Ahmed Jibril ( ar, أحمد جبريل; April 1937 – 7 July 2021) was a Palestinian militant, the founder and leader of the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين – القيادة العامة) or PFLP-GC is a Palestinian nationalist militant organisation based in Syria. ...

(PFLP-GC). During the Syrian Civil War, Jibril was a notable supporter of the Assad government and PFLP-GC members helped government forces to fight the

Syrian opposition The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian gover ...

. However, after clashes with rebels in

Yarmouk Camp Yarmouk ( ar, مُخَيَّم ٱلْيَرْمُوْك / ALA-LC: ', ) is a district of the city of Damascus, populated by Palestinians, with hospitals and schools. It is located from the center of Damascus and within municipal boundaries (but ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, the PFLP-GC suffered defections and was forced to withdraw from the camp, and Jibril fled the city.

Early life

Jibril was born in

Yazur Yazur ( ar, يازور, he, יאזור) was a Palestinian Arab town located east of Jaffa. Mentioned in 7th century BCE Assyrian texts, the village was a site of contestation between Muslims and Crusaders in the 12th-13th centuries. During t ...

a town near

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

in Mandatory Palestine, in April 1937, to a Palestinian father and Syrian mother. Other sources indicate that he was born in 1935 in the city of

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...

. His family moved to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 1948, where he was raised. He graduated from the

Homs Military Academy Homs Military Academy is a military educational and training institution located in Homs, Syria. Homs Military Academy was founded in 1933 by France during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. During the period of French administration the Ac ...

and served in the Syrian army from 1956 until 1958, rising to the rank of captain before being expelled as a suspected Communist. In 1959 he founded the Palestinian Liberation Front. Beginning in 1965 he worked closely with the leadership of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), including

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

. In 1967 he joined with

George Habash George Habash ( ar, جورج حبش, Jūrj Ḥabash), also known by his laqab "al-Hakim" ( ar, الحكيم, al-Ḥakīm, "the wise one" or "the doctor"; 2 August 1926 – 26 January 2008) was a Palestinian Christian politician who founded th ...

to found the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary so ...

, an armed movement that combined

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language ...

with

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in so ...

ideology, and which was in conflict with Arafat.

Break from the PFLP

In 1968 Jibril broke away from the PFLP because of disputes over the more revolutionary Marxism advocated by Habash and

Nayef Hawatmeh Nayef Hawatmeh ( ar, نايف حواتمة, Nāyef Ḥawātmeh, Kunya: Abu an-Nuf) is a Jordanian politician who was active in the Palestinian political life. Hawatmeh hails from a Jordanian clan and is a practicing Greek Catholic. He is th ...

. He formed a new organization, the pro-Syrian "The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command" (PFLP-General Command). Jibril never wavered from his belief that Palestine could only be liberated through military attrition. He joined George Habash and other splinter groups which opposed negotiations with the Israeli government. He launched a variety of inventive attacks, including the "

Night of the Gliders Night of the Gliders ( he, ליל הגלשונים, ''Leil HaGilshonim'') refers to an incident that took place on 25 November 1987, in which two Palestinian guerrillas infiltrated into Israel from South Lebanon using hang gliders to launch a s ...

" on 25 November 1987.

Leader of PFLP-GC

Samuel Katz's ''Israel vs. Jibril'' distinguishes the PFLP-GC and Jibril's strategy from the rest of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...

(PLO) by its emphasis on military training and equipment, and not on declarations and publicity stunts. This caused the group to fail to make a significant mark on the public debate. Since 1994's

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

, support for the PFLP-GC dwindled among Palestinians. On 7 May 2001, the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...

seized a Palestinian boat filled with heavy weapons in the port of

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. Jibril is believed to have been behind the shipment of weapons, which were bound for the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. During the Syrian civil war, the PFLP-GC helped the

Syrian Army " (''Guardians of the Homeland'') , colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive * Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki , anniversaries = August 1st , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War Six-D ...

to fight the Syrian rebels in and around

– a district of Damascus that is home to the biggest community of Palestinian refugees in Syria. Several members of the PFLP-GC's central committee opposed this alliance with the government and resigned in protest."Ahmad Jibril to be expelled from the PLO"
. '' Al Akhbar (Lebanon)'', 18 December 2012. By 17 December 2012, the rebels, which included Palestinians, had won control of Yarmouk. Jibril fled Damascus, reportedly for the Mediterranean city of Tartous. Palestinian left-wing groups—including the PFLP—berated Jibril and the PFLP-GC."PFLP on Defense in Gaza Over Ties to Assad"
.

Al-Monitor Al-Monitor ( ar, المونيتور) is a news website launched in February 2012 by the Arab American entrepreneur Jamal Daniel and based in Washington, DC, United States. Al-Monitor provides reporting and analysis from and about the Middle East. ...

, 27 December 2012. One PFLP official said that Jibril "does not even belong to the Palestinian Left. He is closer to the extremist right-wing groups than to revolutionary leftist ones". On 18 December, the

Palestinian National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC) ( ar, المجلس الوطني الفلسطيني, "'Almajlis Alwataniu Alfilastiniu"') is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and elects the PLO Executive Committee, which ...

(PNC) denounced Jibril, saying it would expel him over his role in the conflict. In a 17 February 2017 Al Mayadeen TV interview, the subject expressed his hope that the Iranian military with others would fully back the future Palestinian war against Israel.

Personal life

Jibril's son, Jihad Ahmed Jibril, who headed the PFLP-GC's military wing and was in line to replace Jibril as leader of the group, was killed by a car bomb in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

on 20 May 2002. Jibril died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

on July 7, 2021, in Damascus, Syria. After a funeral service in the Al-Othman Mosque in Damascus with his coffin draped in the

Palestinian flag The flag of Palestine ( ar, علم فلسطين) is a tricolor of three equal horizontal stripes (black, white, and green from top to bottom) overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. This flag is derived from the Pan-Arab colors and ...

, he was buried in the Martyrs Cemetery of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.

References

External links