The Arab Communist Organization (ACO) (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: المنظمة الشيوعية العربية , ''Munazzamatu al-Shuyu'i al-Arabi'') or Organisation Communiste Arabe (OCA) in French was a short-lived, underground militant group which operated briefly in both

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

during the mid-1970s.

Origins

Of unknown strength and apparently led by a trio of Syrian radical activists – Imad Shiha, Haytham Na'al and Faris Murad – the ACO was formed in Lebanon in August 1974, and its membership presumably included both Lebanese leftist militants and

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

Syrian anti- Baathist dissidents.

Political beliefs

Although ostensibly Marxist-Leninist in ideology and seemingly based in Lebanon, the ACO's own activities in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

do not reveal a clearly devised strategy or objectives.

Activities

The group focused mainly on

bomb attack The following is a list of terrorist incidents that were not carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are presented in List of assassinations and unsuccessful attempts at List of ...

s and

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

attempts targeting American and British civilian and economic interests in Lebanon, at times claiming that its actions were either carried out in protest for

US Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

's 1974 diplomatic Middle Eastern Tour or to force British-owned Lebanese companies to distribute freely large amounts of food to impoverished local families. It is still unclear who financed and armed the ACO though the most likely suspect at the time would have been the

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

(either the mainstream

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

or the Rejectionist Front factions), who certainly provided weapons,

explosives An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

and training at their Bekaa Valley facilities. When the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

finally broke out in April 1975, it seems that the group opted for not joining the

Lebanese National Movement The Lebanese National Movement (LNM; , ''Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya'') was a front of Leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War, which supported ...

(LNM) and took no part in the savage street battles at

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and elsewhere. Instead, they shifted their attention to

, where their leaders were arrested and tortured in July that year and then sentenced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

by Syrian courts.

Decline and demise

Although the ACO promptly carried out a series of bombings in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

in retaliation for the arrests, Syrian and Lebanese Authorities succeeded in dismantling the group's cells in both Syria and Lebanon, which resulted in the sharp decline of their activities afterwards. The group's last known attack took place in 1977, and nothing was heard of them until August 2002 when Damascus finally bowed to the pressure of international

Human Rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

organizations and released Haytham Na'al on reasons of ill-health resulting from

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

suffered while in prison – his comrades Imad Shiha and Faris Murad, as well as several other former ACO militants, remain however in custody. This faction is no longer active.

Notes

References

Edgar O'Ballance Major Edgar "Paddy" O'Ballance (17 July 1918, Dublin, Ireland – 8 July 2009, Wakebridge, Derbyshire, England) was an Irish-born British military journalist, researcher, defence commentator and academic lecturer specialising in internatio ...

, ''Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92'', Palgrave Macmillan, London 1998. * Rex Brynen, ''Sanctuary and Survival: the PLO in Lebanon'', Boulder: Westview Press, Oxford 1990. {{ISBN, 0 86187 123 5 �

External links

* http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3936 Arab militant groups Defunct communist militant groups Factions in the Lebanese Civil War Communism in Lebanon Communism in Syria