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Senior Palestinian leader Ahmed Jibril dies aged 83

July 8, 2021 at 9:24 am

Ahmed Jibril, the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command attends the opening of the National Palestinian Meeting in Damascus, Syria January 23, 2008. [Salah Malkawi/ Getty Images]

Ahmed Jibril, leader of Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine –General Command – passed away in the Syrian capital Damascus yesterday at the age of 83.

Jibril and his family were forced out of Yazour neighbourhood in the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Yafa in 1948.

In 1965, he established the Palestinian Popular Front, which was later merged with other leftist Palestinian factions and became the Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

In 1969 he defected and formed the PFLP – General Command, which ten years later agreed to a prisoner swap with Israel

In 1979, the PFLP –General Command– held a prisoner swap with Israel. Some 76 Palestinian detainees were released in exchange for one Israeli soldier.

Jibril negotiated a prisoner swap between the PLO factions and Israel in 1985 when 1,150 Palestinian prisoners were released in return for three Israeli soldiers.

In 2002, Israel assassinated his eldest son Jihad in Lebanon.

Jibril was criticised for his support for the Assad regime in Syria, which didn’t waiver in spite of the current war.

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