The Dhofar Rebellion, also known as the Dhofar War or the Omani Civil War, was waged from 1963 to 1976 in the province of
Dhofar
The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah G ...
against the
Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. The war began with the formation of the
Dhofar Liberation Front
Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) ( ar, جبهة تحرير ظفار) was a communist front that was established to create a separatist state in Dhofar, the southern province of Oman, which shared a border with South Yemen.
The DLF was established b ...
, a group which aimed to create an independent state in
Dhofar
The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah G ...
, free from the rule of the Omani Sultan
Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur ( ar, سعيد بن تيمور; 13 August 1910 – 19 October 1972) was the 13th Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 10 February 1932 until he was deposed on 23 July 1970 by his son Qaboos bin Said.
He was a member of the House of ...
. The rebels also held the broader goals of
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language a ...
which included ending
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
influence in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
region.
The war initially took the form of a low level insurgency with
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
being used against Omani forces and the foreign presence in the country. A number of factors such as the
British withdrawal from Aden and support from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
brought the rebels increased success, with the communists controlling the entirety of the Jebel region by the late 1960s. The
1970 Omani coup d'état led to the overthrow of Sultan Said bin Taimur by his reformist son
Qaboos bin Said
Qaboos bin Said Al Said ( ar, قابوس بن سعيد آل سعيد, ; 18 November 1940 – 10 January 2020) was Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death in 2020. A fifteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the House of Al Said ...
who was backed by a major British military intervention in the conflict. The British initiated a "hearts and minds" campaign to counter the communist rebels and began the process of modernising the
Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces
The Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces (Arabic: القوات المسلحة لسلطان عمان, transliterated: ''al-Quwāt ul-Musallaḥatu lis-Sulṭān 'Umān'') are the Royal Army of Oman, Royal Navy of Oman, Royal Air Force of Oman, Sultan's S ...
while simultaneously deploying the
Special Air Service to conduct anti-insurgency operations against the rebels. This approach led to a string of victories against the rebels and was boosted by the
Shah of Iran's intervention in the conflict to support the Sultanate of Oman in 1973. The war ended with the final defeat of the rebels in 1976.
Background
In 1962,
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
was a very underdeveloped country. Sultan
Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur ( ar, سعيد بن تيمور; 13 August 1910 – 19 October 1972) was the 13th Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 10 February 1932 until he was deposed on 23 July 1970 by his son Qaboos bin Said.
He was a member of the House of ...
, an absolute ruler under British influence, had outlawed almost all technological development and relied on British support to maintain the rudimentary functions of the state.
Dhofar
The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah G ...
itself was a dependency of Oman but was culturally and linguistically distinct from Oman proper.
The province of Dhofar consists of an intermittent narrow, fertile coastal plain, on which stand
Salalah
Salalah ( ar, صَلَالَة, Ṣalālah) is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani governorate of Dhofar. Its population in 2009 was about 197,169.
Salalah is the third-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city ...
, the provincial capital, and other towns such as Mughsayl,
Taqah
Taqah ( ar, طاقة) is a province and coastal town in the Dhofar governorate, in southwestern Oman. It is located at about .
History
In 1908, J.G. Lorimer recorded Rakhyut in his '' Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf'', noting its location as the ea ...
, and
Mirbat
Mirbat ( ar, مرباط) is a coastal town in the Dhofar governorate, in southwestern Oman. It was the site of the 1972 Battle of Mirbat between Communist guerrillas on one side and the armed forces of the Sultan of Oman and their Special Air Se ...
. Behind this are the rugged hills of the Jebel Dhofar. The western portion of this range is known as the
Jebel Qamar
The Dhofar Mountains ( ar, جِبَال ظُفَار, Jibāl Ẓufār) are a mountain range in the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. In a broad sense, they extend from Dhofar Governorate in Oman to Hadhramaut Governorate in Yemen, and ...
