Arab Cold War

Terminology and Conceptual Scope

The term Arab Cold War was introduced by the American political scientist and Middle East specialist Malcolm H. Kerr in his 1965 book of the same title, which was subsequently revised across multiple editions.^[1][2] Kerr updated his study through successive publications, including The Arab Cold War, 1958–1964 in 1965, The Arab Cold War, 1958–1967 in 1967, and The Arab Cold War: Gamal 'Abd al-Nasir and His Rivals, 1958–1970 in 1971.^[1] The Vietnamese edition gives 1969 as the publication date of Kerr's work.^[1] Alternative designations used in regional scholarship include the Egypt–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict.^[3][4]

Despite its name, the Arab Cold War was not an economic clash between capitalist and communist systems.^[1][5][6][7] With the sole exception of the Marxist government established in South Yemen, every Arab state explicitly rejected communism, banned communist activities, and prohibited or suppressed communist party organisations within its borders.^[1][5][8] The core rivalry pitted secular pan-Arabism against Islamic traditionalism, manifesting as an institutional and ideological contest between revolutionary reformist republics and conservative dynastic monarchies.^[6]

Arab states also remained outside direct formal treaty alliances with the superpower blocs. Neither the revolutionary republics nor the conservative kingdoms sought accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or the Warsaw Pact, and the vast majority participated actively in the Non-Aligned Movement.^[1][5] While the republics developed strategic partnerships with the Soviet Union and the monarchies received military and financial backing from the United States, these arrangements were pragmatic geopolitical alignments rather than expressions of shared Marxist-Leninist or Western democratic ideology.^[6]

Historical Background and Colonial Legacies

The origins of regional instability lay in the legacy of European colonial rule across North Africa and the Middle East. Following the British occupation of Egypt in 1882, anti-colonial movements developed across Egyptian society. In February 1922, the British government unilaterally declared the nominal independence of the Kingdom of Egypt, though London retained control over imperial communications, Egyptian defense, the protection of foreign interests, and Sudan. In August 1936, the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty formalised a revised alliance that reduced British interference in domestic administration but maintained military bases along the Suez Canal.

Domestic discontent inside Egypt accelerated during the reign of King Farouk I, whose government faced widespread accusations of administrative incompetence and political corruption. The nationalist Wafd Party denounced Farouk as subservient to British imperial interests. Tensions reached a turning point during the Abdeen Palace incident of February 1942, when British military forces surrounded the royal palace with tanks and forced Farouk to appoint a Wafdist cabinet, nearly causing the king's abdication. Public disillusionment deepened following the 1948 Palestine War, in which the defeat of the Arab coalition by the newly formed State of Israel created anger among junior Egyptian military officers, setting the stage for revolutionary transformation.^[7]

By 1956, the political landscape of the Arab world remained starkly divided between a small number of sovereign republics and a larger collection of monarchies and colonial dependencies. Only five Arab states were republics: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Sudan, all of which espoused Arab nationalist ideas to varying degrees.^[9][10] Jordan and Iraq were ruled by separate branches of the Hashemite dynasty.^[9] Morocco, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of North Yemen were governed by established native monarchies.^[9] Algeria was administered as French territory, while South Yemen, the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, and the Trucial States remained under direct British rule, military occupation, or protectorate status.^[9]

By 1960, republican regimes or armed nationalist insurgencies had emerged in Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, and North Yemen, while Lebanon experienced a political crisis and armed factional confrontation between pro-Western government elements and Arab nationalist groups aligned with Egypt and the Soviet Union.^[11] Regional perspectives on the chronology of the conflict vary. While mainstream academic accounts identify the 1952 Egyptian Revolution as the starting point, Jordanian historical records date the opening of the Arab Cold War to the royal crisis of April 1957.^[10][12][13] Conversely, Palestinian accounts designate the period between 1962 and 1967 as the decisive era for their national movement within the wider intra-Arab struggle.^[12][14][15]

Rise of Nasserism and the Republican Bloc

On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers Movement carried out a coup d'état that toppled King Farouk.^{[16][17][18][19][20]} Under the leadership of Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Free Officers established a Revolutionary Command Council to govern the country, initiating measures to break feudal land ownership, terminate the British military presence, and dismantle the aristocratic hierarchy. King Farouk abdicated in favor of his infant son, Fuad II, who was formally deposed when the Free Officers abolished the monarchy and established the Republic of Egypt on 18 June 1953.^[16][17] The young Fuad II was exiled to France, where he resided thereafter.^[16][17] Naguib served as the republic's first president, but policy disagreements regarding democratic elections and military authority soon developed between him and Nasser. Under mounting pressure, Naguib was forced to resign his offices in November 1954, consolidating Nasser's personal hold on power.

