Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) (Arabic: الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn) is a secular Palestinian Marxist-Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the largest being Fatah. PFLP is described as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Other countries, such as India, China, Russia and the United Kingdom do not designate the PFLP as a terrorist group.

From its foundation the PFLP sought both superpower and regional patrons and early developed ties with the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union and, at various times, with regional powers such as Syria, South Yemen, Libya and Iraq, as well as left-wing groups around the world, including the PKK, FARC and the Japanese Red Army. When that support diminished, or stopped, in the late 1980s and 1990s, the PFLP sought new allies and developed contacts with Islamist groups linked to Iran, despite the PFLP's strong adherence to secularism and anti-clericalism. The relationship between the PFLP and the Islamic Republic of Iran has fluctuated – it strengthened as a result of Hamas moving away from Iran due to differing positions on the Syrian Civil War. Iran rewarded the PFLP for its pro-Assad stance with an increase in financial and military assistance.