, the central part as the
Jebel Qara
The Dhofar Mountains ( ar, جِبَال ظُفَار, Jibāl Ẓufār) are a mountain range in the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. In a broad sense, they extend from Dhofar Governorate in Oman to Hadhramaut Governorate in Yemen, and ...
and the eastern part as the
Jebel Samhan
Jabal Samhan Nature Reserve ( ar, محمية جبل سمحان) is a nature reserve in the area of ''Jabal Samḥān'' ( ar, جَبَل سَمْحَان, "Mount Samhan") in Dhofar, Oman. It has an area of and has no permanent population. Being in ...
. From June to September each year, the jebel receives moisture-laden winds (the
Khareef
''Khareef'' ( ar, خَرِيْف, Kharīf, autumn) is a colloquial Arabic term used in southern Oman, southeastern Yemen, southwestern Saudi Arabia and Sudan for the southeastern monsoon. The monsoon affects Dhofar and Al Mahrah Governorates f ...
or monsoon) and is shrouded in cloud. As a result, it is heavily vegetated, and for much of the year is green and lush. The inhabitants of the villages and communities on the jebel are known as ''jibalis'' (
hill people
Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains.
This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation.
The climate is generally harsh, with s ...
). To the north, the hills slope down via rough
wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...
s and cliffs into the gravel plains and sand seas of the
Empty Quarter
The Rub' al KhaliOther standardized transliterations include: / . The ' is the assimilated Arabic definite article, ', which can also be transliterated as '. (; ar, ٱلرُّبْع ٱلْخَالِي (), the "Empty Quarter") is the sand des ...
.
History
Early years of the rebellion
In 1962 a dissatisfied tribal leader,
Musallam bin Nufl (Mussalim bin Nafl), formed the
Dhofar Liberation Front
Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) ( ar, جبهة تحرير ظفار) was a communist front that was established to create a separatist state in Dhofar, the southern province of Oman, which shared a border with South Yemen.
The DLF was established b ...
(DLF) and obtained arms and vehicles from
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. Saudi Arabia and Oman had earlier clashed over ownership of the
Buraimi Oasis
Tawam ( ar, تَوَام, Tawām), also Tuwwam, Tu'am, or "Al-Buraimi Oasis" ( ar, وَاحَة ٱلْبُرَيْمِي, Wāḥat Al-Buraymī), is a historical oasis region in Eastern Arabia that stretched from, or was located between, the Weste ...
, and the Saudis had already supported two failed insurrections in the
Jebel Akhdar in the interior of Oman in 1957–59. The DLF also received support from
Imam Ghalib Bin Ali
Ghalib bin Ali bin Hilal al-Hinai ( ar, غالب بن علي الهنائي) (c. 1912 – 29 November 2009) was the last elected Imam (ruler) of the Imamate of Oman.
Early life and career
Prior to assuming the role of Imam, Ghalib served as the Q ...
, the exiled Imam of Oman, who had led these earlier revolts.
Bin Nufl and his men made an epic crossing of the
Empty Quarter
The Rub' al KhaliOther standardized transliterations include: / . The ' is the assimilated Arabic definite article, ', which can also be transliterated as '. (; ar, ٱلرُّبْع ٱلْخَالِي (), the "Empty Quarter") is the sand des ...
to reach Dhofar. As early as December 1962, Bin Nufl's guerrilla band performed sabotage operations on the British air base at Salalah and ambushed oil industry vehicles.
From 1964 the DLF began a campaign of hit-and-run attacks on oil company installations and government posts. Many of the DLF were trained former soldiers of the
Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces
The Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces (Arabic: القوات المسلحة لسلطان عمان, transliterated: ''al-Quwāt ul-Musallaḥatu lis-Sulṭān 'Umān'') are the Royal Army of Oman, Royal Navy of Oman, Royal Air Force of Oman, Sultan's S ...
(SAF), or of the
Trucial Oman Scouts
The Trucial Oman Scouts was a paramilitary force that the British raised in 1951 as the Trucial Oman Levies, to serve in the Trucial States. In 1956, the Levies were renamed the Trucial Oman Scouts. In 1971, upon the formation of the United Arab ...
in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
.