Nasser articulated a political ideology known as Nasserism, combining secular pan-Arab nationalism with Arab socialism. He framed this program as an anti-imperialist response to traditional Arab monarchies, which he accused of serving as collaborators in Western interference, promoters of Islamic clericalism, and beneficiaries of economic rentierism.^[21][22] Nasser initially approached Palestine through the framework of pan-Arabism, presenting the liberation of Palestine as integral to overall Arab unity.^[21][23]

On 26 July 1956, Nasser announced the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company. This decision followed the withdrawal of funding offers by the United States and the United Kingdom for the construction of the Aswan High Dam, a withdrawal made in response to Egypt's new relationship with the Soviet Union.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28][29]} In response, Britain, France, and Israel formed a tripartite military pact, launching coordinated invasions of Egyptian territory in October 1956. Although Egypt suffered military losses in the Sinai, intense diplomatic intervention by the United States and the Soviet Union forced the British, French, and Israeli forces to withdraw from Egyptian territory and the Gaza Strip.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28][29]} Nasser secured complete operational control over the canal and emerged as the unchallenged leader of Arab nationalism.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28][29]}

Instruments of Egyptian Soft Power

To project influence throughout the Arab world, the Egyptian government deployed extensive cultural and media instruments. Cairo expanded the reach of the Voice of the Arabs (Sawt al-Arab) radio service, transmitting daily broadcasts that championed pan-Arab anti-imperialism, attacked conservative monarchies, and encouraged anti-colonial revolts from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.^[30][31]

In parallel, Egypt dispatched thousands of politically active professionals, particularly schoolteachers, to serve in educational institutions across the region. In Saudi Arabia, the number of Egyptian teachers grew from 206 in 1953 to 500 in 1956, reaching 866 in 1960 and 1,027 in 1961. Kuwait employed 114 Egyptian teachers in 1953, rising to 326 in 1956, 435 in 1958, and 411 in 1961. Lebanon hosted 25 Egyptian educators in 1953, expanding to 75 in 1957, 251 in 1959, and 104 in 1961. Libya received 55 in 1953, 219 in 1956, and 391 in 1960, before settling at 231 in 1961. In Sudan, the contingent reached 580 in 1957, rising to 673 in 1959 and 653 in 1961.

Other Arab territories recorded comparable deployments between 1953 and 1961. Morocco hosted 20 Egyptian teachers in 1956, rising steadily to 334 by 1961. Palestine received 13 teachers in 1953, increasing to 46 in 1957, 166 in 1959, and 165 in 1961. Somalia had 25 teachers in 1955, growing to 57 in 1957, 109 in 1960, and 213 in 1961. Jordan accepted 8 teachers in 1954, rising to 56 in 1957, after which deployments ceased. Iraq employed 76 in 1953 and 136 in 1956, peaking at 449 in 1958. Bahrain received 15 in 1953, increasing to 36 by 1961. Qatar hosted one teacher in 1954, expanding to 24 by 1961, while Yemen received 12 in 1954, peaking at 17 between 1957 and 1959 before dropping to zero in 1961.

Monarchical Counter-Alliance and Saudi Internal Tensions

Confronted by the spread of Nasserist republicanism, the conservative dynastic states formed a defensive coalition. The monarchies of Saudi Arabia, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Morocco, and the British-protected Gulf emirates coordinated their policies to resist Egyptian political penetration.^{[7][9][26][32][33][34][35]} Saudi Arabia and Jordan, previously rivals over the competing claims of their respective dynasties, suspended their rivalries to coordinate political, economic, and military resistance against Nasserist influence.^[7][32]

The Saudi monarchy faced domestic ideological and military challenges inspired by Nasser's popularity. A reformist group of royals led by Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz formed the Free Princes movement, openly endorsing constitutional reform, political modernisation, and aspects of Arab socialism.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28]} In 1958, Saudi authorities reportedly offered Abdel Hamid al-Sarraj, then head of Syrian intelligence and later vice president of the United Arab Republic, a bribe of 1.9 million pounds to assassinate Nasser.^[36]

