Great Middle East War (A Red Century)

The Great Middle East War (8 February 1993 - 21 November 1997), also known as the Fifth Arab-Israeli War, the Great Gulf War or the Middle Eastern World War was a military conflict initiated by an alliance of Arab nations led by Iraq against the state of Israel followed by Iraq's annexation of Kwait and the invasion of North Yemen by South Yemen. The war would later escalate to involve most countries in the region and the participation of an international coalition led by the United States against Iraq and her allies. Over ten million people died, the majority of whom were civilians, were killed, making it the third deadliest conflict in human history, being surpassed only by the two World Wars. This war also marked the first use of nuclear weapons since World War II.

The war saw widespread usage of weapons of mass destruction which caused critical damage to the enviroment and infrastructure of the principal countries involved, it nearly halted two thirds of international oil exports prompting a world wide economical and energetical crisis not presentiated since World War II and raised the threat of a direct confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union to the highest peak since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Origins
After the success obtained in the war against Iran, Iraq, now in possession of the oil rich provinces of Khūzestān, Īlām, Lurestan and Kermanshah and increased control over the Strait of Hormuz augmented it's economical output dramatically in the years following the Iran-Iraq War.

Following Ba'ath emphasis on a strong military the Iraqi government expended heavily in modernizing the equipment and trainig it's troop mainly supplied by the Soviet Union. The enormous growth which has brought Iraqi oil exports to almost surpass that of Saudi Arabia however began to diminish as world wide economical crisis led to a sharp fall in oil prices.

To further Iraq's economical crisis was the fact Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had began modernizing their oil refinering capabilities right before the crisis erupted which led to a substantial difference between their oil prices and that of Iraq.

Another major reason leading to war were the escalating tensions between Syria and Israel due to the occupation of Lebanon, thid conflict had already costed many fatalities for both sides and accusations of sponsoring terrorism after the Palestinian Intifada.

In Yemen the failure of negotiations in regards to unification raised tentions and prompted the People's Republic of South Yemen to build up it's forces behind the scenes contributing much to early defeat of the Yemen Arab Republic in the war.

Ultimately what sparked the conflict was the economical competition over oil exportation coupled with an overgrown Iraqui army and more than twenty years of raising disagreement between Israel and Syria regarding occupyied territories.

Pre-War
See also: Military of Iraq, Lebanon Conflict, Relations between North and South Yemen

Crisis in Iraq
Before the crisis the oil prices were around $67,75 U.S. dollars per barrel and Iraq's GDP was growing 23% yearly for over seven years, but by November 1992 the oil prices were in an all time low by $19,23 U.S dolars and Iraq's GDP growth felt to 4%.

During it's period of prosperity the Iraqi government invested heavily in improving it's infrastructure and living standards but above all it amounted over a third of it's economy into funding a huge war machine which far surpassed that of other countries in the Middle East.

While in the previous economical success allowed Iraq to mount up for it's expenditures the crisis brought the country under the threat of bankruptcy.

In response to the crisis OPEC countries diminished their production considerably causing prices go up in an attempt to combat the problem. Whilist countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait could stabilize their economies moderately with this measure, Iraq had to deal with an enormous surplus caused by super production from the previous years.

Unable to sell it's surplus around $30,00 as it's neighbours Iraq began accusing Kuwait and Saudi Arabia of monopolizing the oil industry and demanded the OPEC to low it's prices so that Iraq didn't had losses in the it's oil exports. The OPEC found itself divided between countries which had problems selling oil surplus and those which had decereased their production to profit from higher oil prices.

Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon
In Lebanon the tensions soared after Israeli troops had crushed the Palestinian Intifada as rogue elements of the PLO escaped to Northern Lebanon and Israel accusated Syria of giving safe heaven to Palestinian terrorists in their occupied part of the country.

From the Syrian point increasing economical and military cooperation with Iraq has led to a surge in the Syrian military and the economical crisis debilitated Israel's capabilities of acquiring foreing equipment in case a war broke out. Another important factor playing was the Syrian national pride defied by Israel's frequent air missions into the Syrian occupied part of Lebanon aswell as in Syrian territory.

