1985–86 Paris attacks

From 1985 to 1986, a series of terrorist attacks in Paris, France were carried out by the Committee for Solidarity With Arab and Middle Eastern Political Prisoners (CSPPA), a previously unknown group, demanding the release of three imprisoned international terrorists. The CSPPA was believed to have been some combination of Palestinians, Armenian nationalists, and Lebanese Marxists, though it was later reported that they were mainly instigated by Hezbollah, sponsored by the Iranian state. The CSPPA demanded the release of Anis Naccache, from the Iranian state network; Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, member of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF); and Varadjian Garbidjan, member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).

Fouad Ali Saleh, a Tunisian convert to Shia Islam, was found in 1987 by the counter-terrorism agency Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST) to have been the leader of the group of eighteen terrorists directed by Hezbollah from Beirut. During the trials it was claimed that the attacks were ordered by Iran to stop France from selling arms to Iraq for use in the Iran–Iraq War, rather than the prisoners' releases.

Thirteen bombings, including attempted ones, were committed, the first in December 1985, a second wave in February and March 1986, and the third and most notorious wave in September 1986, targeting sites across the French capital. It caused a total of 20 deaths (including seven who died later from their wounds in hospitals) and 255 people were wounded.