Military defections and unrest troubled the Saudi kingdom during the 1960s. In 1962, a pilot from the Royal Saudi Air Force defected with his military aircraft to Cairo.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28]} Between 1965 and 1966, repeated signs of labor unrest and underground political agitation were reported in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28]} In 1969, Saudi security forces uncovered a Nasserist plot involving 28 army officers, 34 air force officers, nine non-commissioned military personnel, and 27 civilians.^{[7][9][24][25][28][37]}

Unification Projects and Early Proxy Wars

Pan-Arab ideology generated several institutional attempts to merge sovereign Arab states. In February 1958, Egypt and Syria united to create the United Arab Republic (UAR), with its administrative capital in Cairo and Gamal Abdel Nasser as president.^[21][38] In March 1958, the UAR entered into a loose confederation with the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen known as the United Arab States. Iraq's Free Officers planned to join the union after overthrowing the monarchy but abandoned the plan because their government was unstable. Jordan also sought to join but was blocked by Western pressure, and Sudan considered joining before dropping the idea.

The United Arab Republic lasted only until 1961.^[6] The political failure of the union contributed to a decline in Nasser's prestige.^[38]

The North Yemen Civil War

The primary military confrontation of the Arab Cold War occurred during the North Yemen Civil War from 1962 to 1970. On 26 September 1962, Yemeni Free Officers led by Colonel Abdullah al-Sallal overthrew the newly crowned Imam Muhammad al-Badr, terminating centuries of rule by the Rassid Zaidi imamate and declaring the Yemen Arab Republic.^[24]

The conflict became an open proxy war between the leading regional powers. Nasser dispatched an Egyptian expeditionary army of thousands of troops to support the anti-monarchist forces.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28][38]} In response, Saudi Arabia, supported by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the British administration in Aden, supplied funding, modern weaponry, and logistics to the royalist tribes.^[7][9][32] In December 1962, the Egyptian air force carried out bombing raids against Saudi border cities, including Najran.^{[7][9][24][25][26][27][28]}

The civil war reached a stalemate despite Egypt's commitment of thousands of troops. Following Egypt's defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War, Nasser negotiated an exit strategy at the Arab League summit in Khartoum. In late 1967, Nasser and Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal signed an agreement stipulating the withdrawal of all 20,000 remaining Egyptian troops from Yemen, the cessation of Saudi financial and military assistance to the royalists, and the deployment of observers from three neutral Arab nations.^[38][39] The republicans ultimately won the civil war, which lasted until 1970.^[38][40]

Global Superpower Alignment

The Arab Cold War was linked to the global confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, as the United States supported the conservative monarchies led by Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union supported the Egyptian-led republics.^[1][11][28] American planners viewed Saudi Arabia as an essential asset. The United States State Department described the kingdom as a stupendous source of strategic power and one of the greatest material prizes in world history, while President Franklin D.^[41] Roosevelt had stated that the defense of Saudi Arabia was essential to the defense of the United States.^[42]

According to historian Victor McFarland, the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower feared that Nasser's brand of radical nationalism would spark domestic uprisings against pro-Western monarchies throughout the Middle East, placing Western access to oil deposits in jeopardy.^[43] During the 1958 American military intervention in Lebanon, Eisenhower warned Vice President Richard Nixon that Nasser could seize control of petroleum supplies and thereby acquire the financial power to damage the Western economy.^[44] State Department records show that the Eisenhower administration sought to build up King Saud of Saudi Arabia as a regional counterweight to Nasser, while Secretary of State John Foster Dulles viewed the Saudi monarch as the only leader possessing the status and resources to balance Cairo's prestige.^[45][46]

In a 1957 meeting between Eisenhower, Dulles, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, American leaders discussed encouraging Islamic themes to oppose the influence of Arab secular leftism, with Dulles observing that Arabs would prefer a holy war against Israel, while Eisenhower recalled that Saud had urged Arabs to oppose communism.^[47] According to Rashid Khalidi, the secular socialist leaders of the Arab republics, with the exception of the regime in South Yemen, were deeply anti-communist and suppressed their domestic Marxist movements, even while maintaining close relations with Moscow.^[8] Globally, the republican camp supported revolutionary and anti-imperialist causes outside the region, such as the Cuban Revolution, whereas the conservative monarchies supported pro-Western governments in Muslim countries such as Pakistan.^[11]