Tensions between the two Yemens
Matters regarding the unification of Yemen had been going on since 1969 but discussions regarding wheter the process would be lead by South Yemen or North Yemen generated a rift between both countries. South Yemen sought allies in the Arab nationalism of Ba'ath led countries thus closing it's ties with Iraq and Syria. While diplomatical ties with the Yemen Arab Republic were at an impass the People's Republic of South Yemen secretly raised it's military might in preparation for a military solution may the need arise.

The shot down of Yusif Basoud
In January 30, 1993, Israel send a group of four F-16C in mission to strike Palestinian targets in Northern Lebanon. They were however intercepted by a pair of MiG-21MF Syrian aircrafts which demanded them to return to Israel's airspace whilist being escorted.

The group of Israeli aircraft declined to comply and engagement took place, the Israeli group shot down one of the MiGs an the other one abandoned engagement. The Israeli pilots contacted their commander in ground to question wheter they should abort the missions but were given green light to continue. Six minutes later the Israeli Aircraft bombed their target at the Lebanese city of Baabek and returned home.

Unknow to Israel was that the pilot of the MiG they just shoot down belonged to the nephew of Ubrak Mussav Basoud the governor of the Syrian province of Aleppo.

This event sparked unrest amidst the Syrian population, nine days later they would go to war.

Initial Offensives
The war broke out at 9:11 AM of February 8 when Syria launched a full scale air assault against Israeli positions in Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force responded sending out most of it's north eastern based fighting squadrons.

Syrian President Hafez al-Assad delivered a speech towards the Syrian population on the eve of the attack:

"Our enemy disgrace the life of every living Arab, they believe they have the right to own our land and deny our people the holy ground our families lived in for generations! I call to every living Syrian, to every living Arab citizen to step foward and end forever the Zionist regime!"

On the first day of the war 75 Israeli fighters and 200 Syrian fighters clashed over the skies of Lebanon. The F-15s of the IAF outmatched older Syrian aircraft such as the MiG-21MF or the MiG-23MLD which fared better against the F-16s, it was however a huge blow when the F-15s began to be shot down by the Syrians secret weapon the MiG-29B.

By the end of the day 40 Syrian Aircaft and 19 Israeli Aircraft had been shot down with Israeli positions in Southern Lebanon heavily damaged. With IDF's air suppremacy over Lebanon broken the Syrians lauched a large scale ground offensive.

At 07:05 PM of February 10, IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak with the authorization of Prime Minister Shimon Peres ordered a full scale counter attack prompting the IAF to launch Operation Amir against Syrian bases at the Golan Heighs and Lebanon.

The operation went with over seventeen Israeli Fighter Bomber Squadrons flew with over 167 aicraft against southern Syrian air bases confronting 278 enemy airplanes.

In the ensuing battle the IAF downed 90 Syrian planes in the air and destroyed another 121 on the ground but in turn lossed 72 aircraft of it's own.

It would take two weeks before Israel completely mobilizes it`s forces to counter the Syrian andvance but by then the Syrian haad already taken most of Lebanon and breached into the Golan Heights.

Syrian advances stall, Iraq joins the conflict
While in the first two weeks of the conflict the attacking Syrian forces were able to nearly drive the Israelis out of Lebanon and almost retake the Golan Heights, in the second week Israel was able to mobilize more of it's forces from other parts of the country and retake the upper hand.

The Syrian airforce, despide being able to break Israeli air superiority and inflict heavy damage on Israeli positions in Lebanon and the Golan Heights, suffered heavy casualties during the battle and the ensuing Israeli counter attack.

At 12:13 PM of February 22, Israel launched Operation Thesaurus with another large scale attack targeted against Syrian forces followed by a coordinated ground offensive in the Golan Heights and Lebanon.

Following four days of continuos fighting the Syrians were driven out of large portion the ground they occupied in Southern Lebanon and Israeli forces began pouring into Syrian territories in the front at the Golan Heights.

