Dhofar rebellion

<p>The Dhofar Rebellion , also known as the Dhofar War, took place from 1963 to 1976 in <a href="/facts/Dhofar_Governorate/19kFt8o4">Dhofar</a> against the <a href="/facts/Sultanate_of_Muscat_and_Oman/4yJM3FvH">Sultanate of Muscat and Oman</a>. The war began with the formation of the <a href="/facts/Dhofar_Liberation_Front/JvDk352G">Dhofar Liberation Front</a>, a <a href="/facts/Marxism/sgnnLfax">Marxist</a> group which aimed to create an independent state in Dhofar, free from the rule of the Omani Sultan <a href="/facts/Said_bin_Taimur/swNamAjg">Said bin Taimur</a>. The rebels also held the broader goals of <a href="/facts/Arab_nationalism/AJAwbyX8">Arab nationalism</a> which included ending <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">British</a> influence in the <a href="/facts/Persian_Gulf/W78AfnC1">Persian Gulf</a> region. Omani and British goals, on the other hand, were to halt the spread of <a href="/facts/Communism/PkUwa9xK">communism</a> as part of the broader <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a>.
</p><p>The war initially took the form of a low level insurgency with <a href="/facts/Guerrilla_tactics/IMWNg4bI">guerrilla warfare</a> being used against Omani forces and the foreign presence in the country. A number of factors such as the British <a href="/facts/Withdrawal_from_Aden/Pc02dpXc">withdrawal from Aden</a> and support from the newly independent <a href="/facts/South_Yemen/pm282o7k">South Yemen</a>, <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a> and the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> brought the rebels increased success, with the communists controlling the entirety of the Jebel region by the late 1960s. The <a href="/facts/1970_Omani_coup_d%2527%25C3%25A9tat/BVPYtSjL">1970 Omani coup d'état</a> led to the overthrow of Sultan Said bin Taimur by his reformist son <a href="/facts/Qaboos_bin_Said/NJAySCBW">Qaboos bin Said</a> who was backed by a major British military intervention in the conflict. The British initiated a "hearts and minds" campaign to counter the communist rebels and began the process of modernising the <a href="/facts/Sultan_of_Oman%2527s_Armed_Forces/w5HaeJrT">Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces</a> while simultaneously deploying the <a href="/facts/Special_Air_Service/aH7HDFdf">Special Air Service</a> to conduct anti-insurgency operations against the rebels. This approach led to a string of victories against the rebels and was boosted by the <a href="/facts/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi/r2bcadLc">Shah of Iran's</a> intervention in the conflict to support the Sultanate of Oman in 1973. The war ended with the final defeat of the rebels in 1976.
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Dhofar rebellion