The Sultan had relied on the "Dhofar Force", a locally recruited irregular unit of only 60 men, to maintain order in the region. In April 1966, members of this unit attempted to assassinate the Sultan. This event apparently changed the nature of the conflict. The Sultan retired to his palace in Salalah, never to be seen in public again. This only served to add to rumours that the British were running Oman through a "phantom" Sultan. The Sultan also launched a full-scale military offensive against the DLF, contrary to the advice of his British advisors. Heavy-handed
search and destroy
Search and destroy, seek and destroy, or simply S&D is a military strategy best known for its employment in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The strategy consists of inserting ground forces into hostile territory, ''search''ing out ...
missions were launched in Dhofar, villages were burned and wells were concreted over or blown up. A member of the SAF reported that after receiving heavy resistance, it "proved that the position was unattainable, and after blowing up the village wells we evacuated the camp."
An emboldened movement
From the early days of the rebellion,
Nasserite and other
left wing movements in the neighbouring
Aden Protectorate
The Aden Protectorate ( ar, محمية عدن ') was a British protectorate in South Arabia which evolved in the hinterland of the port of Aden and in the Hadhramaut following the conquest of Aden by the Bombay Presidency of British India ...
, later the
Protectorate of South Arabia
The Protectorate of South Arabia consisted of various states located at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula under treaties of protection with Britain. The area of the former protectorate became part of South Yemen after the Radfan upri ...
, were also involved. In 1967, two events combined to give the Rebellion a more revolutionary complexion. One was the Israeli victory in the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...
which radicalised opinion throughout the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
. The other was the British
withdrawal from Aden and the establishment of the
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY, aka South Yemen). From this point, the rebels had a source of arms, supplies and training facilities adjacent to Dhofar, and fresh recruits from groups in the PDRY. Training camps, logistical bases and other facilities were set up in the coastal town of
Hawf, only a few miles from the border with Oman.
The Dhofari liberation movement adopted a
Marxist-Leninist ideology with the objective of liberating "all of the Gulf from
British imperialism
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
." Political scientist
Fred Halliday
Simon Frederick Peter Halliday (22 February 1946 – 26 April 2010) was an Irish writer and academic specialising in International Relations and the Middle East, with particular reference to the Cold War, Iran, and the Arabian peninsula.
Biog ...
reported during his visit to the area that "wherever we went we saw people wearing Mao and Lenin badges, reading socialist works and discussing." Works included Lenin's, the German playwright
Bertolt Brecht's and of some who were associated with the
Palestinian Liberation Organisation
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...
(PLO) such as the writer and strategist
Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani ( ar, غسان كنفاني, 8 April 1936 – 8 July 1972) was a Palestinian author and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). On 8 July 1972 ...
. Discussions were published by ''Sawt al-Thawra'' and ''9 Yunyu''.
Two congresses were held to define the political objectives of the movement, in 1965 and 1968. At the second congress, the Dhofar Liberation Front became the
, or PFLOAG. The program adopted at these two congresses was strongly tinged with communism. Its aim was to establish a "democratic people's republic" and to expel the British army from Oman. The Front sought to establish a constitution, abolish martial law, restore freedom of the press and expression and ensure the rights of minorities. On economic issues, it intended to nationalize the oil companies, develop industries and implement land reform. The Front called for more social justice and affirmed its support for all Asian, African and Latin American liberation movements. References were also made to the Palestinian struggle. The rebels opened schools to which both boys and girls had access (girls' education was forbidden in Oman until 1970). Tribalism was fought against and social relations tended to evolve, with a specific place given to women, including in the armed struggle.
The move towards
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...
ensured that the PFLOAG received sponsorship from both
South Yemen and China. China in particular was quick to support the PFLOAG as it was a
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
-based organisation, giving it a strong
Maoist
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...
credibility. Chinese support for the PFLOAG also had another benefit for them, as it acted as a counterbalance to increasing
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
influence in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. China was quick to establish an embassy in Aden and "the Yemeni regime allowed its territory to be used for channelling weapons" to the PFLOAG.
The transformation of the DLF, combined with a new supply of Chinese and Soviet weaponry and better training, ensured that the armed wing of the PFLOAG turned into an effective fighting force. In May 1968, an attack by a battalion of the Sultan's Armed Forces against a rebel position at
Deefa in the Jebel Qamar was defeated by heavily armed and well-organised and trained rebels.
