Since being driven out of Jordan in 1970 and Southern Lebanon and Beirut, by Israel in 1978 and 1982, respectively, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrillas had dispersed (under international guarantees of safety) to Tunisia, Yemen, Southern Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and the Sudan. (The presence of PLO strongholds in some of these countries would play a part in where the hijackers of "Achille Lauro" felt they could find safe haven.)