Islamic Counter-Strategy and Religious Mobilisation

To counter Nasser's secular socialist appeal, the Saudi government deployed its financial resources and custody of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to promote pan-Islamic solidarity.^{[7][9][25][26][48][49]} In 1962, Saudi Arabia hosted an international Islamic conference in Mecca that founded the Muslim World League (Rabitat al-Alam al-Islami). The organisation was dedicated to advancing Islamic unity, combating secular and socialist doctrines, and propagating the conservative tenets of Wahhabi Islam across the Muslim world.^{[7][9][25][26][48][49][50]}

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman later stated that the global campaign to propagate Salafism and Wahhabism was rooted in the Cold War, when Western allies requested Saudi Arabia to use its resources to prevent inroads by the Soviet Union into Muslim countries.^[51] Historical estimates indicate that from the 1960s onward, the Saudi state directed over 100 billion dollars into funding educational institutions, publishing houses, cultural centers, and mosques globally.^[52] Political scientist Alex Alexiev termed this effort the largest worldwide propaganda campaign ever mounted, while David A. Kaplan described it as exceeding Soviet propaganda operations at the peak of the Cold War.^[53] In 2013, the European Parliament adopted a resolution identifying Wahhabism as the primary intellectual source of global terrorism.^[54]

The Six-Day War and Strategic Reversal

In April 1967, an air engagement over the Golan Heights between Israeli and Syrian fighter aircraft exposed growing regional tensions, bringing criticism against Nasser for failing to intervene on Syria's behalf. In May 1967, Nasser mobilized Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula, requested the withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Force, and closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. On 5 June 1967, the Israeli military executed Operation Focus, launching pre-emptive airstrikes against Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian airfields that destroyed their air fleets on the ground.

The Six-Day War ended in a decisive defeat for the Arab coalition. Israeli forces captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria, tripling the land area under Israeli control.^[38] The Egyptian armed forces suffered between 10,000 and 15,000 military fatalities.^[38][39] The defeat dealt a severe blow to the ideological standing of secular pan-Arabism and Nasserism throughout the region.^[38]

The Sadat Era and Ideological Transformation

Following Gamal Abdel Nasser's death from a heart attack in September 1970, Vice President Anwar Sadat assumed the presidency of Egypt.^{[11][55][56][57]} On 15 May 1971, Sadat initiated the Corrective Revolution, arresting prominent left-wing figures and Nasserist ministers, including Ali Sabri and Shaarawi Gomaa, and purging the state apparatus. Sadat departed from Nasser's central planning and state socialism, introducing the Infitah (open-door economic policy) under Law 43 of 1974, which opened the Egyptian market to foreign private investment and private domestic enterprise.^[56]

In domestic policy, Sadat shifted the focus toward religion and economic liberalisation, away from Arab nationalism and socialism. The government released imprisoned leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and permitted them to publish their monthly magazine, al-Dawa.^[56][58] Islamists, particularly al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, gained control of the universities, forcing left-wing and pan-Arab student organisations underground.^[58][59][60] Sadat styled himself 'The Believer President' (al-Ra'is al-Mu'min), added Muhammad to his name, restricted commercial alcohol sales, and instructed state television to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer five times daily alongside expanded religious programming.^[61][62][63]

Sadat reoriented Egyptian foreign policy away from confrontation with conservative monarchies, establishing a close partnership with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia.^[11][56] This partnership contributed to Egypt's success in the first part of the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, when Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed the Suez Canal and attacked the Golan Heights to recover territories lost in 1967.^[64] The cultural atmosphere of the conflict reflected the Islamic revival: the military battle cry shifted from the secular slogan 'Land, Sea and Air' used in 1967 to the Islamic chant 'Allahu Akbar'.^{[55][57][65][66]}

During the 1973 war, the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, instituted an oil embargo against Western nations supporting Israel and cut production, causing the market price of crude oil to increase from 3 dollars per barrel to nearly 12 dollars.^[67][68] Political scientist Gilles Kepel described the oil-exporting monarchies as the primary beneficiaries of the war, as sudden petrodollar revenues elevated them to an influential financial position within the Arab and Muslim worlds, cementing the strategic ascendancy of Saudi Arabia.^[64][68]

Unification Experiments Under Sadat

Despite his shift away from Nasserist doctrine, Sadat initially engaged in formal unification projects. In 1970, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi proposed the merger of Libya, Egypt, and Sudan into a unitary socialist state. Sadat advocated for a looser federal model instead, leading to the establishment of the Federation of Arab Republics (FAR) in September 1971, comprising Egypt, Syria, and Libya, with Sudan deferring participation. The member states adopted a shared coat of arms and flag, but their leaderships rejected full political integration.

