Jebel Akhdar War

The Jebel Akhdar War (Arabic: حرب الجبل الأخضر, romanized: Ḥarb al-Jebel el-ʾAkhḍar, lit.'the Green Mountain War'), also known as the Jebel Akhdar Rebellion or the Oman War (Arabic: حرب عمان, romanized: Ḥarb ʻumān), broke out in 1954 and again in 1957 in Oman, as an effort by the local Omanis in the interior of Oman led by their elected Imam, Ghalib al-Hinai, to protect the Imamate of Oman from the occupation plans of Said bin Taimur sultan of Muscat and Oman, backed by the British government, who were eager to gain access to the oil wells in the interior lands of Oman. Sultan Said received direct financing to raise an armed force to occupy the Imamate of Oman from Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), a consortium of oil companies that was majorly owned by what is known today as Royal Dutch Shell, Total, ExxonMobil and British Petroleum (BP); the latter was majority-owned by the British government.

Jebel Akhdar War
Part of the decolonisation of Asia and the Arab Cold War

Nizwa Fort attacked by British Royal Air Force strike aircraft during Jebel Akhdar War
Date10 October 1954 – 30 January 1959
(4 years, 3 months and 5 days)
Location
Sultanate of Muscat and Oman
Result

Muscati victory

  • Defeat of the Imamate of Oman
  • 2073, 2238 and 2302 'Question of Oman' resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly
Belligerents
Sultanate of Muscat
 United Kingdom
Imamate of Oman
Supported by:
Republic of Egypt
 Saudi Arabia
Commanders and leaders
Said bin Taimur
David Smiley
Tony Drummond
Ghalib al-Hinai
Talib Alhinai
Sulayman bin Himyar
Strength
107 SAF
123 MR
476 NFR
250 SAS
2 Scout Car troops
8 RM and RAF
Total: 1,000
300 rebels
Total: 1,000
Casualties and losses
1958 air campaigns:
1 pilot killed
1959 offensive:
13 troops killed
57 wounded
1958 air campaigns:
Several dozen killed or wounded
1959 offensive
176 killed
57 wounded
Total: 213–523+ killed

The Imamate was eventually supported by Arab states. The war lasted until 1959, when the British armed forces decided to take on direct interventions using air and ground attacks on the Imamate, which won the Sultanate the war. The declarations signed by the sultans of Muscat to consult the British government on all important matters, the unequal trade treaties signed by the two sides favoring British interests, the cessation of the Omani Kuria Muria islands to the British, and the vast control over the Sultanate's government ministries, including defense and foreign affairs, exerted by the British rendered the Sultanate a de facto British colony. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the 'Question of Oman' resolution in 1965, 1966 and again in 1967 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.

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