Abu Nidal’s False Flags: A Legacy of Deception and Violence

In the murky world of international terrorism, few names evoke as much fear and hatred as Abu Nidal. Born Sabri al-Banna in Palestine in 1937, he was the founder and leader of the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, a notorious group responsible for some of the deadliest attacks of the 20th century. From the 1970s to the 1990s, Abu Nidal’s organization targeted Israeli, American, and Arab targets with brutal efficiency, using a combination of bombings, assassinations, and hijackings. But what set Abu Nidal apart from other terrorist leaders was his reliance on false flags — operations designed to make it seem like the work of another group, in order to confuse and mislead investigators.

False flag attacks are a common tactic in the world of espionage and covert operations, and they date back centuries. The idea is to carry out a provocative action that is attributed to an enemy or a third party, in order to create a pretext for retaliation or intervention. In the context of terrorism, false flags are used to achieve multiple goals: to hide the true identity or motives of the perpetrators, to sow discord and suspicion among rival groups, to create a diversion that allows the real target to be attacked later, or to manipulate public opinion by blaming an innocent party for the crime.