Egypt and Libya fought a war against each other.^[40]

Camp David Accords and Egyptian Isolation

Sadat ended Egypt's strategic alliance with the Soviet Union and moved closer to the United States.^[11] In September 1978, Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords under the mediation of US President Jimmy Carter, leading to the formal Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in March 1979.^[11] The treaty returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian sovereignty, alongside the dismantling of all Israeli settlements and military installations, in exchange for full mutual diplomatic recognition and open borders.^[11]

The peace agreement caused a split between Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. The treaty alienated Nasserists and other secular Arab nationalists and angered Islamists, who denounced Sadat as an apostate.^[11] At the Baghdad Summit in November 1978 and subsequent meetings in 1979, the Arab League voted to suspend Egypt's membership, sever diplomatic relations, and transfer the Arab League headquarters from Cairo to Tunis.^[11] Egypt was similarly suspended from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. On 6 October 1981, Sadat was assassinated by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad led by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli during an annual military parade in Cairo.^[11]

The Iranian Revolution and Sectarian Realignment

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 transformed Middle Eastern regional dynamics. The uprising overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and established the Islamic Republic of Iran under the theocratic leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.^[11] The revolution established Shi'a Iran as a regional power committed to changing the mainly Sunni governments of the Arab states.^[11]

The emergence of a revolutionary Shi'a theocracy shifted regional security priorities. The intra-Arab struggle between secular republics and conservative monarchies was eclipsed by a new geopolitical confrontation pitting Sunni-led Arab states against Iran.^[11] Following the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War in September 1980, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and an isolated Egypt formed a de facto coalition to support Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated Ba'athist regime with billions of dollars in loans and armaments.^[11] Simultaneously, in fragmented theaters such as the Lebanese Civil War, regional powers fought new proxy battles along sectarian Sunni–Shi'a fault lines, characterized by the rise of Iranian-backed militant movements such as Hezbollah.^[11]

Chronology of Regional Conflicts

The Arab Cold War encompassed dozens of separate military coups, insurgencies, border clashes, and civil wars across the Middle East and North Africa between 1952 and the early 1990s. The Chinese, Persian, French, and Serbian editions document these operations across successive decades.

Conflicts of the 1950s

On 23 July 1952, the Egyptian Revolution toppled the Muhammad Ali dynasty, ending King Farouk's rule and inaugurating the Egyptian Republic under the Free Officers Movement.^[17][40] In August 1952, widespread protests in the Kingdom of Iraq grew into the Iraqi Intifada against the Hashemite monarchy and the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty; the demonstrations were suppressed by the military and their leaders were executed. On 25 February 1954, a military coup in Syria overthrew the military regime of Adib Shishakli, restoring civilian constitutional governance under Hashim al-Atassi. On 10 October 1954, the Jebel Akhdar War broke out in Oman, pitting Sultan Said bin Taimur of Muscat and Oman, supported by British forces, against Imam Ghalib bin Ali of the Imamate of Oman; the war ended with the unification of Oman and the dissolution of the imamate.

On 1 November 1954, the National Liberation Front launched the Algerian Revolution against French colonial authorities, a war that continued until Algeria attained national sovereignty in 1962. On 18 August 1955, the Torit mutiny erupted in southern British Sudan when southern troops revolted against northern administrative control, precipitating the First Sudanese Civil War on 31 December 1955 between government forces and southern rebel factions such as the Anya-Nya, which continued until the Addis Ababa Agreement granted regional autonomy in 1972.

On 29 October 1956, the Suez Crisis began with the Israeli invasion of Sinai, followed by British and French landings at Port Said; diplomatic intervention forced an unconditional tripartite withdrawal. On 13 April 1957, King Hussein of Jordan defeated an alleged coup attempt led by nationalist officers Ali Abu Nuwar and Qasim al-Nasser, purging the Jordanian armed forces. On 25 July 1957, the Tunisian Constituent Assembly deposed King Muhammad VIII al-Amin, terminating the Husainid dynasty and establishing the Republic of Tunisia under Habib Bourguiba. In August 1957, border tensions escalated during the Syrian Crisis between Syria and Turkey, which was settled through international mediation.

