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. The latter parties 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 predominately owned by companies known today as Shell, Total, ExxonMobil and British Petroleum (BP). The latter was majority-owned by the British government.
The Imamate was eventually supported by Arab states. The war lasted until 1959, when the British armed forces decided to intervene directly by launching air and ground attacks on the Imamate. With that help, the Sultanate won 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 cession 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; it called upon the British government to cease all repressive action against the locals, and end British control over Oman. It reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Omani people to self-determination and independence.
Background
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. The British Empire thus made the decision to back the Al Busaidi monarchy of Muscat towards the end of 18th century. The British Empire over time began to establish a series of treaties with the sultans with the objective of advancing British political and economic interest in Muscat, while granting the sultans military protection. By the end of the 19th century, Muscat became increasingly dependent on British loans and remained in an underdeveloped state. The British government maintained administrative control over the Sultanate as the defense secretary and chief of intelligence, chief adviser to the sultan and all ministers except for two were British. The British Political Agent, who resided in Muscat, described the influence of the British government over Muscat as completely "self interested" and paid no attention to the social and political conditions of the locals, which began to alienate the interior of Oman.
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. The Imamate, similar to the Sultanate, was ruled by the Ibadi sect, however, the dispute between both parties was for the most part political. The Imamate, which has appeared in cycles for more than 1,200 years in Oman, rejected the growing influence of the British Empire over Muscat and Oman. The Omanis in the interior remained consistently opposed to foreign influence over Oman. In 1913, Imam Salim AlKharusi instigated an anti-Muscat rebellion that lasted until 1920 when the Imamate established peace with the Sultanate through the signing of Treaty of Seeb that was brokered by Britain, which had no economic interest in the interior of Oman during that point of time. The treaty granted autonomous rule to the Imamate in the interior of Oman and recognized the sovereignty of the coastal of Oman, the Sultanate of Muscat.
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 10 January 1923, an agreement between the Sultanate and the British government was signed in which the Sultanate had to consult with the British Political Agent residing in Muscat and obtain the approval of the High Government of India in order to extract oil in the Sultanate. 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. Sultan Said, who had the backing of the British government, ruled with an iron fist and followed a non-development policy, while prohibiting anything that he considered "decadent" and any form of criticism. On 20 December 1951, a Treaty of Friendship was signed between the United Kingdom and the Sultanate wherein the Sultanate shall not prohibit or restrict the movement of goods imported from the United Kingdom or exported to the United Kingdom, which shall not extend to the exportation or importation restrictions to any other country, with few exceptions.
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 idea of having the oil company attempt to negotiate directly with the interior of Oman was not favored by the British Political Agent who resided in Muscat, providing the justification that it would mean recognizing the authority of the Imamate and, therefore, increase its prestige. The British Political Agent believed that the only method of gaining access to the oil reserves in the interior was by assisting the sultan in taking over the Imamate. 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. On the next day, the Sultanate's forces moved to capture Tanam. The occupation of Fahud and Tanam was only a prelude to a grand design by the Sultanate to occupy the entire Imamate. On 13 December 1954, the Muscat and Oman Field Force (MOFF), later renamed Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces (SAF), which had eight British officers among its troops, marched from Fahud to Adam and occupied it. Thereupon, the capital of the Imamate, Nizwa, was captured by the Sultanate on 15 December 1955. The Imamate was therefore temporarily defeated and the red flag of the Sultanate flew over the interior for the first time in half a century. However, the Wali of Rustaq and the younger brother of the Imam, Talib al-Hinai, fled to Saudi Arabia and then to Cairo (Egypt) in order to seek Arab support in the war against the Sultanate.
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 dispute over Buraimi between the Sultanate and Saudi Arabia, as well as Saudi Arabia's attempt to overshadow President Nasser's prominence in the Arab world, triggered Saudi's support to the Imamate. 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.