As-Sa'iqa
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As-Sa'iqa
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| Leader | Farhan Abu Al-Hayja |
| Founded | September 1966 |
| Headquarters |
Palestine, Syria and Lebanon |
| Ideology |
Palestinian nationalism Assadism Ba'athism |
| National affiliation | Palestine Liberation Organization |
| International affiliation | Syrian-led Ba'ath Party |
| Colors | Black, Red, White and Green (Pan-Arab colors) |
| Palestinian Legislative Council |
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As-Sa'iqa (also transliterated as al-Saika, Saeqa, etc., from Arabic: الصاعقة (lit. storm or thunderbolt) meaning shock troops; also known as the Vanguard for the Popular Liberation War) is a Palestinian Ba'athist political and military faction created and controlled by Syria. It is linked to the Palestinian branch of the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party, and is a member of the broader Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), although it is no longer active in the organization. Its Secretary-General is Farhan Abu Al-Hayja.
As-Sa'iqa was formed as an organization by the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party in September 1966, but first activated in December 1968, when Syria tried to build up an alternative to Yasser Arafat, then emerging with his Fatah faction as the primary Palestinian fedayeen leader and politician [4]. As-Sa'iqa was initially the second-largest group within the PLO, after Fatah.
As-Sa'iqa was also used in the Ba'thist power struggle then in play in Syria, by Salah Jadid to counter the ambitions of Defence Minister Hafez al-Assad. When al-Assad seized power in the November 1970 "Corrective Revolution", the organization was purged and its leadership replaced with al-Assad loyalists (although Jadid loyalists held on to the as-Sai'qa branch active in the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan until mid-1971, when they were arrested). As new Secretary-General (after Mahmud al-Ma'ayta, who had succeeded Yusuf Zu'ayyin), al-Assad chose Zuhayr Muhsin, a Palestinian Ba'thist who had come to Syria as a refugee from Jordan. He was repeatedly promoted by Syria as a candidate for the post as Chairman of the PLO, to replace Arafat, but never gained support from other factions.
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