The Palestinian National Salvation Front (PNSF; Arabic: جبهة الانقاذ الوطني الفلسطيني jabhat al-inqādh al-waṭanī al-falasṭīnī) was a coalition of multiple Palestinian partisan militias, formed to resist the Israeli occupation of Palestine after Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War. Established in 1970 by high-ranking officers of the disbanded All-Palestine Army, the front fought a protracted guerrilla war against Israeli forces for a decade, culminating in the 1976–79 Sinai War which ended in the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation and the formation of a second Palestinian republic. It is the direct predecessor of the contemporary Palestinian Armed Forces. The tradition of fedayeen (nationalist militias) embodied by the former PNSF continues to this day in the form of the Palestinian National Guard, an umbrella command of state-sponsored community militias.
List of militias[]
| Militia | Peak size | Ideology | Allied from | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palestinian People's Guard | 34,000 | Ba'athism | 1970 | |
| Black September Organisation | 7,400 | nationalism | 1974 | |
| Palestinian National Liberation Movement | 28,000 | nationalism | 1974 | |
| Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine | 25,300 | communism | 1973 | |
| Palestine Liberation Army | 19,000 | Ba'athism | 1973 | |
| al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades | 15,000 | Ba'athism | 1971 | |
| Fatah al-Intifada | 21,000 | nationalism | 1975 | |
| Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine | 18,000 | communism | 1975 | |
| Liwa al-Quds | 4,400 | Ba'athism | 1975 |