On 14 July 1958, the 14 July Revolution in Iraq destroyed the Hashemite monarchy; King Faisal II, Crown Prince Abd al-Ilah, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said were killed, and Brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim proclaimed the Republic of Iraq.^[40] In 1958, the Lebanon crisis broke out, and the United States intervened militarily to support Lebanon's conservative government.^[40][44] On 7 March 1959, Arab nationalist and Ba'athist army officers led by Colonel Abd al-Wahhab al-Shawaf launched the Mosul uprising against Qasim's government; the revolt was suppressed by government forces and communist militias, causing a break between Baghdad and Cairo.

Conflicts of the 1960s

On 25 June 1961, following Kuwaiti independence, Qasim claimed Kuwait as Iraqi territory, provoking Operation Vantage, in which British and Arab League forces deployed to safeguard Kuwaiti sovereignty until Iraq recognized Kuwait's independence. On 19 July 1961, the Bizerte crisis broke out when Tunisian forces blockaded the French naval base at Bizerte; French forces defeated the blockade before transferring the base to Tunisia in 1963. On 28 September 1961, a Syrian military coup ended the United Arab Republic. On 10 December 1961, junior officers in the Somali Republic staged the Somaliland revolt seeking the restoration of northern sovereignty, which was suppressed by loyalist troops.

On 26 September 1962, the 26 September Revolution in North Yemen overthrew the imamate, precipitating eight years of proxy civil war between royalists and republicans.^[40] On 1 December 1962, the Dhofar Rebellion commenced in southern Oman against Sultan Said bin Taimur, led by the Dhofar Liberation Front and supported by South Yemen and the Soviet bloc, continuing until Sultan Qaboos defeated the insurgency in 1976. On 8 February 1963, the Ramadan Revolution in Iraq overthrew and executed Qasim, bringing the Ba'ath Party to power under Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr.^[40] On 8 March 1963, a Ba'athist coup in Syria toppled the separatist government in Damascus.^[40] A pro-Nasserist counter-coup led by Jasim Alwan in Damascus on 18 July 1963 failed, resulting in the execution of its leaders.

In September 1963, the Sand War erupted over disputed border boundaries between Morocco and Algeria, concluding in a ceasefire mediated by the Organisation of African Unity. On 14 October 1963, the National Liberation Front began the Aden Emergency against British colonial administration, culminating in British withdrawal and the creation of the People's Republic of South Yemen in November 1967. On 13 November 1963, President Abdul Salam Arif executed an internal coup against his Ba'athist allies in Iraq, establishing a pro-Nasserist administration. On 21 February 1966, a radical neo-Ba'athist coup led by Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad ousted the historic Ba'ath founders Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar in Damascus.^[40]

On 5 June 1967, the Six-Day War resulted in Israeli capture of the Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. In November 1967, a military coup in North Yemen ousted President Sallal in favor of moderate civilian leader Abdul Rahman al-Iryani. On 17 July 1968, the Ba'ath Party returned to power in Iraq by overthrowing President Abdul Rahman Arif. In 1968, Palestinian guerrilla organisations initiated an armed insurgency from southern Lebanon against Israel.^[40] In May 1969, Gaafar Nimeiry seized power in the Sudanese coup d'état. On 22 June 1969, a radical Marxist faction under Abdul Fattah Ismail executed the Corrective Move in South Yemen, ousting President Qahtan al-Shaabi and forming a Marxist-Leninist state. On 1 September 1969, Muammar Gaddafi's Free Officers overthrew the Libyan monarchy, and on 21 October 1969, General Siad Barre seized power in Somalia.^[40] On 27 November 1969, the Al-Wadiah War erupted when South Yemeni forces attacked a Saudi border post, but were repelled by the Royal Saudi Armed Forces.^[40]

Conflicts of the 1970s

In September 1970, Jordan experienced the Black September conflict, during which King Hussein's army crushed Palestinian guerrilla forces led by Yasser Arafat, expelling the PLO to Lebanon.^[40] On 18 September 1970, Syria intervened by invading northern Jordan with armored units, but was repelled by the Jordanian air force. On 13 November 1970, Defense Minister Hafez al-Assad carried out the Corrective Movement in Syria, arresting Salah Jadid and establishing personal control. In May 1971, Sadat consolidated power through the Corrective Revolution in Egypt. On 19 July 1971, a communist-backed coup against Nimeiry in Sudan failed, resulting in executions of Sudanese Communist Party leaders.

