[6] Saleh was part of the anti-Syrian group within the Fatah which started an extensive attack against Maronite strongholds in the early 1976.
[8] Saleh was a supporter of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979 and rejected the peace plans suggested by the Saudi Crown Prince Fahd in 1981 and the American President Ronald Reagan in 1982.
[3][10] Saleh and other critics of Yasser Arafat openly expressed their disagreement in the Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting in January 1983.
[10][15] He argued in an interview with the Syrian daily Tishreen in July 1983 that they were planning to "dismember and rebuild Fatah on the basis of the movement's political programme.
[16] The Soviet authorities had to adopt a vague position towards Yasser Arafat and the PLO due to Saleh's open revolt.