The Free Press · October 12, 2026 · By Jay Solomon

Ramírez Sánchez Arrived in Beirut in 1970, Biography Recounts

• According to the article, Ilich Ramírez Sánchez was 20 years old when he arrived in Beirut in 1970 and went to the offices of al-Hadaf, a weekly Arabic-language newspaper.
• The article states that deputy editor Bassam Abu Sharif was also a senior operative in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and was looking for recruits.
• Ramírez Sánchez told Abu Sharif, “I want to fight the enemy,” according to The Jackal, a new biography by Joby Warrick cited in the article; Warrick is identified in the article as a veteran Washington Post investigative journalist.
• Asked who the enemy was, Ramírez Sánchez replied: “The Israeli capitalist imperialists,” according to the biography as cited in the article.

Arrival, meeting, and quoted exchange as reported in the original report, citing Joby Warrick’s The Jackal. The piece is paywalled; facts are from its accessible portion. Original headline: "The Heirs of Carlos the Jackal".