SAʿIQA, AL-

Palestinian movement ("Thunderbolt") created in 1967 by the Syrian Baʿth Party, after the Arab defeat in the Arab-Israel War that year. Under the leadership of Zuhayr Muhsin, al-Saʿiqa received the support of Syrian authorities anxious to counterbalance Iraqi influence on the Palestinian situation. Upholding pan-Arabism in general, al-Saʿiqa supported the creation of a secular Palestinian state under a socialist regime. Its first leader, Muhsin, one of the main rivals of Yasir Arafat for the leadership of the Palestinian resistance, was assassinated on 25 July 1979 in Cannes, France. Considered an elite paramilitary unit, al-Saʿiqa is also known as the "Vanguard of the People's War of Liberation," or as "Eagles of the Palestinian Revolution."

In September 1973 al-Saʿiqa carried out an attack in Austria on a train conveying Russian Jews for transfer to Israel. They held three hostages until the Austrian government agreed to close its transfer facility at Schönau. The perpetrators were released. Among other such incidents in which al-Saʿiqa participated in the 1970s were the March 1979 bombing of a kosher restaurant in Paris, which wounded twenty; the April 1979 bombings of the Israeli embassies in Nicosia and Ankara and a synagogue in Vienna (no one was injured); and the July 1979 occupation of the Egyptian Embassy at Ankara. During the Lebanese Civil War (1973–1990), the movement sided totally with Syria against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its Lebanese allies. In October 1983 the spokesperson of the movement, Farhan Abu al-Haija, exhorted Palestinian fighters to reject the authority of Arafat and to join the ranks of the Fatah-Intifada. In 1985 al-Saʿiqa quit the Executive Committee of the PLO and joined the Palestinian National Salvation Front (PNSF), becoming part of the Palestinian opposition. From 1990 on, most of its members were integrated into the Syrian army, reducing the activity of the movement to zero. In spite of having no presence in the Palestinian community, al-Saʿiqa joined the Palestinian opposition coalition, the Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF), in 1993. The principal leaders of the movement included Isam al-Qadi (secretary general), Muhammad Khalifa (adjunct), Saleh Maani, Farhan al-Haija, Marwan Akari, Hassan Shahrur, and Majid Muhsin.

SEE ALSO Alliance of Palestinian Forces;Arab-Israel War (1967);Arafat, Yasir;Baʿth Party;Fatah-Intifada.