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The Arab League as an organization has no military force, like the United Nations or the European Union, but in the 2007 summit[ dubious ], the Leaders decided to reactivate their joint defense and establish a peacekeeping force to deploy in South Lebanon, Iraq, South Sudan, Federal Republic of Ethiopia and other hot spots. [1]
The military history of the Arab League is closely linked to the Arab–Israeli conflict. The 1950 Arab Joint Security Pact set out provisions for collective security among the Arab states, but only in 1961 was the Joint Arab Command (JAC) proposed as a unified military command for the Arab League first by the Joint Defence Council, an institution of the Arab League.
Before the JAC could take shape, a unanimous resolution was passed at the first Arab League summit (January 1964) establishing the United Arab Command (UAC), although the UAC's inactivity following the Samu Incident (1966) and during the Six-Day War (1967) signalled its de facto dissolution.
The Arab Liberation Army (جيش الإنقاذ العربي Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi), also translated as Arab Countries Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war and was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee's Holy War Army, though in fact the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force. [2]
At the meeting in Damascus on 5 February 1948 to organize Palestinian Field Commands, Northern Palestine including Samaria was allocated to Qawuqji's forces, although Samaria was de facto already under the control of Transjordan. [2]
The Arab League Military Committee, with headquarters in Damascus, was responsible for the movements and servicing of the Army. The Committee consisted of General: Ismail Safwat (Iraq, Commander-in-Chief), General: Taha al-Hashimi (Iraq), Colonel: Shuqayri (Lebanon), Colonel: Muhammed al-Hindi (Syria) and Colonel: Abd al-Qadir al-Jundi (Transjordan).
The ALA was dissolved at the end of the Palestine War. [2]
Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979 after it signed a peace treaty with Israel; the league's headquarters was moved from Cairo, Egypt, to Tunis, Tunisia. In 1987, AL leaders decided to renew diplomatic ties with Egypt, who was readmitted in 1989 and the league's headquarters was moved back to Cairo. [3] [4]
| member state | Active | Reserve | Paramilitary | Total | Per 1,000 capita | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| total | active | ||||||
 | Algeria | 520,000 | 150,000 | 18,7,200 | 857,200 | 19.2 | 11.6 |
 | Bahrain | 18,400 | 35,805 | 11,260 | 65,465 | 9,461,381.3 | 2659274.7 |
 | Comoros | 1,000 | 2,000 | 50 | 3,050 | 3.6 | 1.2 |
 | Djibouti | 20,470 | 12,220 | 2,650 | 35,340 | 36.9 | 21.4 |
 | Egypt | 438,500 | 479,000 | 397,000 | 1,314,500 | 10,896,417.2 | 3634902.2 |
 | Iraq | 193,000 | 664,169 | 230,000 | 1,087,169 | 23,989,777.5 | 4258792.4 |
 | Jordan | 100,500 | 65,000 | 15,000 | 180,500 | 16,144,081.4 | 8988809.9 |
 | Kuwait | 72,000 | 24,000 | 7,100 | 103,100 | 24,006,775 | 16765158.1 |
 | Lebanon | 95,000 | 35,000 | 20,000 | 150,000 | 28,318,910.2 | 17935309.8 |
 | Libya | 35,000 | 65,000 | 100 | 100,100 | 14,189,538.5 | 4961377.1 |
 | Mauritania | 31,540 | 66,000 | 5,000 | 102,540 | 22,218,976.7 | 6834274.7 |
 | Morocco | 195,000 | 150,000 | 50,000 | 395,000 | 10.4 | 5.1 |