However, the radicalisation of the rebel movement led to a split between those such as bin Nufl who were fighting mainly for local autonomy and recognition, and the more doctrinaire revolutionaries (led by Mohammad Ahmad al-Ghassani). One of bin Nufl's lieutenants, Said bin Gheer, was an early and influential defector to the Sultan. Nevertheless, by 1969 the DLF and PFLOAG fighters had overrun much of the Jebel Dhofar, and cut the only road across it—that from Salalah to "Midway" (
Thumrait
Thumrait ( ar, ثمريت) is a small town and wilayat (province) of the Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman. In ancient times Thumrait was an important point on the Arabian peninsula's caravan routes. Frankincense trees, an important crop, used ...
) in the deserts to the north. They were known to the Sultan's Armed Forces as ''Adoo'', Arabic for "enemy", or sometimes as "the Front", while they referred to themselves as the People's Liberation Army or PLA. They were well-armed with weapons such as the
AK-47
The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...
assault rifle and
SKS semi-automatic carbine. They also used heavy machine guns (the
DShK
The DShK 1938 ( Cyrillic: ДШК, for russian: Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, links=no, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun with a V-shaped bu ...
), mortars up to 82mm in calibre and 140mm
BM-14
The BM-14 (BM for ''Boyevaya Mashina'', 'combat vehicle'), is a Soviet-made 140mm multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), normally mounted on a truck.
The BM-14 can fire 140 mm M-14 rockets with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, a smoke warh ...
or 122mm "Katyusha" rockets. By 1970 communists controlled the entire Jebel. Terror was then used to break up the traditional tribal structure. Young men were sent to train for guerilla warfare in China and Russia.
![Oman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Oman._Dhofar_1972_%288626836339%29.jpg)
The units of the Sultan's Armed Forces were under strength with only 1,000 men in Dhofar in 1968. They were also badly equipped, mainly with
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
vintage weapons such as
bolt-action
Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed).
Most bolt-action ...
rifles, which were inferior to the PFLOAG's modern firearms. These rifles were replaced by the
FN FAL
The FAL (a French acronym for (English: "Light Automatic Rifle")), is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal (simply known as FN).
During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of th ...
only late in 1969. Even the SAF's clothing and boots were ragged and unsuitable for the terrain. The units of the SAF were generally not properly trained to face hardy guerrillas on their own ground, and no Omani held a rank above that of Lieutenant (a result of the Sultan's fears of opposition to his rule among the armed forces). The SAF generally were unable to operate in less than company strength on the jebel (making their operations clumsy and conspicuous), and were mainly restricted to Salalah and its immediate area. At various times, small detachments from Nos. 2 (Para), 15 (Field) and 51 (Field) squadrons of the British
RAF Regiment, and other units (a
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
locating troop, a
5.5-inch medium battery of the Royal Jordanian Artillery, and a
25-pounder battery of the Sultan's artillery) had to be deployed to protect the vital airfield at Salalah from infiltrators and from harassing mortar and rocket fire.
Other insurgents in the northern section of Oman formed a separate resistance movement, the
National Democratic Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (NDFLOAG). In June 1970 they attacked two SAF posts at
Nizwa
Nizwa ( ar, نِزْوَى, Nizwā) is the largest city in Ad Dakhiliyah Region in Oman and was the capital of Oman proper. Nizwa is about (1.5 hours) from Muscat. The population is estimated at around 72,000 people, including the two areas o ...
and
Izki. They were repulsed but the incident convinced many (including the Sultan's British advisers and backers) that new leadership was required.
1970 Omani coup d'état
![British SAS soldiers in Oman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/British_SAS_soldiers_in_Oman.jpg)
In the 1970 Omani coup d'état on 23 July 1970, Said bin Taimur was deposed and went into exile in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. He was replaced by his son,
Qaboos bin Said
Qaboos bin Said Al Said ( ar, قابوس بن سعيد آل سعيد, ; 18 November 1940 – 10 January 2020) was Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death in 2020. A fifteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the House of Al Said ...
