Relationship with the PFLP The ANM was one of the groups that came together to found the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in late 1967. Haddad oversaw its Special Apparatus, which was responsible for so-called external operations—attacks conducted outside the borders of historic Palestine. Haddad planned the first ever act of modern air terrorism, which the PFLP executed on 23 July 1968, hijacking an
El-Al flight from Rome to
Lod airport and redirecting it to
Algeria. Negotiations lasted 39 days. Haddad organized another hijacking in August 1969, when PFLP militants led by
Leila Khaled diverted a
TWA flight from Rome to Damascus. The
Dawson's Field hijackings, the simultaneous hijacking of multiple flights organised by Haddad, provoked the
Black September crackdown on the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in
Jordan. Haddad was extensively criticised, especially by the organisation's left. At a central committee meeting in early November 1970, the PFLP publicly agreed to suspend external operations in general and the tactic of airplane hijacking specifically. Haddad was later instructed to brief the whole PFLP leadership before conducting further external operations, but he refused to do so, saying that he would liaise only with
George Habash, and to a lesser extent with three other senior figures. Haddad paused hijackings for more than a year, but defied the moratorium by organising the hijacking of
Lufthansa Flight 649 in February 1972. In reaction, the PFLP's third general conference on 7 March 1972 voted to dissolve the Special Apparatus and expel Haddad. Haddad continued to be friendly with Habash, however, and channeled substantial funds to the PFLP over the following three years. In June 1976, Haddad organized the hijacking and redirection of
Air France Flight 139 to
Entebbe, Uganda. He planned to hold the flight's Israeli and Jewish passengers hostage to promote
Palestinian nationalism and secure the release of internationally held Palestinian prisoners. The operation's failure following the
Israeli commando raid led to the PFLP publicly expelling and severing ties with Haddad. The
CIA believed that Haddad's expulsion was a publicity stunt designed to create
plausible deniability about PFLP—and perhaps PLO—involvement in Haddad's terrorism. It is notable that, despite poor public relations between the PFLP and Haddad, the PFLP fully funded and organized Haddad's large funeral procession in 1978.
Leila Khaled also stated that Haddad maintained consistent relationships with some PFLP members until his death.
Relationship with other groups Haddad cooperated with non-PFLP organizations such as the
Black September Organization, the West German
Revolutionary Cells and the
Japanese Red Army. He also secretly worked with several dictators, including
Idi Amin and
Muammar Gaddafi. During the February 1972
Lufthansa Flight 649 hijacking, Haddad's commandos demanded the release of several Black September Organization members alongside
Sirhan Sirhan. Haddad also enlisted one of his top militants, Ali Taha, to lead the Black September Organization's hijacking of
Sabena Flight 571. After an Israeli commando raid foiled the plan and killed the hijackers, Haddad retaliated by collaborating with the Japanese Red Army to stage the
Lod Airport massacre. In turn, Haddad sent his militants to support the Japanese Red Army's 20 July 1973 hijacking of
Japan Air Lines Flight 404. Haddad developed a close relationship with
Ilich Ramírez Sánchez ("Carlos the Jackal") during the early 1970s. In January 1975, Haddad ordered Carlos and
Johannes Weinrich, a member of the German Revolutionary Cells,
to attack a Paris airport with RPGs. They fired two shots, which both missed, before escaping. Haddad planned another collaboration between the Revolutionary Cells and the PFLP, charging Carlos with leading a
joint siege on a December 1975 OPEC meeting. The operation featured three PFLP and three Revolutionary Cell militants, including
Wilfried Bose, and was supported by
Muammar Gaddafi. Using a combination of PFLP and German Revolutionary Cell militants, Haddad collaborated with Ugandan President
Idi Amin to hijack
Air France Flight 139 in June 1976. He charged
Wilfried Bose with leading the hijacking.
Relationship with the Soviet KGB According to a letter from
Yuri Andropov to
Leonid Brezhnev in the
Mitrokhin archives, the
KGB recruited Haddad as Agent
NATSIONALIST in 1970 for three purposes: gaining a degree of control over the PFLP's operations, exerting regional influence to Soviet favor, and leveraging PFLP assets to conduct clandestine operations that would not trace back to the USSR. Conversely, Haddad viewed collaboration with the KGB as a tool to obtain arms for the PFLP. The first major arms shipment, codenamed
Operation VOSTOK, was discreetly handed over to Haddad at night in
Aden, Yemen around July 1970. To prevent tracing back to the KGB, the shipment featured a substantial array of weapons and munitions sourced from outside the
Eastern Bloc, including pistols, assault rifles, mines, and silencers. Some of the technology was among the most advanced in the Soviet arsenal and had not yet been given to even the other
Warsaw Pact members. ==Death==