 | Oman | 128,000 | 100,000 | 4,400 | 232,400 | 51,410,572 | 28315633.5 |
 | Palestine | 120,000 | 20,000 | 50 | 140,050 | 26,792,582.6 | 22956871.9 |
 | Qatar | 66,550 | 15,000 | 5,000 | 86,550 | 30,960,649.4 | 23806253.2 |
 | Saudi Arabia | 257,000 | 250,000 | 24,500 | 531,500 | 13,840,785.4 | 6692534 |
 | Somalia | 115,530 | 20,000 | 100 | 135,630 | 7,947,380.8 | 6769600.4 |
 | Sudan | 109,300 | 85,000 | 17,500 | 211,800 | 4.3 | 2.2 |
 | Syria | 170,000 | 150,000 | 100,000 | 420,000 | 19 | 7.7 |
 | Tunisia | 89,800 | 40,000 | 12,000 | 141,800 | 12.1 | 7.7 |
 | United Arab Emirates | 65,000 | 130,000 | 200 | 195,200 | 21,058,055.1 | 7012159.7 |
 | Yemen | 66,700 | 50,000 | 100 | 116,800 | 3,407,471.9 | 1945876.5 |
 | Arab League | 2.990,290 | 2.588,194 | 1.006,610 | 6.585094 | 14.2 | 6.5 |
| Member state | Population | GDP (nominal) ($billions) [7] | Defence expenditure (US$) [8] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total ($millions) | % real GDP | |||
| Algeria | 44,700,000 | 187.155 | 18,263.97 | 8.2 |
| Bahrain | 1,463,265 | 43.544 | 1,383.78 | 3.1 |
| Comoros | 850,886 | 1.242 | — | — |
| Djibouti | 957,273 | 3.725 | 36.6 | 2.63 |
| Egypt | 104,635,983 | 469.094 | 3,164.63 | 0.9 |
| Iraq | 45,318,011 | 282.876 | 5,108.40 | 2.1 |
| Jordan | 11,180,568 | 48.066 | 2,450.24 | 4.9 |
| Kuwait | 4,294,621 | 183.568 | 7,755.03 | 4.9 |
| Lebanon | 5,296,814 | 21.780 | 241.29 | 8.9 |
| Libya | 7,054,493 | 40.836 | 3,755.7 | 15.48 |
| Mauritania | 4,614,974 | 10.091 | 277.16 | 2.5 |
| Morocco | 37,984,655 | 142.874 | 5,184.93 | 3.6 |
| Oman | 4,520,471 | 108.969 | 5,851.76 | 5.4 |
| Palestine | 5,227,193 | 18.818 | — | — |
| Qatar | 2,795,484 | 221.369 | 15,412.1 | 6.96 |
| Saudi Arabia | 38,401,000 | 1,010.588 | 75,813.33 | 7.1 |
| Somalia | 17,066,000 | 8.416 | 143.47 | — |
| Sudan | 49,197,555 | 42.762 | 3,180.5 | 0.92 |
| Syria | 22,125,249 | 11.080 | 2,494.9 | 4.06 |
| Tunisia | 11,708,370 | 46.282 | 1,208.20 | 2.4 |
| United Arab Emirates | 9,269,612 | 503.913 | 22,755.1 | 5.64 |
| Yemen | 34,277,612 | 27.594 | 1,714.8 | 3.97 |
| Arab League | 462,940,089 | 3,434.640 | 168,995.41 | 4.44 |
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war became a war of separate states with the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight, and the entry of a military coalition of Arab states into the territory of Mandatory Palestine the following morning. The war formally ended with the 1949 Armistice Agreements which established the Green Line.
The Arab League, formally the League of Arab States, is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and North Yemen. Currently, the League has 22 members.
The Emirate of Transjordan, officially known as the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921, which remained as such until achieving formal independence in 1946.
Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein was the ruler of Jordan from 11 April 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir of Transjordan, a British protectorate, until 25 May 1946, after which he was king of an independent Jordan. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Abdullah was a 38th-generation direct descendant of Muhammad.
The Arab Legion was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 1956, when British senior officers were replaced by Jordanian ones.