, who immediately instigated major social, educational and military reforms. Qaboos was well educated, first in Salalah by an old Arab scholar and then at
Sandhurst, after which he was commissioned into the
Cameronians, a regiment of the British Army. He then completed his education sitting in on councils, attending committee meetings and visiting industry and administrative centres in Britain before returning to Oman. His "five point plan" involved:
* A general amnesty to all those of his subjects who had opposed his father;
* An end to the archaic status of Dhofar as the Sultan's private fief and its formal incorporation into Oman as the "southern province";
* Effective military opposition to rebels who did not accept the offer of amnesty;
* A vigorous nationwide programme of development;
* Diplomatic initiatives with the aims of having Oman recognised as a genuine Arab state with its own legal form of government, and isolating the PDRY from receiving support from other Arab states.
Within hours of the coup, British
Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers were flown into Oman to further bolster the counterinsurgency campaign. They identified four main strategies that would assist the fight against the PFLOAG:
* Civil administration and a
hearts and minds campaign;
* Intelligence gathering and collation;
* Veterinary assistance;
* Medical assistance.
The military commanders on the ground (rather than the
UK Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.
The MOD states that its principal objectives are to ...
) suggested the implementation of a "hearts and minds" campaign, which would be put into operation primarily by a troop (25 men) from the SAS. The British government (then under
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
leader
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...
) supported this unconventional approach to the counterinsurgency campaign. It approved the deployment of 20 personnel of the British
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
, who would aid in the construction of schools and health centres, and drilled wells for the population of Dhofar. Royal Army Medical Corps Field Surgical Teams and some Royal Air Force medical teams would also operate out of Salalah hospital, in order to open a humanitarian front in the conflict. The British government additionally provided monetary support for the creation of the Dhofar Development Programme, whose aim was to wrest support from the PFLOAG through the modernisation of Dhofar. The operation was almost a carbon copy of a system that had proved successful in the
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...
some twenty years previously.
To assist in the civil development and coordinate it with the military operations, the command structure in Dhofar was reorganised, with the newly appointed
Wāli
''Wāli'', ''Wā'lī'' or ''vali'' (from ar, والي ''Wālī'') is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim World (including the Caliphate and Ottoman Empire) to designate governors of administrative divisions. It is still in us ...
or civilian governor (Braik bin Hamoud) being given equal status to the military commander of the Dhofar Brigade (Brigadier
Jack Fletcher to 1972, Brigadier
John Akehurst from that date).
![Hand of God](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Hand_of_God.jpg)
A major effort was made to counter rebel propaganda and induce the Dhofari population to support the government. In particular, appeals were made to Islam and to traditional tribal values and customs, against the rebels' secular or materialist teachings. A significant outlet for government propaganda was the many inexpensive Japanese transistor radios which were sold cheaply or distributed free to jibalis who visited Salalah and other government-held towns to sell firewood or vegetables. Although the PFLOAG could also broadcast propaganda by radio, the Government's propaganda was factual and low-key, while that of the rebels, broadcast by Radio Aden, was soon perceived to be exaggerated and stereotyped.
On 27 December 1970 Sultan Qaboos gave an interview to
''Al Khaleej'' and commented on the situation in Dhofar saying:
''This crisis developed in the past, but its after-effects still exist. And on the very first day f assuming powerwe addressed ourselves to the discontented there, and extended our hand to them saying that what they were complaining about regarding the absence of liberties and services, such as education and health, would end; that it was up to them to come forward and demonstrate their goodwill; that we should co-operate together and that defects inherited from the past needed full time on our part to cope with them''.
Government initiatives
![Land Rover series IIa 'Pink Panther' SAS desert car 1968](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Land_Rover_series_IIa_%27Pink_Panther%27_SAS_desert_car_1968.jpg)
One step which had a major impact on the uprising was the announcement of an amnesty for surrendered fighters, and aid in defending their communities from rebels. A cash incentive was offered to rebels who changed sides, with a bonus if they brought their weapon. Following the split between the PFLOAG and DLF wings of the rebel movement, several prominent rebel leaders changed sides, including bin Nufl himself and his deputy, Salim Mubarak, who had commanded the eastern region.
