ARAB LIBERATION FRONT (ALF; in Arabic, Jabhat al-Tahrir al-Arabiya)

: A Palestinian movement, the Arab Liberation Front was founded in February 1969 by the Iraqi Baʿth Party to counter the influence of the Syrian Baʿth Party's al-Saʿiqa faction. Founded through the initiative of ʿAbd al-Wahhab al-Kayyali and Abd al-Rahim Ahmad, the ALF—whose slogan was "revolutionary armed struggle to liberate Arab Palestine with Arab blood"—upheld the Palestinian cause in terms of pan-Arabism. ALF forged an alliance with the Command of the Palestinian Armed Struggle (CPAS) in July 1969, then joined with the IPCFL (Islamic-Progressive Common Force of Lebanon) and, between 1974 and 1979, with the Rejection Front. In June 1991 the death of its principal leader, Abd al-Rahim Ahmad, led to a schism in the movement between pro-Iraqi and pro-Arafat currents. Advocating the creation of a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation, the leadership of the ALF opposed the Israeli-Palestinian accord of September 1993 (though it remained in the Palestine Liberation Organization), which prompted the formation of a pro-Arafat faction, taking the name of ALF–General Command. The ALF, backed by Iraq and Sudan, was, at least until the Iraq War of 2003–2004, headquartered in Baghdad, where its main function was to distribute funds to the families of Palestinian "martyrs." Its principal leaders have been Zayd Haydar, Munif al-Razzaz, and ʿAbd al-Wahhab al-Kayyali in the 1970s, Abd al-Rahim Ahmad (1970s–1991), and Mahmud Ismaʾil Rakad Salem. Salem was captured by Israeli forces in 2002.

SEE ALSO Rejection Front.