In September 1972, border tensions between North and South Yemen produced the First Yemeni War, ending in an Arab League-brokered ceasefire. In April 1973, Gaddafi launched the Libyan Cultural Revolution, dismantling administrative structures in favor of direct popular committees. On 6 October 1973, Egyptian and Syrian forces launched the Yom Kippur War against Israel. On 13 June 1974, Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi ousted President al-Iryani in North Yemen. On 13 April 1975, the Lebanese Civil War began between Christian militias and the Lebanese National Movement allied with the PLO.^[40] In October 1975, the Western Sahara War erupted as Morocco and Mauritania partitioned Western Sahara under the Madrid Accords, sparking a protracted insurgency by the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.^[40]

In May 1976, an Islamist insurgency led by the Muslim Brotherhood erupted in Syria against Assad's Ba'athist government, lasting until the military suppressed the uprising in Hama in 1982.^[40] In July 1977, the Ogaden War began between Somalia and Ethiopia, ending with Somalia's defeat and its break with the Soviet bloc. Between 21 and 24 July 1977, border clashes between Egypt and Libya produced the Four-Day War.^[40] In 1978, Libyan forces intervened in the Chadian-Libyan conflict over the mineral-rich Aouzou Strip.^[40] In June 1978, the National Democratic Front rebellion erupted in North Yemen, supported by South Yemen. In February 1979, the Second Yemeni War broke out, resulting in southern territorial gains before mediation re-established border demarcation. In April 1979, local Arab groups mounted the Ahvaz unrest in Iran's Khuzestan province, which was suppressed by Revolutionary Guards, and in July 1979 Saddam Hussein executed a party purge across the Iraqi Ba'ath command.^[40]

Conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s

The final phase of regional conflicts extended from 1980 into the 1990s. On 22 September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, initiating the eight-year Iran–Iraq War, which caused hundreds of thousands of casualties and ended in a 1988 ceasefire based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 598.^[40] In December 1981, opposition movements in northern Somalia initiated the Somali Civil War against Siad Barre's regime. In April 1985, a popular uprising and military coup led by General Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab toppled Nimeiry in Sudan. On 13 January 1986, factional fighting within the ruling Yemen Socialist Party ignited the South Yemen Civil War, during which former president Abdul Fattah Ismail was killed and Ali Salim al-Beidh took power.

In January 1990, Tuareg separatist groups in Mali launched the 1990 Tuareg rebellion. On 22 May 1990, North and South Yemen merged into the unified Republic of Yemen under President Ali Abdullah Saleh.^[40] On 2 August 1990, Iraqi armed forces invaded and occupied Kuwait, prompting the Gulf War of January–February 1991, in which a United States-led coalition, joined by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria, expelled Iraqi troops.^[40] Following the Iraqi defeat, Kurdish and Shi'a populations launched the 1991 uprisings in Iraq, which were suppressed by loyalist republican guards.^[40] The Algerian Civil War was also among the conflicts of this period.^[40] Finally, in May 1994, southern secessionists declared separation from Sanaa, leading to the 1994 civil war in Yemen, which ended with northern forces capturing Aden and consolidating state unity.