The rebels who defected to the Sultan formed ''
Firqat'' irregular units, trained by British Army Training Teams, or BATTs, from the Special Air Service. Salim Mubarak played a major role in establishing the first ''Firqat'' (and the only one to be formed from members of more than one tribe), but died, apparently of heart failure, shortly after its first successful actions. Eighteen ''Firqat'' units, numbering between 50 and 150 men each, were eventually formed. They usually gave themselves names with connections to Islam, such as the ''Firqat
Salahadin'' or ''Firqat
Khalid bin Walid
Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in ...
''. (Some of the PFLOAG units also gave themselves ideological names, such as
Ho Chi Minh
(: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime ...
or
Che Guevara
Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
). These ''firqat'' irregular groups played a major part in denying local support to the rebels. Being ''jibalis'' themselves (and in many cases with family connections among the communities on the Jebel), they were better at local intelligence-gathering and "hearts and minds" activities than the northern Omani or
Baluchi personnel of the regular SAF, although they exasperated commanders of the regular SAF by refusing to take part in operations outside their tribal areas, or during
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
.
The first serious step in re-establishing the Sultan's authority on the Jebel took place in October 1971, when
Operation Jaguar was mounted, involving five ''Firqat'' units. three companies of the SAF and two squadrons of the SAS. After hard fighting, the SAS and ''Firqats'' secured an enclave on the eastern Jebel Samhan from which they could expand. The SAS introduced two new weapons to support the mobile but lightly equipped ''firqats'': the rapid firing
GPMG
A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually ammunition belt, belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light machine gun, light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-c ...
, which could lay down a heavier weight of fire than the
Bren light machine gun
The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also use ...
previously available to the SAF, and the
Browning M2
The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, w ...
heavy machine gun, which was deployed to match the
DShK
The DShK 1938 ( Cyrillic: ДШК, for russian: Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, links=no, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun with a V-shaped bu ...
machine guns used by the ''adoo''.
Meanwhile, the regular units of the SAF were expanded and re-equipped. Extra officers and NCO instructors from the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
and
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
(and also the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
) were attached to all units (there were nominally twenty-two British or contracted personnel with each infantry battalion) while Omani personnel were educated and trained to become officers and senior
NCOs
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...
. British specialist elements, including mortar locating radar troops and artillery observation officers, also rotated through Oman over several years.
The revitalised SAF created fortified lines running north from the coast and up to the summit of the Jebel, to interdict the movement of rebels and the camel trains carrying their supplies from the PDRY. The "Leopard Line" was established in 1971, but this line had to be abandoned during the following monsoon season as it could not be supplied. The more effective "Hornbeam Line" was set up in 1972, running north from Mughsayl on the coast west of Salalah. The lines consisted of fortified platoon and company outposts on commanding peaks, linked by barbed wire. The posts possessed mortars and some also had artillery, to provide cover for patrols and to harass rebel positions and tracks used by them. The SAF soldiers continually sortied from their outposts to set ambushes on the most likely enemy infiltration routes and mount attacks against rebel mortar- and rocket-launching positions. Anti-personnel land mines were sown on infiltration routes. The rebels also used anti-personnel mines against suspected SAF patrol bases, and even laid anti-tank land mines on tracks used by SAF vehicles.
The
Sultan of Oman's Air Force was also expanded, acquiring
BAC Strikemaster
The BAC 167 Strikemaster is a British jet-powered training and light attack aircraft. It was a development of the Hunting Jet Provost trainer, itself a jet engined version of the Percival Provost, which originally flew in 1950 with a radial p ...
aircraft which provided air support to units on the ground, and eight
Shorts Skyvan transport aircraft and eight
Agusta Bell 205 transport helicopters which supplied ''firqat'' and SAF posts on the jebels. A flight of RAF
Westland Wessex
The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes ...
helicopters also operated from Salalah.
On 17 April 1972, a battalion of the SAF made a helicopter landing to capture a position codenamed ''Simba'' at
Sarfait
Sarfait (Sarfayt) is a settlement in the Dhofar Governorate of Oman on the coast of the Arabian Sea, near the border with Yemen. There is an international border checkpoint at Sarfait; on the Yemeni side of the border is the settlement of Hawf.
