Jebel Akhdar War

In the mid-18th century, Ahmed bin Sa'id Al Busaidi expelled the Persians from Oman and became the elected Imam of Oman, with Rustaq as its capital. Following Imam Ahmed's death in 1783, his son, Said bin Ahmed became the elected Imam. Afterwards, a hereditary line of succession ruled by Al Busaidi Sultans started in Muscat during the 19th century, except for a short period of time when Azzan bin Qais became an elected Imam (1868–1871). The British Empire was keen to dominate southeast Arabia to stifle the growing power of other European states and to curb the Omani maritime power that grew during the 17th century. By the end of the 19th century, Muscat became increasingly dependent on British loans and remained in an underdeveloped state. Tension between the interior of Oman, the Imamate of Oman, and the Sultanate of Muscat started to rise in the late 19th century and early 20th century. After the discovery of oil wells in other parts of the Arabian Gulf, British oil companies were keen to search for oil in Oman. On 31 July 1928, the Red Line Agreement was signed between Anglo-Persian Company (later renamed British Petroleum), Royal Dutch/Shell, Compagnie Française des Pétroles (later renamed Total), Near East Development Corporation (later renamed ExxonMobil) and Calouste Gulbenkian (an Armenian businessman) to collectively produce oil in the post-Ottoman Empire region, which included the Arabian peninsula, with each of the four major companies holding 23.75 percent of the shares while Calouste Gulbenkian held the remaining 5 percent shares. The agreement stipulated that none of the signatories was allowed to pursue the establishment of oil concessions within the agreed on area without including the other stakeholders, yet other oil companies that were not part of the agreement had the opportunity of pursuing oil concessions individually, which ensued Standard Oil Company of California (later renamed Chevron) to win an oil concession with Saudi Arabia in 1933. In the following year, 1929, the members of the agreement established Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). When Said bin Taimur became the ruler of Sultanate of Muscat, the defense of the region was guaranteed by treaties with Britain. The only armed forces in Muscat were tribal levies and a palace guard recruited from Baluchistan in Pakistan (due to a historical quirk by which the sultan also owned the port of Gwadar). Sultan Said signed a declaration, similar to the one signed by his predecessor, his father, to consult the British government on all important matters, including oil concessions. In 1937, an agreement between the sultan and a subsidiary of IPC, operated by British oil companies, was signed to grant oil concessions to IPC, in which the sultan received a sizable signature bonus. IPC, after failing to discover oil in the Sultanate region, informed the sultan that oil reserves may exist in the interior of Oman and offered financial support to raise an armed force against any potential resistance by the Imamate. The British government favored IPC's plan as it sought benefits from the expansion of the Sultanate's territory and considered oil discovery in Oman as a valuable insurance against the insecurity of other parts of the Middle East. Prior to 1954, there was a dispute between the Sultanate and Saudi Arabia over the ownership of the Buraimi Oasis, an area which was known to have oil reserves. In early 1953, the Sultanate prepared a force of 500 to deal with the seizure of Buraimi by Saudi Arabia and protect the Trucial States against further Saudi encroachments. In August 1953, Muscat forces were preparing to advance on Buraimi but the British government asked the sultan to withhold, pending negotiations for a peaceful settlement. In October 1955, under the order of the United Kingdom Prime Minister Eden, the British military entered Buraimi and declared the area as part of the Sultanate. The dispute on the ownership of Buraimi carried on throughout the period of the war between the Sultanate and the Imamate. == Early planning ==

Planning by the Sultanate to advance on the interior of Oman started early in 1945 as news broke out that Imam Alkhalili, the predecessor to Imam al-Hinai, was ill. Sultan Said bin Taimur expressed his interest to the British government in occupying the Imamate right after the death of the Imam and take advantage of potential instability that may occur within the Imamate when elections were due. The position of the British government, thereafter, was to eliminate any potential of entering into direct relations with the interior to avoid alienating the sultan and to avoid invalidating the claim of IPC that its concession from the sultan covers the entirety of Oman, not just the Sultanate region. Sultan Said believed that the old rivalry between the two main communities in the interior of Oman, Hinawis and Ghafiris, would reappear when it was time to elect a new Imam and worked towards achieving this end. With British aid, Sultan Said attempted to court many of the Ghafiris as early as 1937 to break from the Imamate, however, such attempts proved to be unsuccessful later on. In 1946, the British government offered arms and ammunition, auxiliary supplies and officers to prepare the sultan in the endeavor of occupying the Imamate. In September 1946, the British government assessed the proposal of using the British Royal Air Force (RAF) to occupy the interior of Oman. The British government concluded that it was "in principle" reluctant to the use of force that might lead to international criticism and the calling of the British government before the Security Council of the United Nations, while it recognized that the use of RAF would expedite oil explorations in the interior of Oman. On 3 May 1954, Imam Alkhalili died and Ghalib al-Hinai, who previously served as a judge and assistant to Imam Alkhalili, was elected. == Timeline ==