References

1. Writings by Malcolm H. Kerr The Arab Cold War, 1958–1964: A Study of Ideology in Politics. London: Chattam House Series, Oxford University Press, 1965. The Arab Cold War, 1958–1967: A Study of Ideology in Politics, 1967 The Arab Cold War: Gamal 'Abd al-Nasir and His Rivals, 1958–1971, 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.
2. Books by Malcolm Kerr Arquivado em 9 de junho de 2000, no Wayback Machine. The Arab Cold War, 1958-1964: A Study of Ideology in Politics. London: Chattam House Series, Oxford University Press, 1965. The Arab cold war, 1958-1967; a study of ideology in politics, 1967 The Arab Cold War: Gamal 'Abd al-Nasir and His Rivals, 1958-1970, 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.
3. Gold، Dore (2003). Hatred's Kingdom. Washington, DC: Regnery. ص. 75. Even before he became king, Faisal turned to إسلام as a counterweight to Nasser's اشتراكية عربية. The struggle between the two leaders became an Arab cold war, pitting the new Arab جمهوريةs against the older Arab kingdoms.
4. Hatred's Kingdom. Washington, DC: Regnery. 2003. ص. 75. Even before he became king, Faisal turned to إسلام as a counterweight to Nasser's اشتراكية عربية. The struggle between the two leaders became an Arab cold war, pitting the new Arab جمهوريةs against the older Arab kingdoms.
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6. Can Syria end the Arab cold war? -Chris Phillips - The Guardian
7. Gold, Dore (2003). Hatred's Kingdom. Washington, DC: Regnery. s. 75.
8. Khalidi, Rashid (2009). Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East. Boston: Beacon Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8070-0311-4.
9. Gold، Dore (۲۰۰۳). Hatred's Kingdom. Regnery. ص. ۷۵.
10. Water Resources in Jordan: Evolving Policies for Development, the Environment, and Conflict Resolution, p.250
11. «Arab Cold War». ویکی‌پدیای انگلیسی. دریافت‌شده در ۲۴ مارس ۲۰۲۶.
12. Water Resources in Jordan: Evolving Policies for Development, the Environment, and Conflict Resolution, p. 250
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27. Dore Gold (2003)۔ Hatred's Kingdom۔ Washington, DC: Regnery۔ صفحہ: 75
28. Dore Gold, Hatred's Kingdom, Washington, DC, 2003, p. 75
29. Gold، Dore (2003). Hatred's Kingdom. Washington, DC: Regnery. ص. 75.
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32. Gold, Dore (2003). Hatred's Kingdom. Washington, DC: Regnery. p. 75. Even before he became king, Faisal turned to Islam as a counterweight to Nasser's Arab socialism. The struggle between the two leaders became an Arab cold war, pitting the new Arab republics against the older Arab kingdoms.
33. Dore Gold (2003)۔ Hatred's Kingdom۔ Washington, DC: Regnery۔ صفحہ: 75۔ Even before he became king, Faisal turned to اسلام as a counterweight to Nasser's Arab socialism. The struggle between the two leaders became an Arab cold war, pitting the new Arab جمہوریہs against the older Arab kingdoms.
34. Dore Gold: Hatred's Kingdom. Regnery, Washington, DC 2003, S. 75 (englisch): “Even before he became king, Faisal turned to Islam as a counterweight to Nasser's Arab socialism. The struggle between the two leaders became an Arab cold war, pitting the new Arab republics against the older Arab kingdoms.”
35. Gold, Dore (2003). Hatred's Kingdom (en inglés). Washington, DC: Regnery. p. 75. «Even before he became king, Faisal turned to Islam as a counterweight to Nasser's Arab socialism. The struggle between the two leaders became an Arab cold war, pitting the new Arab republics against the older Arab kingdoms.»
36. Tim Niblock: Saudi Arabia: Power, Legitimacy and Survival. Routledge, 2004, ISBN 978-1-134-41304-1 (google.de [abgerufen am 29. März 2024]).
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57. Robin Wright: Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam. Simon & Schuster, New York 2001, ISBN 0-7432-3342-5, S. 64–67 (englisch, google.com – [1985]).
58. Kepel, Gilles. Muslim Extremism in Egypt: The Prophet and Pharoh, Gilles Kepel, 1985, S. 129
59. particularly al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
60. Kepel, Gilles. Muslim Extremism in Egypt: The Prophet and Pharoh, Gilles Kepel, 1985, p. 129
61. Murphy, Caryle, Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience, Simon and Schuster, 2002, p. 36
62. Murphy, Caryle, Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience, Simon and Schuster, 2002, S. 36
63. Murphy, Caryle, Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience, 2002, стр. 36 , Simon and Schuster,
64. Kepel, Gilles (2003). Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. New York: I.B. Tauris. p. 69. ISBN 9781845112578. The war of October 1973 was started by Egypt with the aim of avenging the humiliation of 1967 and restoring the lost legitimacy of the two states' ... [Egypt and Syria] emerged with a symbolic victory ... [but] the real victors in this war were the oil-exporting countries, above all Saudi Arabia. In addition to the embargo's political success, it reduced the world oil supply and sent the price per barrel soaring. In the aftermath of the war, the oil states abruptly found themselves with revenues gigantic enough to assure them a clear position of dominance within the Muslim world.
65. Wright، Robin (۲۰۰۱). Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam. Simon & Schuster. ص. ۶۴–۶۷. شابک ۰-۷۴۳۲-۳۳۴۲-۵.
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