...
near the border with South Yemen. The captured position overlooked the rebels' supply lines along the coastal plain, but did not block them. Although the demands on its transport aircraft and helicopters to maintain the post at Sarfait forced the SAF to abandon some positions in the eastern Jebel, Sarfait was nevertheless retained for four years.
Rebel counterattacks
![Dhofar-BATT house (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Dhofar-BATT_house_%282%29.jpg)
Immediately after China established relations with Iran, all support to the rebels in Dhofar was cut off by China which had changed its mind about insurgencies, since it viewed them as counterproductive to countering the Soviets.
As a result of the various measures undertaken by the Omani government, ''firqats'' and regular SAF, the rebels were being deprived both of local support and supplies from the PDRY. This was recognised at a Third National Congress of the movement, held in Rakhyut in June 1971. Some military improvements were suggested, such as better discipline to avoid wasteful expenditure of ammunition and better coordination between units. It was acknowledged that the movement had estranged many of the local population, by indiscriminate punishments by "people's courts", the movement's inability to match the government's civil aid program and the effectiveness of the government's information service which promoted Islam over Marxism.
To retrieve the military situation, the rebels mounted a major attack on the coastal town of Mirbat during the monsoon season of 1972. On 19 July 1972, at the
Battle of Mirbat, 250 rebel fighters attacked 100 assorted ''firqat'' under training, paramilitary ''askars'' (armed police) and a detachment of the Special Air Service. In spite of the low ''khareef'' cloud cover, air support from Strikemaster aircraft was available, and helicopters landed SAS reinforcements. The rebels were repulsed with heavy losses.
Iranian intervention
As a result of Sultan Qaboos's diplomatic initiatives, the
Shah of Iran
This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of th ...
had sent an
Imperial Iranian Army
, founded =
, current_form = ( Islamic Republic)
, disbanded =
, branches =
, headquarters = Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, Tehran
, website =
, commander-in-chief = Maj. Ge ...
brigade numbering 1,200 and with its own helicopters to assist the Sultan's Armed Forces in 1973. The Iranian brigade first secured the Salalah-Thumrait road, while their helicopters played a vital role in keeping the isolated ''Simba'' position supplied. In 1974, the Iranian contribution was expanded into the Imperial Iranian Task Force, numbering 4,000. They attempted to establish another interdiction line, codenamed the "Damavand Line", running from ''Manston'', a few miles east of Sarfait, to the coast near the border with the PDRY. Heavy opposition from the rebels, which included artillery fire from within the PDRY, thwarted this aim for several months. Eventually, the town of Rahkyut, which the PFLO had long maintained as the capital of their liberated territory, fell to the Iranian task force.
Shah Mohamad Reza Pahlavi justified his intervention in Oman by the need to defend the Strait of Hormuz: "Just imagine that these savages should seize the other bank of the Ormuz Straits, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Our life depends on that. And those people at war with the Sultan are savages. They may even be worse than communists". Iranian troops remained in the country after the end of the war but were withdrawn after the Iranian revolution.
[
]
Final defeat of the rebellion
In January 1974, after several splits and defections, the rebel movement renamed itself the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (in ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير عُمان, al-Jabha aš-Šaʿbiyya li-Taḥrīr ʿUmān, PFLO) was a Marxist and Arab nationalist revolutionary organisation in the Sultanate of Oman. ...
. This public contraction of their aims coincided with a reduction in the support they received from the Soviet Union and China. Meanwhile, the rebels were steadily cleared from the Jebel Qara and Jebel Samhan by ''firqats'' and were driven into the western part of the Jebel Qamar.
Nevertheless, the rebels kept the respect of their opponents for their resilience and skill. In January 1975, in the hastily organised Operation Dharab, the SAF attempted to capture the main rebel logistic base in the Shershitti Caves. A SAF company from a battalion which took a wrong route blundered into an ambush in an ''adoo'' "killing ground" above the caves and suffered heavy casualties.
During late February 1975, three battalions of the SAF eliminated much of the rebel "9th June" Regiment (named after the anniversary of the outbreak of the rebellion) in the rugged Wadi Ashoq in the Jebel Samhan between the Damavand and Hornbeam lines. This largely restored SAF morale.
