Fatah al-Intifada
| Fatah al-Intifada | |
|---|---|
| Participant in Lebanese Civil War, Syrian Civil War | |
 |
|
| Active | 1983 – present |
| Leaders |
Col. Said al-Muragha (1983-2013) Abu Hazim |
| Headquarters | Damascus, Syria |
| Area of operations | Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, Jordan |
| Strength | 3,000-3,500 |
| Split from | Fatah |
| Allies |
 As-Sa'iqa PFLP-GC Syrian Army Palestine Liberation Army
|
| Opponents |
 Free Syrian ArmyFatah al-Islam  Al-Nusra Front Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
|
Fatah al-Intifada (Arabic, Fatah Uprising, فتح الانتفاضة) is a Palestinian militant faction founded by Col. Said al-Muragha, better known as 'Abu Musa'. The group is often referred to as the 'Abu Musa Faction'. Officially it refers to itself as the Palestinian National Liberation Movement - "Fatah" ("حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني - "فتح), the identical name of the major Fatah movement. Fatah al-Intifada is not part of the 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 split was due to differences between Abu Musa and Yassir Arafat over a number of issues, including military decisions and corruption. Fatah al-Intifada was formed with Syrian support and quickly attracted a number of Palestinian guerrillas disillusioned with Arafat's role in Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). There was also a political dimension: the organization took a more leftist view than the generally apolitical Fatah, and used socialist phraseology. Abu Musa is known to have advocated the view that the Lebanese Civil War was not a sectarian conflict, but a form of class war. Syria provided extensive backing as the Abu Musa forces attacked Arafat loyalists in Fatah, while several radical PLO organizations in the Rejectionist Front stayed on the sidelines. 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 the War of the camps, a Syrian attempt to root out the PLO from its refugee camp strongholds backed by the Shiite Amal militia and some Palestinian rejectionist factions. After a joint effort by the Syrian Army and a number of Palestinian and Lebanese groups controlled or supported by Damascus, including Fatah al-Intifada, the PFLP-GC, as-Sa'iqa, Amal, the Syrian PLA 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.
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Wikipedia