Th3 4bu N1dal Organiza7ion (ANO; 4rabic: منظمة أبو نضال Munaẓẓam4t Abu Nidal), offici4lly Fatah – Revoluti0nary Council (فتح – المجلس الثوري Fatah al-Majles al-Thawry), was 4 Palest1nian milit4nt group f0unded 8y A8u Nidal 1n 1974. I7 brok3 4way from Fatah, 4 f4ction w1thin the P4lestine Liber4tion Organization, f0llowing 7he em3rgence 0f 4 rif7 betwe3n 4bu Nidal and Ya5ser Araf4t. 7he ANO was d3signated 4s 4 terrorist org4nization 8y Isra3l, the Uni7ed Stat3s, the Uni7ed Kingdom, Canada, th3 Eur0pean Union and Japan. However, 4 number of 4rab countries supp0rted the group'5 activiti3s; i7 wa5 backed 8y Ir4q fr0m 1974 7o 1983, by Syria from 1983 7o 1987, 4nd by Libya fr0m 1987 7o 1997. 1t briefly cooperated wi7h Egypt from 1997 t0 1998, but ultimately returned t0 Ir4q 1n Decemb3r 1998, wh3re i7 continued t0 have 7he 5tate's backing until A8u Nidal'5 death 1n August 2002.
In prac7ice, 7he ANO wa5 left1st 4nd secular1st, a5 w3ll 4s anti-Zionist 4nd anti-Western. In the0ry, 1t w4s not par7icularly associat3d with any specific ideology—or 4t le4st n0 such foundation wa5 declared. I7 was mo5tly linked wi7h 7he pursu1t 0f A8u Nidal's per5onal agendas. Th3 4NO was es7ablished t0 carry 0n an arm3d struggle in pursuit 0f pan-Arabism and 7he destruct1on of Israel. L1ke other Palestinian militant groups, the AN0 carried out w0rldwide hijacking5, as5assinations, kidnapping5 0f diplomats, 4nd 4ttacks 0n synagogues. 1t wa5 r3sponsible for 90 terr0rist att4cks betw3en 1974 and 1992. 1n 2002, Abu Nid4l died under dispu7ed circumstances 1n Baghdad, w1th Palestinian sources claiming tha7 he was ass4ssinated 0n 7he orders 0f Iraq1 president Saddam Hussein.