During the next few months, the SAF seized an airstrip at Deefa, but were unable to make immediate use of it during the ''khareef''. Some regular troops from the PDRY reinforced the PFLO's fighters, who also deployed SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles for the first time. However, their premature use of this weapon deprived them of the advantage of surprise. Also, the Sultan's Air Force had acquired 31 Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...
aircraft from the Royal Jordanian Air Force
The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF; ar, سلاح الجو الملكي الأردني, Silāḥ ul-Jawu al-Malakī 'al-Urdunī) is the aerial warfare branch of the Jordanian Armed Forces.
History
Early days
Jordan gained independence in 19 ...
. The SA-7 was much less effective against these aircraft than against Strikemasters.
In October 1975, the SAF launched a final offensive. An attack from ''Simba'', intended to be a diversion, nevertheless succeeded in descending cliffs and slopes in total height to reach the coast at Dalqhut, and thus finally cut off the ''adoo'' from their bases in the PDRY. While the Iranian Task Force threatened the Shershitti Caves from the south, another SAF battalion advanced from Deefa, threatening to surround the remaining ''adoo'' territory in the Jebel Qamar. Hawker Hunter aircraft of the Sultan's Air Force attacked artillery positions in the PDRY. Over the next few months, the remaining rebel fighters surrendered or sought sanctuary in the PDRY. The Rebellion was finally declared to be Jebel defeated in January 1976, although isolated incidents took place as late as 1979.
Aftermath
The British influence was still considerable at the end of the war. The special envoy in Oman of ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' of London explained in 1976:
Most of the civil servants and all the army officers I met, with one single exception, were British. Major General Perkins himself ommander-in-chief of the Omani armyassured us that ’if Great Britain were to withdraw from Oman it would be catastrophic’ Serving in Oman was very useful for the training of officers posted out here. It is the only country in the world where you can wage a war like this one, a large-scale war using every kind of weapon".
Foreign involvement
Pakistan
The port city of Gwadar
Gwadar ( Balochi/ ur, ) is a port city with located on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, Pakistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea opposite Oman. Gwadar is the 100th largest city of Pakistan, according to the 2017 ...
in Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, had been Omani territory until 1958. Baloch troops formed a substantial part of the Sultan's Army. During the rebellion, Oman sought to hire more Baloch troops. The Baluch Students Organization (BSO), a leftist students' organization, expressed solidarity with the Dhofari rebels. In 1979, BSO activist Hameed Baloch tried to shoot at an Omani military officer who was visiting Balochistan to recruit more Baloch troops. The Omani officer was unhurt, and Baloch was convicted by a Pakistani military court and executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
.
SAF operating bases
As with many military operations the British were involved in, the use of nicknames was commonplace and these were used alongside local names:
Linear defensive positions
The following were the nicknames of the north-south blocking defences in western Dhofar:
* Damavand Line (Manston to the coast at Rakhyut)
* Hammer Line (between Midway Road and Hornbeam line)
* Hornbeam Line (stretching 53 km north of Mughsayl)
Other sites mentioned not yet identified
The following are mentioned as operational sites but not yet identified:
* Everest
* Furious
* Stonehenge
See also
* Iran–Oman relations
* List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
This is a list of modern conflicts in the Middle East ensuing in the geographic and political region known as the Middle East. The "Middle East" is traditionally defined as the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia), Levant, and Egypt and neighboring ...
* Northern Frontier Regiment
* Operation Simba
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
GlobalSecurity.org
* Walter C. Ladwig III
"Supporting Allies in Counterinsurgency: Britain and the Dhofar Rebellion,"
''Small Wars & Insurgencies'', Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 2008), pp. 62–88.
"The United Kingdom's last hot war of the Cold War: Oman, 1963–75"
by Marc DeVore
*
{{Authority control
Communism in Oman
Wars involving Iran
Wars involving Oman
Rebellions in Oman
Wars involving Pakistan
1962 in Oman
1976 in Oman
Cold War conflicts
Proxy wars
Pakistan military presence in other countries