The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined on 5 May 1945. Since its formation the Arab League has promoted the Palestinian Arab cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including by imposing the Arab League boycott of Israel. The Arab League opposed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947. On 15 May 1948, the then seven Arab League members coordinated an invasion of what was by then the former British Mandate, marking the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
The United Arab Command (UAC) was a unified Arab military command established by unanimous resolution of the thirteen member states of the Arab League at the summit held in Cairo, Egypt, on 13–16 January 1964.
Fawzi al-Qawuqji was a leading Lebanese-born Arab nationalist military figure in the interwar period. The British military were impressed by his military acumen when he served briefly in Palestine in 1936 fighting the British Mandatory suppression of the Palestinian Revolt. A political decision by the British enabled him to flee the country in 1937. He was based in Nazi Germany during World War II, and served as the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) field commander during the 1948 Palestine War.
The 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine was the first phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It broke out after the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption of the Partition Plan for Palestine.
Musallam Wajih Bseiso was a Palestinian journalist and politician.
This is a timeline of major events in the history of the modern state of Jordan.
The All-Palestine Government was established on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, to govern the Egyptian-controlled territory in Gaza, which Egypt had on the same day declared as the All-Palestine Protectorate. It was confirmed by the Arab League and recognised by six of the then seven Arab League members, with Transjordan being the exception. Though it claimed jurisdiction over the whole of the former Mandatory Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the All-Palestine Protectorate, which came to be called the Gaza Strip. The President of the protectorate was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, former chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, and the Prime Minister was Ahmed Hilmi Pasha. The legislative body was the All-Palestine National Council.
Hasan Salama was a Palestinian Arab nationalist guerrilla leader and commander who led the Palestinian Holy War Army in the 1948 Palestine War along with Abdul Qadir al-Husseini.
The Arab Liberation Army, also translated as Arab Salvation Army or Arab Rescue Army (ARA), was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war and was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee's Holy War Army, but in fact, the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force.
The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the State of Israel, and over 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled. It was the first war of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the broader Arab–Israeli conflict.
Muhammad al-Ashmar was a Syrian rebel commander during the Great Syrian Revolt and the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, and a prominent communist figure in post-independence Syria.
Ramaḍān Pāshā al-Shallāsh was a prominent rebel commander of the 1925 Great Syrian Revolt and, prior to that, a military officer in the Ottoman and Sharifian armies.
Society for the Defense of Palestine was a nationalist Arab militia, active during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. The group was composed of Sunni Arab volunteers, mainly coming from Iraq and commanded by Iraqi Fawzi al-Qawuqji.
The All-Palestine Protectorate, also known as All-Palestine, the Gaza Protectorate or the Gaza Strip, was a short-lived client state with limited recognition, corresponding to the area of the modern Gaza Strip, that was established in the area captured by the Kingdom of Egypt during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and allowed to run as a protectorate under the All-Palestine Government. The Protectorate was declared on 22 September 1948 in Gaza City, and the All-Palestine Government was formed. The President of the Gaza-seated administration was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the former chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, while the Prime Minister was Ahmed Hilmi Pasha. In December 1948, just three months after the declaration, the All-Palestine Government was relocated to Cairo and was never allowed to return to Gaza, making it a government in exile. With a further resolution of the Arab League to put the Gaza Strip under the official protection of Egypt in 1952, the All-Palestine Government was gradually stripped of its authority. In 1953, the government was nominally dissolved, though the Palestinian Prime Minister, Hilmi Pasha, continued to attend Arab League meetings on its behalf. In 1959, the protectorate was de jure merged into the United Arab Republic, while de facto turning Gaza into a military occupation area of Egypt.
In March 1972, Ba'athist Iraq proposed to Egypt and Syria a re-establishment of the United Arab Republic, which failed in 1963. The Iraqi proposal was an immediate reaction to Jordan's proposal for a United Arab Kingdom but collided with the already established Federation of Arab Republics and failed because of Iraqi–Syrian differences.
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