At this point Syrian authorities, fearing their forces would suffer defeat if the situation didn't change to their favor, sended a desperate request to Iraqi authorities. They had only one chance of defeating Israel and that could only happen if Iraq offered direct military support to them. The Iraqis accepted and the following day declared war on Israel.

At 9:00 AM of February 26, Iraq's President Saddam Hussein delivered a speech to the Iraqui people:

"The coward zionist enemy mercilessly attacks our Syrian brothers, their only goal is to destroy every Arab nation to create a kingdom where they could rule us as slaves! I as leader of the strongest Arab nation feel obliged to assist our neighbors in ending the blatant demons's thrust against Islam!"

The Iraqi "Scimitar" strucks Israel
At 6;06 AM of March 1 Iraq launched Operation Idam Shaitan firing over 1400 missiles and sending over 550 combat aircraft to attack Israel.

The attack aimed at destroying the military and economical infrastructure of Israel softening it for Syrian forces to retake the offensive and defeat Israel.The missile defence system of Israel while arguably the most advanced in the world was just overwealmed by the Iraqui salvo, hundreds of buildings were destroyed, thousands of civilians perished and many more thousands desperately seek cover bomb shelters the population of the whole country became "bunkerized".

The Iraqi air armada was also overwealming. Their most devastating weapon was the MiG-29B, while the IAF had already come in contact with this aircraft in engagements with the Syrians the Iraqis had far greater numbers and held greater proficience with the aircraft.

The Israelis downed 237 Iraqi aircraft (the highest number of air victories in a sigle day for any war ever fought) but in turn lossed 187 more than half of it's.

Worse than that was the fact many air bases were destroyed and the Arabs attained full air suppremacy over the Syrian and Lebanese fronts.

Israel on the defensive
For the following months the Arab forces would make constant advances, the IDF while inflicting heavy casualties on the attackers couldn`t turn the tides while harshy afording their own casualties.

The IAF didn`t have as much superiority against the IQAF as they had againt the Syrian Airforce, Iraq had invested heavily in the treinament of it`s pilots while equipping them with state of the art soviet aircraft. The enemy kill death ratio of the IAF was fairly affordable for the Iraqi forces given the much bigger size of their airforce.

The ground forces were not in a better situation either, while IDF soldiers were much more trained than Syrian and Iraqi conscripts, the sheer number of the enemy forces ws overwealming. The greatest challenge however was the vast and formidably trained Iraqi armored units which matched the Israeli ones in technology and ability while being far more numerous.

Israel constatly urged for foreing ressuply which would be attended periodically following debated negotiations with western countries. However even those ressuplies were insuficient as Iraq simply drawn more of it`s vast forces to renew the pressure on Israel.

As the war raged on one thing became clear, Israel could not afford to mantain attrition with Iraq and if the war continued with fresh Iraqi reinforcements arriving to aid the Syrians each day that passed they would crush the Jewish state eventually.

UN resolution
Throughout the whole conflict the United Nations were meet under constant pressure from Israel to broke a cease fire.While in all previous stances their appeals were met with heavy resistance from Soviet authorities, this time the Israeli authorities couldn`t afford to let their needs be thwarted at the international community.

If the UN Security Council doesn`t force the Arab armies to back down and if this threatens to inflict any severe damage to the integrity of the State of Israel or it`s people they would use by any means, unconvencional if necessary, to preserve the exhistance of their nation.

In May 20, 1993, the UN Security Council attended on another meeting in regards of demanding a ceasefire from the Syria and Iraq, Soviet authorities denied.

Degeneration and total war
At 10:46 in the morning of May 26, 1993, the IQAF launched operation Qaza-a which put nearly all Iraqi aircraft on the offensive. This attack aimed to incapacitate all Israeli airbases and destroy hundreds of Israeli missiles sites hidden throughout the country.

The attack was a major success, with the IAF completely cripled and nearly all ballistic missiles destroyed. Foreshadowing the collapse of the IAF and acknowledging a direct major attack to it`s nuclear capabilities Israeli authorities authorized Operation Olam.