First conflict (1954–1955) The war was triggered by Sultan Said, on 10 October 1954, when he first licensed IPC oil prospectors to search for oil near Fahud, an area located within the territory of the Imamate, and sent forces to occupy it. The move was determined by the Imamate to be a breach of the Treaty of Seeb, an agreement which recognized its autonomy. Arab states support of the Imamate The rise of anti-imperialism and pro Arab-unity in the Arab world led by President Gamal Abdel Nasser prompted Egypt and Iraq to back the Imamate's cause in the Jebel Akhdar War. The interior of Oman established an Omani Imamate Office in Cairo (Egypt). The United States took the position of not interfering in the conflict as per the statement made by the Secretary of State, John Dulles, in a press conference in August 1957 and made no attempts to mediate between the involved parties after the Imamate appealed to the US through the latter's embassy in Cairo to solve the conflict by seeking peaceful negotiations with Britain. The US interest rested on both sides of the opposing parties as it had shares in Saudi Aramco Company, which was owned by Standard Oil Company of California (later renamed Chevron), and in IPC, which was partially owned by Near East Development Corporation (later renamed ExxonMobil), who were both competing for oil concessions in the Arabian peninsula, as well as, being an ally to both Saudi Arabia and Britain, who had a dispute over Buraimi Oasis. Second conflict (1957–1959) Counterattact launched by the Imamate Talib bin Ali al-Hinai, the Imam's brother, who fled to Saudi Arabia then Egypt, returned to Oman in 1957 with 300 well-equipped Omani fighters landing at Albatinah coast. A second group of fighters landed in Qalhat and made its way to Bidiya, where clashes erupted between both sides. Talib's plan was to divert the MOFF forces to Bidiya, away from the central part of Oman. Talib and his forces successfully made their way to central Oman, where they were joined by Imam Ghalib at Wadi Al-Ula. The insurrection broke out again when Talib's forces took hold of a fortified tower near Bilad Sayt, which the Field Force lacked the heavy weapons to destroy. The MOFF under the order of Lieutenant Colonel Cheeseman moved an artillery battery to Bilad Sayt in anticipation of an easy victory. However, the Imamate's forces proved to be much better organized than anticipated and the Bilad Sayt operation was abandoned. Talib's forces cut off the lines of communication of the MOFF and fought on various fronts in the interior of Oman, which culminated in capturing Bahla Fort. Suleiman bin Himyar, the Sheikh of one of the major tribes in the interior, openly proclaimed his defiance to the sultan, and began a general uprising. The MOFF was heavily ambushed at Tanuf, Kamah and Nizwa. Near Tanuf, the engagement between the MOFF and rebels resulted in the defeat of the MOFF and the loss of a substantial number of its military equipment, including nearly a dozen of its military vehicles. Major Anderson, one of the military officers of the MOFF, pursued the sultan to withdraw the forces to the desert and evacuate the interior of Oman, except for one military unit, which attempted to keep hold of Nizwa. The MOFF was largely destroyed as it attempted to retreat through hostile towns and villages that have supported the uprising. After weeks of skirmishes, with no civilian support from the locals in the interior, the rest of MOFF forces that remained in the interior parts of Oman had no choice but to surrender their way back to Fahud. The Imamate's forces freed Nizwa (capital), Firq, Izki, Tanuf, Bahla and Jabal Akhdar from the Sultunate's control, while Ibri was the only area that remained under the occupation of the Sultanate. Air Vice-Marshal Maurice Heath, who was the commander of the British Forces Arabian Peninsula, was ordered to assist the sultan's ground forces by air with supplies, including arms and ammunition, to move one company of the British Cameronians from Buraimi towards the interior and to attack one of the forts held by the Omanis. De Havilland Venoms, flying from RAF Sharjah, were also used to bomb and strafe the mountainous strongholds of the rebels. For two years, rebel infiltrators continually mined the roads around the Jebel, and ambushed SAF and British detachments and oil company vehicles. The SAF were spread in small detachments in the towns and villages at the foot of the Jebel, and thus vulnerable and on the defensive. Their arms (mainly British weapons of World War II vintage) were less effective than the up-to-date equipment used by Talib's fighters. A SAF artillery unit, an all-Baluch unit under the control of Lieutenant Ashraf of the Pakistan Artillery, with two 5.5 inch medium guns harassed the settlements on the plateau on top of the Jebel Akhdar, but to little effect. RAF aircraft continued to attack the interior settlements on the plateau areas of the Jebel and remnants of these air attacks still exist – the wreckage of a crashed Venom FB4 jet and the grave of its pilot Flt Lt Clive Owen Watkinson, who was buried by the Omani locals, are located up on the Saiq Plateau. Decisive British attack (1959) It was estimated by some British officers that a full-scale attack by a British brigade would be required to recapture the Jebel. David Smiley and Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Deane-Drummond concurred that additional SAS troops were needed and that one squadron was not enough to defeat the Imamate. Eventually, two squadrons from the British Special Air Service Regiment were deployed under Anthony Deane-Drummond. The low media coverage surrounding British squadron's operations in Oman helped Anthony Deane-Drummond convince the Far East Land Forces chief of staff and the British War Office Department to add another squadron. One squadron was chosen to be based at Tanuf, south of Jebel Akhdar, and the other squadron was based at various positions to the north of Jebel Akhdar. A tactical operations center was established in Nizwa under the command of David Smiley to coordinate the military operations of the Northern Frontier Regiment, Muscat Regiment, Trucial Oman Scouts and the SAS troops. The RAF Shackleton squadron was responsible for attacking the Jebel while the RAF Venoms were tasked with providing support to ground operations. presented the case of Oman in front of the Arab League and the United Nations in an attempt to seek recognition of the Imamate and to appeal against the actions of the British government. The Imamate's cause was thereafter closely identified with Arab nationalism and the various forms of anti-colonialism that were taking place during that period. In August 1957, the UN Security Council voted by a narrow margin (5 to 4 votes) not to consider a request for an urgent meeting to discuss "British aggression" against the interior of Oman. On 11 December 1963, The UN General Assembly decided to establish an Ad-Hoc Committee on Oman in order to study the 'Question of Oman' and report back to the General Assembly. By a majority of votes, the UN General Assembly on 20 December 1966 and on 12 December 1967 adopted new resolutions to the 'Question of Oman' that called upon the British government to cease all repressive action against the locals, end British control over Oman and reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Omani people to self-determination and independence. == British attacks controversy ==

