Jebel Akhdar War
Encyclopedia
Jebel Akhdar War or Jebel Akhdar rebellion erupted in 1954 and again in 1957 in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman
, led by the Ibadi
sect and their Imam Ghalib Bin Ali, against the Sultan Said bin Taimur
. The low-intensity war continued until 1959, when British armed forces were involved in finally crushing the rebellion.
sect residing in the interior of Oman, centered around the town of Nizwa
, who wanted to be ruled exclusively by their religious leader, the Imam of Oman. This conflict was resolved temporarily in 1920 by the Treaty of Seeb
, which granted the Imam an autonomous rule in the interior Imamate of Oman, while recognising the nominal sovereignty of the Sultan elsewhere. When oil exploration had begun in Oman in the early 1920s, by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
, it exacerbated the dispute between the Sultan in Muscat and the Imams of Oman.
When Said bin Taimur
became ruler of Muscat and Oman
, the defence of the region was guaranteed by treaties with Britain. The only armed forces in Muscat and Oman 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 Gwadur).
Before 1954, there had been a dispute with Saudi Arabia
over the ownership of the Buraimi Oasis, which was important for oil exploration rights. In 1954, the Imam of Oman was Ghalib bin Ali. He had been prepared to muster Omani tribesmen to expel the Saudis from Buraimi, but at British instigation, the matter was settled by arbitration. To prevent the Imam interfering with the settlement over Buraimi, a battalion-sized task force, the Muscat and Oman Field Force, to which some British officers were attached, was raised, and occupied the town of Ibri
. The Sultan's prestige and authority was damaged by his disdain for his own people.
, despite the fact that the largest oil field
s lay inside the Imamate. With the Field Force occupying part of his territory, Ghalib tried to declare the Imamate of Oman independent, but in December 1955 the Field Force captured Ghalib at the town of Rostaq
. He was released on recognisances.
Sultan Said bin Taimur
relied heavily on continued British military support. Iraq Petroleum, along with its operator of oil exploration, Petroleum Development Oman
, was owned by European oil giants including Anglo-Iranian Oil's successor British Petroleum, which encouraged the British government to extend their support to the Sultan.
The rebellion was suppressed by the Muscat Regiment and the Trucial Oman Levies from the neighbouring United Arab Emirates
. The decisive factor however, was the intervention of infantry (two companies of the Cameronians) and armoured car detachments from the British Army
and aircraft of the RAF
. Talib's forces retreated to the inaccessible Jebel Akhdar
. The SAF's attacks up the few paths up the Jebel were easily repelled.
. The Batinah Force was renamed the Northern Frontier Regiment and the remnants of the Muscat and Oman Field Force were merged into the new Oman Regiment. Within each unit and sub-unit, Baluchi and Arab soldiers were mixed. This prevented units defecting to or openly sympathising with the rebels, but led to tensions within units, and orders were frequently not followed because of language problems. Many of the notionally Omani soldiers were recruited from the province of Dhofar
, and looked down upon by other Arabs.
The Army was still unable to deal with Talib's stronghold. The few paths up the Jebel Akhdar were far too narrow to deploy attacking battalions or even companies. One attempt was made against the southern face of the Jebel, using four infantry companies (including two companies from the Trucial Oman Scouts
, from what would later become the United Arab Emirates
). The attackers withdrew hastily after concluding they were vulnerable to being ambushed and cut off. In another attempt, infantry launched a feint and then withdrew while Avro Shackleton
bombers of the RAF bombarded the supposedly massed defenders. They inflicted no casualties.
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 with two 5.5 inch medium guns
harassed the settlements on the plateau on top of the Jebel Akhdar, to little effect.
. After making feint operations against outlying positions on the north side of the Jebel Akhdar, they scaled the southern face of the Jebel at night, taking the rebels by surprise. Supplies were parachuted to them once they reached the plateau; this may have misled some of the rebels into thinking that this was an assault by paratroops.