At 11:06 AM the remining missiles (5 Jericho I and 2 Jericho II) were launched against major cities in Syria and Iraq. Three of them crashed away from their targets without detonating (two in sparsely populated areas of Syria and Iraq and one in a small borderline Israeli city).

The other ones hit the Syrian capital Damascus, the cities of Aleppo and Hims and one hit the Iraqi city of Ramadi. The nuclear attacks from Israel killed nearly 1.2 million people directly and another 800.000 due to fallout being responsible for roughtly a quarter of all the deaths from the war.

The attacks received world wide condemnation, in the Middle East it prompted Jordan to join the war againt Israel and increased the support for the Arab Alliance.

The retaliation from Syria and Iraq however, would match in horror and brutality the actions of Israel. Iraq began widespread usage of chemichal weapons against Israli population centers while their troops were to show no mercy for the Jewish citizens of any areas they come to occupy. A new Holocaust was being drafted.

The new Holocaust and the formation of the Coalition
In June 6 of 1993 Jordan took back the Holy City of Jerusalem on the same day they lost it to Israel in the Six-Day War, 26 years ago.

The state of Israel collapsed before the Arab armies over the past week since the destruction of the IAF, two thirds of it`s territory felt under occupation whereas it`s remaining forces were in a salient within the Soutern Western most parts of the countries.

Palestinian insurgency in the Gaza Strip and the last holdouts in the West Bank further debilitated the batered IDF while sectarian violence made thousands of victims.

In the occupied territories Syrian and Iraqi soldiers dragged thousands of Jewish civilians to the streets and shoot then on a daily basis, chemichal airstrikes were deliberately used against resistance pockets on Israeli villages and Synagogues were burned down all over the country.

At that point it was clear that if the situation was left untouched the population of Israel would be dizimated. The international comunity condemned the nuclear attacks from Israel but it was also unacceptable that the Arabs carried out the extermination of Jews in retalliation.

The United States drew an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, they demanded authorization to lead an international coalition to intervene in the Middle East nd end the bloodshed. They would carry out the task force regardless of Soviet approval and were ready to go as far as confronting Soviet troops directly for the region in case they intervened against.

The Soviet Union rather than opposing the U.S. intervention completely supported it recognizing the total degeneration of the situation in the Middle East reinstating their compromise with human rights and peace.

In June 9 of 1993 UN Security Council passed resolutions 776 and 779, respectively authorizing the use of militry force against Iraq and her allies in case they didn`t removed their troops from Israel and ceased all hostilities and giving a deadline until August 5 for them to comply.

Iraq`s reaction, the conflict escalates
With the announce that U.S. troops would enter the conflict Iraq plead to the Arab countries in the Middle East to deny any entrance to foreing forces.

Iraq believed that the sympathization gathered from the nuclear attacks would lead any Arab neighbors to deny the presence of foreign troops in their soil, however despite public opinion in the Arab World tipping to their favor they didn`t receive a clear response from the governments of close western allies such as Saudi Arabia and Kwait.

As the deadline drew closer Iraqi intelligence detected large concentrations of coalition troops being deployed in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

It was them that they realized their neightbours would not prevent the intervention of the U.S. led coalition in the Middle East. Seeing the confrontation inevitable Saddam Hussein deemed those supporting foreign troops as enemies of Iraq and ordered a pre-emptive strike to take place against the international forces. This decision would define the nature of the war to nearly worldwide proportions.

At 02:04 AM of August 4 Iraq launched Operation Jihad against the incumbent coalition forces. The plan aimed at disabling the ability of the coalition to project air power over the skies of the Middle East and paving way for the Iraqi army to occupy Arab countries allied with the West, ultimately expelling all western infuence in the Midde East and setting a new Iraqi Empire.

The offensive was aimed towards the Coalition aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and air bases in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Eastern Egypt. The Iraqi air strikes shocked the coalition forces which weren`t expecting Iraq to take any first first action against them, within minutes the skies was filled with Iraqi, Syrian and coalition aircraft fighting the biggest air battle in history.

Links: A Red Century