Fatah al-Intifada () is a Palestinian militant faction founded by Said Muragha, better known as Abu Musa. Officially it refers to itself as the Palestinian National Liberation Movement - "Fatah" (), the identical name of the major

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

movement. Fatah al-Intifada is not part of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO).

History

Rupture with PLO

Originally part of Fatah, Fatah al-Intifada broke away from the organization in 1983, during the PLO's participation in 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 ...

. The split was due to differences between Abu Musa and

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

over a number of issues, including military decisions and

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

. Fatah al-Intifada was formed with Syrian support and quickly attracted a number of Palestinian

guerrillas Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

disillusioned with Arafat's role in Fatah and the

(PLO). One of the leading figures joined the group from Fatah was Nimr Saleh. Syria provided extensive backing as the Abu Musa forces attacked Arafat loyalists in Fatah, while several radical PLO organizations in the

Rejectionist Front The Rejectionist Front (Arabic: جبهة الرفض) or Front of the Palestinian Forces Rejecting Solutions of Surrender (جبهة القوى الفلسطينية الرافضة للحلول الإستسلامية) was a political coalition forme ...

stayed on the sidelines. Fatah al-Intifada took part in the Battle of Tripoli (1983). The fighting led to heavy losses on both sides, and helped Syria extend its influence into Palestinian-held areas of Lebanon.

War of the camps

In 1985–88, Fatah al-Intifada took part in the War of the camps, a Syrian attempt to root out the PLO from its refugee camp strongholds backed by the

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Amal militia and some Palestinian rejectionist factions. After a joint effort by the

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

and a number of Palestinian and Lebanese groups controlled or supported by

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 ...

, including Fatah al-Intifada, the PFLP-GC,

as-Sa'iqa As-Sa'iqa (), officially known as Vanguard for the Popular Liberation War – Lightning Forces, () is a Palestinian Ba'athist political and military faction created by Syria. It is linked to the Palestinian branch of the Syrian-led Ba'ath Pa ...

, Amal, the Syrian

PLA Pla may refer to: People * Cecilio Plá (1860–1934), Spanish painter * Conrad Pla (born 1966), Canadian kickboxer and actor * Jim Pla (born 1992), French racing driver * Joan Baptista Pla (ca. 1720–1773), Spanish composer and oboist * Josefina ...

and parts of the PLF, the PLO was gradually expelled from Lebanon in the mid-to late 1980s. By that time Fatah al-Intifada had been reduced to a minor part of Syria's network of militia proxies, with little or no independent decision-making.

Decline

In 1984 Abu Musa led Fatah al-Intifada to join the Palestinian National Alliance in

in opposition to the PLO but failed to get a majority of Palestinian support. It would join the Palestinian National Salvation Front in 1985 and oppose the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the st ...

in 1993. By the late 1980s, Fatah al-Intifada had a brief rapprochement with Arafat's Fatah, but due to its opposition to the

, and generally poor relations between the PLO and the Syrian government, Fatah al-Intifada has not been able to secure a role in today's Palestinian politics. Instead it remains a minor faction in the

Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refug ...

camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

s of Syria and Lebanon, where it was able to organize under the umbrella of the Syrian military presence until its

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

in 2005. It remains very much a part of Syrian-sponsored efforts to influence Palestinian politics, regularly backing Syrian initiatives and being a core member of a Syrian-led coalition of Palestinian groups based in Damascus. In the Syrian Civil War, Fatah al-Intifada fought alongside the government against the

Syrian opposition Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

, and took part in the Siege of Eastern Ghouta, the Southern Damascus offensive (April–May 2018), and other battles. By 2018, however, it began to lay off its fighters due to the decreasing intensity of the civil war and lack of funds.

Gaza war and fall of Assad

Fatah al-Intifada has been reported to be among the factions fighting in the 2023-2024 Gaza war. After the

fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...

in late 2024, the

Syrian transitional government The Syrian transitional government () is the current provisional government of Syria, formed on 29 March 2025 under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. It succeeded the Syrian caretaker government headed by Mohammed al-Bashir. The government was ...

demanded that all Palestinian armed groups in Syria disarm themselves, dissolve their military formations, and instead focus on political and charitable work. Representatives of the new Syrian government also raided the offices of Fatah al-Intifada, as-Sa'iqa, and PFLP-GC, confiscating documents, equipment, and weapons. From 21 to 24 December, the

Lebanese Armed Forces The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF; ), also known as the Lebanese Army (), is the national military of the Republic of Lebanon. It consists of three branches, the ground forces, the air force, and the navy. The motto of the Lebanese Armed Forces is ...

peacefully occupied some Fatah al-Intifada bases in Lebanon, with the local militants retreating without resistance. In February 2025, Fatah al-Intifada became subject to factional infighting: The party's central committee removed general secretary Ziad al-Saghir (alias "Abu Hazim") from his post due to "organizational violations", while also announcing the formation of an emergency body to manage the party. Ziad al-Saghir responded by suspending the central committee's operations and declared the dismissal of two party leaders who had agreeed to his own removal, namely Rumeidh Abu Hani (head of Fatah al-Intifada's Lebanon branch) and Yasser Al-Masri Abu Omar (head of Fatah al-Intifada's Syria branch).

Ideology

The aims of the Fatah al-Intifada movement are the "liberation of Palestine by both armed struggle and armed resistance, and the establishment of the independent Palestine state with noble

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

as its capital". There was also a political dimension: the organization took a more leftist view than the generally apolitical Fatah, and used

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

rhetoric. Abu Musa is known to have advocated the view that the

was not a sectarian conflict, but a form of

class war Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...

References

External links

Center for Palestinian Media Studies - Fatah al-Intifada
Official Fatah al-Intifada website {{Fatah Anti-Israeli sentiment in Lebanon Anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine Anti-Israeli sentiment in Syria Fatah breakaway groups Former factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian militant groups Palestinian nationalist parties Pro-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war Socialist parties in Palestine Military units and formations established in 1983 Axis of Resistance