There was little further fighting. Talib and his fighters either melted back into the local population or fled to Saudi Arabia. Ghalib Bin Ali went into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The casualties of this five-year conflict were hundreds of rebels killed, together with significant human cost to the British and Sultan's loyal troops. The decisive 1959 offensive resulted in the deaths of 13 of the Sultan's Armed Forces and British personnel, and 176 Ibadi rebels in the final month of fighting.
was terminated and the autonomous Imamate of Oman abolished. In the early 1960s, the Imam, exiled to Saudi Arabia, obtained support from his hosts and other Arab governments, but this support ended in the 1980s.
Despite the defeat, some insurgents continued to cross into Oman from Saudi Arabia or via the UAE, and laid landmines which continued to cause casualties to SAF units and civilian vehicles. 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 landmine campaign eventually dwindled away.
Muscat and Oman
Muscat and Oman was a country that encompassed the present day Sultanate of Oman and parts of the United Arab Emirates. The country is not to be confused with either the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, which were sheikhdoms under British protection since 1820....
, led by the Ibadi
Ibadi
The Ibāḍī movement, Ibadism or Ibāḍiyya is a form of Islam distinct from the Sunni and Shia denominations. It is the dominant form of Islam in Oman and Zanzibar...
sect and their Imam Ghalib Bin Ali, against the Sultan Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur was the sultan of Muscat and Oman from 10 February 1932 until his overthrow on 23 July 1970. His second wife was Mazoon al-Mashani...
. The low-intensity war continued until 1959, when British armed forces were involved in finally crushing the rebellion.
Background
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Sultan in Muscat faced rebellion by members of the IbadiIbadi
The Ibāḍī movement, Ibadism or Ibāḍiyya is a form of Islam distinct from the Sunni and Shia denominations. It is the dominant form of Islam in Oman and Zanzibar...
sect residing in the interior of Oman, centered around the town of Nizwa
Nizwa
-Attractions:The main tourist attractions in the city are Nizwa Fort, the traditional Souq and Falaj Daris. In the 1990s, the Jama, the fort and the souq which sit next to each other in the centre were renovated using the same traditional materials...
, who wanted to be ruled exclusively by their religious leader, the Imam of Oman. This conflict was resolved temporarily in 1920 by the Treaty of Seeb
Treaty of Seeb
The Treaty of Seeb, or Treaty of As Sib was an agreement reached between Sultan Taimur bin Feisal of Muscat and the Imam of Oman in 1920. It gave autonomy to the Imamate of Oman regarding the interior regions of the Muscat and Oman Protectorate, while the sultan would retain sovereignty over the...
, which granted the Imam an autonomous rule in the interior Imamate of Oman, while recognising the nominal sovereignty of the Sultan elsewhere. When oil exploration had begun in Oman in the early 1920s, by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
Anglo-Persian Oil Company
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was founded in 1908 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. It was the first company to extract petroleum from the Middle East...
, it exacerbated the dispute between the Sultan in Muscat and the Imams of Oman.
When Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur was the sultan of Muscat and Oman from 10 February 1932 until his overthrow on 23 July 1970. His second wife was Mazoon al-Mashani...
became ruler of Muscat and Oman
Muscat and Oman
Muscat and Oman was a country that encompassed the present day Sultanate of Oman and parts of the United Arab Emirates. The country is not to be confused with either the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, which were sheikhdoms under British protection since 1820....
, the defence of the region was guaranteed by treaties with Britain. The only armed forces in Muscat and Oman were tribal levies and a palace guard recruited from Baluchistan
Baluchistan (Chief Commissioners Province)
The Chief Commissioner's Province of Baluchistan was a province of British India located in the northern parts of the modern Balochistan province.- History :...
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
(due to a historical quirk by which the Sultan also owned the port of Gwadur).
