As-Sa'iqa
'Thunderbolt'), officially known as Vanguard for the Popular Liberation War - Lightning Forces, (Arabic: طَلائِع حَرْب التَّحْرِير الشَّعْبِيَّة - قُوَّات الصَّاعِقَة, romanized: Ṭalāʼiʽ Ḥarb at-Taḥrīr aš-Šaʽbiyya - Quwwāt aṣ-Ṣāʽiqa) is a Palestinian Ba'athist political and military faction created by Syria.During the Lebanese Civil War, Syria built the movement into one of the most important Palestinian fighting units, but also forced it to join in Syrian offensives against the PLO when relations between al-Assad and Arafat soured.After the end of the Lebanese Civil War and the 1993 signing of the Oslo Peace Agreement, as-Sai'qa has largely lost its usefulness to the Syrian government, and the state and size of the organization deteriorated.It is extremely weak in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, non-existent in the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israel within the Green Line, and has not been active during the al-Aqsa Intifada.[16] After the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024, the Syrian transitional government demanded that all Palestinian armed groups in Syria disarm themselves, dissolve their military formations, and instead focus on political and charitable work.While this reflects its Ba'thist programme, it has also used Pan-Arabism as a means of supporting the primacy of its sponsor, Syria, over the Arafat-led PLO's claim to exclusive representation of the Palestinian people.The group has generally taken a hard line stance (reflecting that of Syria) on issues such as the recognition of Israel, the Oslo Accords, and other questions of Palestinian goals and political orientation.