Armed Revolutionary Lebanese Factions #CR0000972 (Also... Some alternate names are aliases, other are names for specific subgroups or cells). Factions Armes Revolutionnaires Libanaises FARL Source: CIA, Interpol, EuroTer, MI-6 Type: Political terrorist organization Scope: Carries out acts of terrorism throughout Lebanon and Europe against mainly U.S., French and Israeli targets. [EuroTer] Affiliations: The group has collaborated with the French Direct Action [#CR0000821] and Italian Red Brigades [#CR0000659] groups and is suspected of having ties with Hizbullah [#CR0001132]. [Interpol] Personnel: 25 (believed) [CIA] Operating Since: 1979 Structure: Scattered terrorist cells of three to five personnel each. [MI-6] Leaders: George Ibrahim Abdullah [#LL], (aliases: Salih al Masri, Abdul-Qadir Saadi), leader, imprisoned since 1984. Legitimate Connections: Unknown Resources: Smallarms, and some lower quality military equipment. Funding believed to come from freelance operations and sympathetic terrorist organizations. [MI-6] Suspected Criminal Activity: FARL conducted at least 18 noteworthy actions from 1981 until 1987, including 4 assassinations, 2 assassination attempts, 4 separate bombings and 1 bombing campaign, 2 kidnappings, 1 armed attack, and 4 threats. On 18 January 1982, FARL shot dead the U.S. Army Attaché to Paris, Lt. Col. Charles Ray. On 3 April 1982, FARL machine-gunned to death an Israeli diplomat in Paris. Later a police raid on a Direct Action [#CR0000821] hideout revealed the Sten gun used in this, and other, FARL attacks. On 15 February 1984, FARL claimed credit for the murder in Rome of U.S. citizen Leamon Hunt, the director of the multinational observer force in the Sinai. While the Red Brigades [#CR0000659] also claimed credit for killing Hunt, it appears that FARL collaborated with the Red Brigades in this action. In September of 1986, FARL launched a bombing campaign in Paris, in attempt to force the release of George Ibrahim Abdullah, their leader. The attacks killed 15, and wounded over 150. Additional Commentary: The Factions Armes Revolutionnaires Libanaises (FARL) formed in 1979 is a Lebanese revolutionary group seeking to create a Marxist-Leninist state in Lebanon. Although this group was one of the three groups that emerged from the breakup of the PFLP-Special Operations Group [#CR0001639] upon the death of its leader, Wadi Haddad [#LL2286576], in 1978 most of its members have been Lebanese Christians rather than Palestinians. FARL opposes the Phalange party as well as foreign supporters of the constitutional government of Lebanon, in particular, the United States, France, and Israel. The FARL also seeks to demonstrate its revolutionary affinity with the Palestinian cause by attacking Israeli targets outside of Lebanon. The capture of Georges Ibrahim Abdullah in 1984 led to a hiatus in FARL activities, except for the kidnapping and murder of a Frenchman in Lebanon and a series of threats against the French government if Abdullah were not released. During September 1986 FARL fulfilled some of its threats by carrying out a bombing campaign in Paris, in which ASALA [#CR0001430] and some pro-Iranian elements may have participated, killing 15 people and wounding over 150 others. Nonetheless French courts sentenced Abdullah to life imprisonment in 1987 for the murder of Lt. Col. Ray, and on other charges. Most of FARL's members returned to Lebanon that year and have been relatively inactive since then.
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