Al-Qaidah (Arabic: القاعدة‎‎, The Base) was a newspaper published in Iraq. It was an organ of the Iraqi Communist Party. It was printed clandestinely for thirteen years, albeit with interruptions. The first issue of al-Qaidah came out in January 1943. Al-Qaidah was founded in the midst of a split in the party. It was set up by Yusuf Salman Yusuf (Fahd)'s three supporters in the party Central Committee: Daud as-Sayegh, Hussain Muhammad ash-Shabibi and Zaki Muhammad Basim. The newspaper sought to compete with ash-Shararah ('The Spark') for the position as the party organ. Effectively the different factions were known by the names of their publications. As-Sayegh served as editor of al-Qaidah before being expelled from the party.