Declassified information by the British National Archives later revealed that the British government deliberately destroyed Aflaj irrigation systems and crops by air strikes in order to prevent locals in the interior of Oman from gathering crops and denying them access to water supplies. On 29 July 1957, the House of Commons debated the Jebel Akhdar War under the title "Muscat and Oman". However, British declassified documents later revealed that the Treaty of Seeb was broken much earlier, in July 1945, when it was first revealed that Sultan Said bin Taimur with the support of the British government planned to advance on the Imamate immediately after the death of Imam Alkhalili, the predecessor to Imam al-Hinai. ==Aftermath==

With the defeat of the Imam, the Treaty of Seeb was terminated and the autonomous Imamate of Oman was abolished. The Imamate continued for a short time to lead a temporary government-in-exile from Dammam, Saudi Arabia and Egypt established an Imamate Office in Cairo, Egypt while the fighting continued in Oman. In the early 1960s, the Imam, exiled to Saudi Arabia and obtained the support from his host and other Arab governments, but this support ended in the 1980s. The 'Question of Oman' remained on the UN General Assembly agenda in each year until 1971. The SAF lacked the numbers to prevent this infiltration. A paramilitary force, the Oman Gendarmerie was formed in 1960 to assist the SAF in this task, and also to take over normal policing duties. The land mine campaign eventually dwindled away. The air bases at Salalah and Masirah Island remained under British control until 1977 and British commanders continued to lead the Sultanate's armed forces until the late 1990s. ==Gallery==

File:1938 The Sultan of Oman, Said bin Taimur, watches British troop maneuvers.png|The Sultan of Muscat, Said bin Taimur, watches British troop maneuvers at Aldershot, England, in 1938 prior to the war. File:Talib Alhinai and President Nasser.png|Talib Alhinai (right) and Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser (left) shaking hands in Cairo File:Sultan Said bin Taimur of Muscat and Colonel David Smiley of the British Army.png|Sultan Said bin Taimur of Muscat and Colonel David Smiley of the British Army File:Shackleton flying in formation near Masirah.png|Shackleton of 224 Squadron flying in formation near Masirah Airbase during the Jebel Akhdar campaign ==See also==