by Pierre Gemayel and the Najjadah. The latter began its existence in 1933-34 as a Sunni Muslim boy-scouts organization founded and led by Muhi al-Din al-Nasuli, the editor of the influential pan-Arabist Muslim newspaper, "Beirut" (Arabic: Bayrut),[1] with the purpose of protecting the Muslim community and to act as a counterweight to the Phalangists.