Before 1954, there had been a dispute with Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
over the ownership of the Buraimi Oasis, which was important for oil exploration rights. In 1954, the Imam of Oman was Ghalib bin Ali. He had been prepared to muster Omani tribesmen to expel the Saudis from Buraimi, but at British instigation, the matter was settled by arbitration. To prevent the Imam interfering with the settlement over Buraimi, a battalion-sized task force, the Muscat and Oman Field Force, to which some British officers were attached, was raised, and occupied the town of Ibri
Ibri
- Wilayat Ibri :The Wilayat of Ibri is distinguished by is archaeological landmarks varying between forts, castles, and towers. Also, there are the remains of the town of Bat, which is the second archaeological site to be classified by UNESCO on the list of world heritage and culture sites, after...
. The Sultan's prestige and authority was damaged by his disdain for his own people.
First conflict phase
The last Imam of Oman, Ghalib Bin Ali, started an uprising in 1954, when the Sultan of Oman granted licenses to the Iraq Petroleum CompanyIraq Petroleum Company
The Iraq Petroleum Company , until 1929 called Turkish Petroleum Company , was an oil company jointly owned by some of the world's largest oil companies, which had virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq from 1925 to 1961...
, despite the fact that the largest oil field
Oil field
An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...
s lay inside the Imamate. With the Field Force occupying part of his territory, Ghalib tried to declare the Imamate of Oman independent, but in December 1955 the Field Force captured Ghalib at the town of Rostaq
Rostaq
Rostaq may refer to:*Rostaq, Afghanistan, a town in Afghanistan*Rostaq District, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Rustaq, a city in Oman...
. He was released on recognisances.
Sultan Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur was the sultan of Muscat and Oman from 10 February 1932 until his overthrow on 23 July 1970. His second wife was Mazoon al-Mashani...
relied heavily on continued British military support. Iraq Petroleum, along with its operator of oil exploration, Petroleum Development Oman
Petroleum Development Oman
Petroleum Development of Oman is the foremost exploration and production company in the Sultanate. It accounts for more than 90% of the country's crude-oil production and nearly all of its natural-gas supply...
, was owned by European oil giants including Anglo-Iranian Oil's successor British Petroleum, which encouraged the British government to extend their support to the Sultan.
Saudi supported uprising
Talib bin Ali, the Imam's brother, who had fled to Saudi Arabia, returned from there in 1957 with 300 well-equipped fighters, and the insurrection broke out again. Talib's forces occupied a fortified tower near Bilad Sait, which the Field Force lacked the heavy weapons to destroy. After some weeks' inconclusive fighting, Suleiman bin Himyar, the Sheikh of one of the major tribes in the interior, openly proclaimed his defiance of the Sultan, and began a general uprising. The Muscat and Oman Field Force was largely destroyed as it tried to retreat through hostile towns and villages.The rebellion was suppressed by the Muscat Regiment and the Trucial Oman Levies from the neighbouring United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
. The decisive factor however, was the intervention of infantry (two companies of the Cameronians) and armoured car detachments from the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and aircraft of the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Talib's forces retreated to the inaccessible Jebel Akhdar
Jebel Akhdar (Oman)
The Jebel Akhdar, Jabal Akhdar or Al Jabal Al Akhdar , also known as the camals hideout, is part of the Al Hajar Mountains range in Oman, which extends about 300 km northwest to southeast, between 50-100 km inland from the Gulf of Oman coast. It is one of Oman’s most spectacular areas...
. The SAF's attacks up the few paths up the Jebel were easily repelled.
Stalemate
The Sultan's army was reorganised under a British soldier, Colonel David SmileyDavid Smiley
Colonel David de Crespigny Smiley, LVO, OBE, MC & Bar was a British special forces and intelligence officer. He fought in the Second World War in Palestine, Iraq, Persia, Syria, Western Desert and with Special Operations Executive in Albania and Thailand.- Background :Smiley was the 4th and...
. The Batinah Force was renamed the Northern Frontier Regiment and the remnants of the Muscat and Oman Field Force were merged into the new Oman Regiment. Within each unit and sub-unit, Baluchi and Arab soldiers were mixed. This prevented units defecting to or openly sympathising with the rebels, but led to tensions within units, and orders were frequently not followed because of language problems. Many of the notionally Omani soldiers were recruited from the province of Dhofar
Dhofar
The Dhofar region lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen. Its mountainous area covers and has a population of 215,960 as of the 2003 census. The largest town in the region is Salalah. Historically, it was the chief source of frankincense in the world. However, its frankincense...
