Jebel Ahdar War

In the late XIX - early XX centuries, the Sultan of Muscat clashed with the forces of the Imam of Oman, who chose the city of Nizwa as their center. This conflict was temporarily resolved in 1920 by a treaty that granted the imam the right to autonomous rule within the Imamate of Oman, but with recognition on his part of the nominal sovereignty of Sultan Muscat. When oil production began in Oman in the early 1920s, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was in ^[4] explored oil in the Farhud region, which was part of the imamat, which prompted the Sultan to break the contract and seize these lands.

When Said bin Taymur became the ruler of Muscat and Oman, his power was guaranteed by treaties with England. In 1954, he entered into a dispute with Saudi Arabia over the Buraimi oasis, where oil fields were discovered. In the same year, Qalib bin Ali al-Hinai became the imam of Oman. He decided to gather Omani tribesmen to expel the Saudis from Bureimi, but at the initiative of the British, this issue was resolved by arbitration. In order to prevent the imam from populating the oasis of Buraimi, the Sultan sent troops to the area, to which several British officers were attached. Nevertheless, the prestige and authority of the Sultan suffered due to neglect of their own people ^[5] .

The last imam of Oman, Ghalib bin Ali al-Hinay, began an uprising in 1954 , when the sultan of Oman transferred oil licenses to the Iraqi oil company, not paying attention to the fact that the largest oil fields lay inside the imamat’s possessions. However, the imam’s troops were defeated, and he was forced to return to his native village of Bilad Seit.

Sultan Saeed bin Taymur relied on continued British military support. The Iraqi oil company Iraq Petroleum, which received the right to develop Omani fields, belonged to European oil giants, including the successor of the Anglo-Iranian oil company British Petroleum , which called on the British government to support the Sultan.

Talib bin Ali al-Hinay, the imam’s brother who fled to Saudi Arabia, returned from there in 1957 with 300 well-equipped fighters, and an uprising broke out again. The Taliban forces occupied the fort near Bilad Seyt, which was impregnable for the Sultan’s troops without heavy artillery. After several weeks of futile battles, Suleiman bin Khimyar, a sheikh of one of the tribes of the region, openly declared his disobedience to the Sultan and began a general uprising. The local troops of the Sultan were largely defeated when they tried to retreat through hostile cities and villages.

In the end, the uprising was crushed by soldiers of the Muscat Regiment, assembled from tribal fighters, but the decisive factor was the intervention of two infantry companies and armored vehicles of the British army, as well as the British Air Force. The Taliban forces retreated to the impregnable ridge of Jebel Akhdar, where they settled, easily repulsing the attacks.

The Sultan's army was transformed under British command led by Colonel David Smiley. He reorganized the Sultan forces, fortifying them with Balochian and Arab soldiers. This prevented desertion, but led to tensions within units, and orders were often not followed due to language problems. Many of the soldiers were recruited from the province of Dofar and looked down upon other Arabs.

The army is still unable to cope with the Taliban. The several paths to Jebel Ahdar were too narrow to deploy the advancing battalions. One attack was launched against the southern slope of Jebel Ahdar using four infantry companies. The attackers hastily retreated, fearing an ambush. In another attempted assault, the infantry tried to lure the defenders under the blow of the Air Force, but the bombing did not bring tangible success ^[6] .

For two years, insurgent saboteurs constantly mined the roads around Jebel Akhdar and ambushed the Sultan's troops, British troops, and oil company vehicles. The Sultan's troops were dispersed in cities and villages at the foot of the ridge and were thus vulnerable to attack.

According to some British officers, a full-scale attack by the British brigade could help capture Jebel Ahdar. Smiley and others believed that a local special forces attack supported by aviation would have been enough. In the end, in 1959, two British squadrons were deployed under the command of Anthony Dean Drummond. After bombing the remote insurgent positions on the northern side of Jebel Ahdar, British special forces attacked the southern slope at night, taking the rebels by surprise. To divert attention, the British dropped boxes from the planes, which the rebels mistook for paratroopers.

The rebel resistance was rapidly broken. The Taliban and its fighters either laid down their arms or fled to Saudi Arabia. Imam Ghalib also went into exile in Saudi Arabia.

The victims of this five-year conflict were hundreds of killed rebels killed, as well as a number of British and loyal to the Sultan soldiers. The decisive offensive of 1959 led to the deaths of 13 soldiers of the Sultan and British soldiers, as well as 176 Ibadite rebels in the last month of hostilities ^[1] .

With the defeat of the imam, the treaty of 1920 was terminated, and the autonomy of the imamate of Oman was canceled ^[7] . In the early 1960s, the imam who fled to Saudi Arabia received support from his patrons and other Arab countries, but this support ceased in the 1980s.

Despite the defeat, some rebels continued to attack Oman from Saudi Arabia or through the UAE, mining roads, resulting in casualties among Sultan soldiers and civilians. The Sultan did not have enough soldiers to prevent these sabotage. In 1960, the Sultan created the gendarmerie to assist the army in this task, as well as to perform ordinary police duties. Ultimately, the rebel sabotage was stopped.