PFLP-GC Founder Ahmed Jibril Laid to Rest in Syria

Ahmed Jibril  attends the opening of the National Palestinian Meeting in Damascus, Syria January 23, 2008. (Getty Images)
Ahmed Jibril attends the opening of the National Palestinian Meeting in Damascus, Syria January 23, 2008. (Getty Images)
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PFLP-GC Founder Ahmed Jibril Laid to Rest in Syria

Ahmed Jibril  attends the opening of the National Palestinian Meeting in Damascus, Syria January 23, 2008. (Getty Images)
Ahmed Jibril attends the opening of the National Palestinian Meeting in Damascus, Syria January 23, 2008. (Getty Images)

Hundreds of people attended on Friday the funeral of Ahmed Jibril, the leader of a breakaway Palestinian faction whose group carried out attacks in the 1970s and 1980s against Israeli targets was laid to rest in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Special funeral prayers were held for Jibril whose coffin was wrapped with a Palestinian flag at Damascus’ Al-Othman Mosque and was later taken for burial in the cemetery of the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, Syria’s largest.

Jibril was buried next to his son, Jihad, who was killed in an explosion in 2002 in Beirut, for which the group blamed Israel. Jihad Jibril was head of the PFLP-GC military wing at the time.

The funeral was attended by hundreds of Palestinian and Syrian supporters as well as officials of Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and other Damascus-based Palestinian factions.

Jibril, 83, died on Wednesday in a Damascus hospital after being sick for months.

The son of a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother, Jibril was born in Jaffa in 1938, in what was then British-ruled Palestine. His family later moved to Syria, where he became an officer in the Syrian army and acquired Syrian nationality.

“Commander Jibril was one of the founders of the contemporary Palestinian revolution and one of the leaders who made the contemporary Palestinian history,” said Samir Rifai, the Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to Damascus.

Jibril founded the PFLP in the late 1950s but broke away over ideological disputes. In 1968, he founded the pro-Syrian breakaway PFLP-GC, which briefly joined the Palestine Liberation Organization, but left the umbrella group in 1974, amid sharp disagreements with PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

Jibril was a vehement opponent of peace talks with Israel. His group became known for some of the more headline-grabbing attacks against Israel, including the hijacking an El Al jetliner in 1968 and machine gunning another at Zurich airport in 1969. In 1970, it planted a time-bomb on a Swissair jet that blew up on a flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv, killing all 47 on aboard.

The Damascus-based group also carried out attacks against Israel from its bases in Lebanon.

The group is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and other Western countries.

During Syria’s 10-year conflict, Jibril’s group supported Syrian government forces.



Franjieh Withdraws from Lebanon’s Presidential Race, Backs Army Commander

 People look at a ballot box displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. (Reuters)
People look at a ballot box displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Franjieh Withdraws from Lebanon’s Presidential Race, Backs Army Commander

 People look at a ballot box displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. (Reuters)
People look at a ballot box displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. (Reuters)

Head of the Marada Movement Suleiman Franjieh announced on Wednesday that he was withdrawing from Lebanon’s presidential election and backing the candidacy of army commander Joseph Aoun.

Lebanon is holding the much-awaited election on Thursday.

In a post on the X platform, Franjieh said: "Now that the conditions are ripe for the election of a president tomorrow, I am withdrawing my candidacy, which has never been an obstacle in the electoral process."

He added that Aoun "enjoys the qualities that would preserve the standing of the country’s top post."

He hoped "the nation would overcome this stage with unity, diligence and responsibility."

Parliament will try to elect a president on Thursday, with officials seeing better chances of success in a political landscape shaken by Israel's war with Hezbollah and the toppling of the group's ally Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria.

The post, reserved for a Maronite Christian in the country's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022. The former president is not related to army commander Aoun.

None of the political groups in the 128-seat parliament have enough seats to impose their choice, and they have so far been unable to agree on a consensus candidate. The vote marks the first test of Lebanon's power balance since the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah - which propelled its then Christian ally Aoun to the presidency in 2016 - emerged badly pummeled from the war with Israel.

The Lebanese parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

It takes place against a backdrop of historic change in the wider Middle East, where the Assad-led Syrian state exercised sway over Lebanon for decades, both directly and through allies such as Hezbollah.

Before Franjieh withdrew from the race and reflecting the shifts, Hezbollah and its ally the Shiite Amal Movement led by parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dropped their insistence on Franjieh, their declared candidate for the last two years, and said they are ready to go with a less divisive figure, three senior sources familiar with their thinking said.

Candidates in focus include army commander General Joseph Aoun - said by Lebanese politicians to enjoy US approval - Jihad Azour, a senior International Monetary Fund official who formerly served as finance minister, and Major-General Elias al-Baysari - head of General Security, a state security agency.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he felt happy because "God willing, tomorrow we will have a new president", according to a statement from his office.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also expressed hope in comments to France Inter radio, saying the election was "a prerequisite for the continuation of this dynamic of peace" and also for Lebanon's economic and social recovery.

However, two of the sources and an analyst cautioned that it was not yet certain any candidate would be elected. To win, a candidate must secure 86 votes in a first round, or 65 in a second round.

Rice is thrown on Newly-appointed General Joseph Aoun (C) as army commander, upon his arrival at his family's house in Sin El Fil, northeast of Beirut, Lebanon March 8, 2017. (Reuters)

‘National awakening’

Joseph Aoun would still need 86 votes because his election requires a constitutional amendment, as he is a still-serving state employee, Berri has said.

A State Department spokesperson said it was "up to Lebanon to choose its next president, not the United States or any external actor".

"We have been consistent in our efforts to press Lebanon to elect a new president, which we see as important to strengthening Lebanon’s political institutions," the spokesperson said.

Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said last week there was "no veto" on Aoun. But the sources said Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the United States, will not support him.

Aoun has a key role in shoring up the ceasefire brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.

Still reeling from a financial collapse in 2019, Lebanon desperately needs foreign aid to rebuild. Much of the damage is in Shiite majority areas.

Hezbollah, its supply line to Iran severed by Assad's ousting, has urged Arab and international support for Lebanon.

Lebanon's Maronite Bishops called on lawmakers to elect a president, urging a "national awakening".