, and looked down upon by other Arabs.
The Army was still unable to deal with Talib's stronghold. The few paths up the Jebel Akhdar were far too narrow to deploy attacking battalions or even companies. One attempt was made against the southern face of the Jebel, using four infantry companies (including two companies from the Trucial Oman Scouts
Trucial Oman Scouts
The Trucial Oman Scouts was a paramilitary force raised by the British to serve in their Trucial States.-History:The Trucial Oman Scouts were established at Sharjah originally as the Trucial Oman Levies in 1951...
, from what would later become the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
). The attackers withdrew hastily after concluding they were vulnerable to being ambushed and cut off. In another attempt, infantry launched a feint and then withdrew while Avro Shackleton
Avro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton was a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft for use by the Royal Air Force. It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber with a new fuselage...
bombers of the RAF bombarded the supposedly massed defenders. They inflicted no casualties.
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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
vintage) were less effective than the up-to-date equipment used by Talib's fighters. A SAF artillery unit with two 5.5 inch medium guns
BL 5.5 inch Medium Gun
The BL 5.5 inch Gun was a British artillery gun introduced during the middle of the Second World War to equip medium batteries.-History:In January 1939 a specification was issued for a gun to replace the 6 inch 26 cwt howitzers in use with most medium batteries...
harassed the settlements on the plateau on top of the Jebel Akhdar, to little effect.
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. Smiley and others felt that a smaller operation by Special Forces with air support would suffice. Eventually in 1959, two squadrons from the British Special Air Service Regiment were deployed, under Anthony Deane-DrummondAnthony Deane-Drummond
Major General Anthony John Deane–Drummond CB, DSO, MC & Bar is a retired officer of the Royal Signals in the British Army, whose career was mostly spent with airborne forces....
. After making feint operations against outlying positions on the north side of the Jebel Akhdar, they scaled the southern face of the Jebel at night, taking the rebels by surprise. Supplies were parachuted to them once they reached the plateau; this may have misled some of the rebels into thinking that this was an assault by paratroops.
There was little further fighting. Talib and his fighters either melted back into the local population or fled to Saudi Arabia. Ghalib Bin Ali went into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The casualties of this five-year conflict were hundreds of rebels killed, together with significant human cost to the British and Sultan's loyal troops. The decisive 1959 offensive resulted in the deaths of 13 of the Sultan's Armed Forces and British personnel, and 176 Ibadi rebels in the final month of fighting.
Aftermath
With the defeat of the Iman, the Treaty of SeebTreaty of Seeb
The Treaty of Seeb, or Treaty of As Sib was an agreement reached between Sultan Taimur bin Feisal of Muscat and the Imam of Oman in 1920. It gave autonomy to the Imamate of Oman regarding the interior regions of the Muscat and Oman Protectorate, while the sultan would retain sovereignty over the...
was terminated and the autonomous Imamate of Oman abolished. In the early 1960s, the Imam, exiled to Saudi Arabia, obtained support from his hosts and other Arab governments, but this support ended in the 1980s.
Despite the defeat, some insurgents continued to cross into Oman from Saudi Arabia or via the UAE, and laid landmines which continued to cause casualties to SAF units and civilian vehicles. 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 landmine campaign eventually dwindled away.
Footnotes
[a]. Casualties' breakdown (at least 213-223 killed):- 1957 Battle of Bilad Sait - Omani regiment (300 men) suffered significant casualties and as a result was disbanded; in addition, 3 dead 5 wounded among Omani forces in Tanuf.
- 1958 air campaigns - one British pilot killed, significant number of rebels killed and wounded. About 20-30 rebels killed in December 1958.
- 1959 offensive - 13 British and Muscat troops killed, 57 wounded; 176 Ibadis killed, 57 wounded.