Founded in 1979, the 15 May Organization or Abu Ibrahim Faction was a minor breakout faction from

Wadie Haddad Wadie Haddad ( ar, وديع حداد; 1927 – 28 March 1978), also known as Abu Hani, was a Palestinian leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's armed wing. He was responsible for organizing several civilian airplane hi ...

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO; ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين - العمليات الخارجية) or Special Operations (PFLP-SO; ) or Special Operations Group (PF ...

(PFLP-EO).Emerson, Steven A. & Cristina del Sesto. ''Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West'', 1991

History

The name is drawn from 15 May 1948, the day that the British Mandate over Palestine ended and the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

began. The group was led by Muhammad al-Umari ( kunya: Abu Ibrahim), and took credit for several

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

ings of international targets in the early 1980s, including hotels and

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

s, but is believed to have disbanded after members joined

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

radical

Col. Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Hawari's

Fatah Special Operations Group The Fatah Special Operations Group (Fatah-SOG), Martyrs of Tel al-Za'tar, Amn Araissi or Hawari Group was a radical Palestinian faction associated to Fatah, the main group of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The group was led by Fata ...

Operations

In 1980, in the group's first attack was against the ''Royal Hotel'' in London, England, ostensibly because of its high number of Jewish patrons. The 21-year-old Palestinian-Iraqi Mohammed Zuhair travelled from

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

into an unnamed European country, and finally arrived in London, with several kilograms of

plastic explosive Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives or blastics. Plastic explosives are especially suited for explos ...

s hidden inside his suitcase. He rented a room in the centre of the fifth floor, where Ibrahim had hoped an explosion might cause enough structural damage to cause the building to collapse. The bomb detonated prematurely on 17 January however, and killed only Zuhair himself; injuring several hotel guests. After his death, his photograph was hung in one of Ibrahim's safe houses, and Capt. Mohammed Rashid named his son after Zuhair. In 1981, the group organised the bombing of Israeli airline

El Al El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural ...

offices in Rome and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, as well as the Israeli embassies in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The following year, the group unsuccessfully attempted to bomb a

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

flight in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, and then successfully detonated a bomb, killing only one passenger, aboard

Pan Am Flight 830 Pan Am Flight 830 was a flight from New Tokyo International Airport (now known as Narita International Airport) in Tokyo, Japan, to Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii. On August 11, 1982, the Boeing 747-121 serving the flight, nicknamed ''Cl ...

on 11 August. The latter attack was orchestrated by Rashid, who was imprisoned for his actions. In 1985, the group recruited a Tunisian to carry out a bombing attack against a department store in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in February.

Downfall

The 15 May Organization is believed to have been sponsored by

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, and founder Abu Ibrahim was believed by US authorities to have relocated there after the group disbanded. Twenty days after the unsuccessful bombing by Rashid, construction contractor

Adnan Awad Adnan Awad (born 1942 in Palestine) was a captain in the Palestinian Liberation Army who joined the 15 May Organization and prepared to bomb the Noga Hilton hotel in Geneva, Switzerland on August 31, 1982, but instead fled the scene and later tu ...

turned himself over to the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia and claimed that he had been pressured into joining the group. He was turned over to the Swiss, but later returned to the United States to help secure indictment against the 15 May leadership. With his aid, American intelligence agencies determined that it was the 15 May Organization that had constructed the bomb aboard

. Abu Ibrahim was placed on the FBI's most wanted in June 2009

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em Arab Nationalist Movement breakaway groups Defunct Palestinian militant groups National liberation movements