| Palestinian National Liberation Movement - "Fatah" | |
|---|---|
| "حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني - "فتح | |
 | |
| Leaders | Col.Said al-Muragha(1983-2013) Ziad al-Saghir "Abu Hazim" (until 2025) |
| Dates of operation | 1983 (1983) – present |
| Split from | Fatah |
| Headquarters | Damascus,Syria |
| Active regions | Lebanon,Syria,West Bank,Jordan[1] |
| Ideology | Palestinian nationalism Arab socialism Anti-Zionism Anti-imperialism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Size | 3,000-3,500[2] |
| Part of | Alliance of Palestinian Forces |
| Allies |  Syrian Arab Armed Forces (until 2024) National Defence Forces (until 2024) As-Sa'iqa PFLP-GC Palestine Liberation Army |
| Opponents |  Free Syrian Army Ahrar al-Sham Jaysh al-Islam Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham Fatah al-Islam Al-Nusra Front[3] Islamic State IsraelPalestinian Authority |
| Wars | Lebanese Civil War Syrian civil war Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon Gaza war[4] |
| Flag |  |
Fatah al-Intifada (Arabic:فتح الانتفاضة,lit. 'Fatah Uprising') is aPalestinian militant faction founded bySaid Muragha, better known asAbu Musa.[5] Officially it refers to itself as thePalestinian National Liberation Movement - "Fatah" (Arabic:حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني- فتح), the identical name of the majorFatah movement.[5] Fatah al-Intifada is not part of thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Originally part of Fatah, Fatah al-Intifada broke away from the organization in 1983, during the PLO's participation in theLebanese Civil War. The split was due to differences between Abu Musa andYasser Arafat over a number of issues, including military decisions andcorruption.[5] Fatah al-Intifada was formed with Syrian support and quickly attracted a number of Palestinianguerrillas disillusioned with Arafat's role in Fatah and thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO).[5] One of the leading figures joined the group from Fatah wasNimr Saleh.[6] Syria provided extensive backing as the Abu Musa forces attacked Arafat loyalists in Fatah, while several radical PLO organizations in theRejectionist Front stayed on the sidelines. Fatah al-Intifada took part in theBattle of Tripoli (1983). The fighting led to heavy losses on both sides, and helped Syria extend its influence into Palestinian-held areas of Lebanon.
In 1985–88, Fatah al-Intifada took part in theWar of the camps, a Syrian attempt to root out the PLO from its refugee camp strongholds backed by theShiiteAmal militia and some Palestinian rejectionist factions.[5] After a joint effort by theSyrian Army and a number of Palestinian and Lebanese groups controlled or supported byDamascus, including Fatah al-Intifada, thePFLP-GC,as-Sa'iqa, Amal, the SyrianPLA and parts of thePalestinian Liberation Front (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.[5]
In 1984 Abu Musa led Fatah al-Intifada to join thePalestinian National Alliance inDamascus in opposition to the PLO but failed to get a majority of Palestinian support.[7][8] It would join thePalestinian National Salvation Front in 1985 and oppose theOslo Accords in 1993.[7] By the late 1980s, Fatah al-Intifada had a brief rapprochement with Arafat's Fatah, but due to its opposition to theOslo Accords, and generally poor relations between the PLO and the Syrian government, Fatah al-Intifada has not been able to secure a role in today'sPalestinian politics.[5] Instead it remains a minor faction in thePalestinian refugeecamps of Syria and Lebanon, where it was able to organize under the umbrella of theSyrian military presence until itsend 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.[5] In theSyrian Civil War, Fatah al-Intifada fought alongside the government against theSyrian opposition, and took part in theSiege of Eastern Ghouta, theSouthern Damascus offensive (April–May 2018), and other battles.[9] By 2018, however, it began to lay off its fighters due to the decreasing intensity of the civil war and lack of funds.[10]
Fatah al-Intifada has been reported to be among the factions fighting in theGaza war.[4]
After thefall of the Assad regime in late 2024, theSyrian transitional government demanded that all Palestinian armed groups in Syria disarm themselves, dissolve their military formations, and instead focus on political and charitable work.[11] Representatives of the new Syrian government also raided the offices of Fatah al-Intifada, as-Sa'iqa, andPFLP-GC, confiscating documents, equipment, and weapons.[12] From 21 to 24 December, theLebanese Armed Forces peacefully occupied some Fatah al-Intifada bases in Lebanon, with the local militants retreating without resistance.[13][14]
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).[15][16]
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 nobleJerusalem as its capital".[5] There was also a political dimension: the organization took a more leftist view than the generally apolitical Fatah, and usedsocialist rhetoric. Abu Musa is known to have advocated the view that theLebanese Civil War was not a sectarian conflict, but a form ofclass war.[5]
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