Japanese militant Kozo Okamoto who took part in 1972 Tel Aviv attack dies in Lebanon

Key Points:

• Kozo Okamoto, a Japanese militant involved in the 1972 deadly attack on Tel Aviv's airport on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has died in Beirut at age 78.
• Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army (JRA), participated in the Lod Airport attack that killed 26 people and injured 76, and served 13 years in an Israeli prison before being released in a prisoner exchange in 1985.
• After his release, Okamoto lived in Syria, Libya, and Lebanon, converted to Islam, and remained closely connected with the PFLP, which praised his decades-long commitment to the Palestinian cause.
• Despite being wanted in Japan and having Interpol alerts issued for his arrest, Okamoto identified himself as an "Arab resistance fighter" during a Lebanese trial on forgery charges related to his illegal entry.
• The PFLP, founded in 1967 and part of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, is a Palestinian nationalist group with roots in the Arab Nationalist Movement, led initially by George Habash.