[4 min read]
Author: Enri
After the end of the Second World War and during the Cold War period, its importance increased strategically very significantly.
The Habbaniyah airbase in western Iraq, founded in the 1930s by the British, represented a significant foothold in the Middle East, and it helped them greatly in ending the May 1941 movement and suppressing it. After the end of the Second World War and during the Cold War period, its importance increased strategically very significantly.
British Soldier in Habbaniya Air Force Base, IRAQ
Air Force Habbaniyah :-
Origins .. Britain's strategic importance in it .. the end of the British presence in it .. After the First World War, the English settled in two locations in Iraq, the first in the Al-Huneidy camp that changed to Al-Rashid, and the second was the Shuaiba camp. In 1932, Iraq took over the Al-Huneidi camp and the English moved to the Habbaniyah base. In 1955, it was decided that Iraq would receive the Habbaniyah camp, according to the agreement held in (Saida), but this handover did not take place, and Iraq's control over The Base remained formal and formal.
Britain used to think that Iraq was the base of the Cold War in the Middle East against the Soviet Union because, as a British commentator said: “The main decisive fact is the Habbaniyah position, the base of the British Air Force in northwest Baghdad, it has a unique position in the existing international conflict and it is located 600 miles from Baku, the Soviet oil center, 600 miles from Suez, and 600 miles from Haifa.
And for this it can be an ideal base for long-range flight in three directions and it is the only base in the Middle East that can provide protection for combat aircraft and to be the base of bombers operations in order to attack all Russian sites near the Middle East on the northern Iranian or Turkish border, which is Also the only rule that is located on a sufficient degree of safety from the bases of Russian bombers and this is an advantage not enjoyed by most of the new air bases that were established with the help of America in eastern Turkey, so making Iraq a party to a conflict between the major countries is not satisfied by grief. The political father, the organizations of the free officers, and the Iraqi people opposed the Baghdad alliance and the bilateral agreement with Britain because it makes Iraq a party to a conflict between the major countries.
After the revolution of July 14th, Iraq put it's hand in a real way on its national soil and full sovereignty, as the Iraqi forces took control of all British ammunition and weapons depots on the first day of the revolution, and the English force was stripped of their weapons and imposed curfew on the British units present in Habbaniyah, including their families. Since the revolution Until September 1958 (9) convoys were sent, each convoy of (40 - 50 people) between a child, a woman and a soldier. And the remaining (600) people, including officers and soldiers, and about (100) families, and the British continued to occupy about (one third) of the land. Habbaniyah before the revolution and most of it was allocated A role for housing and clubs.
Brigadier General Staff Harb in the Egyptian Armed Forces wrote in an article 11.1 1958 1958 an article entitled (The effect of the British evacuation of Habbaniyah from a strategic point of view). . . (Mohamed Kamal Abdel Hamid) said in his article: (The Iraq revolution culminated in a large demonstration of success and success in all fields, it has gained political trust from all parts of the world as well as stability, security and continued cooperation with all countries and has recently achieved a great victory by the British withdrawal from the Habbaniyah base that Britain was counting on it as a prominent front region in the forehead of the Middle East, on which the strategy of the empire in both the Near and Middle East is based, in addition to being a major station for British transportation to the Far East.
The author of the article adds: (And the importance of British Habana was of a special nature since Britain's participation in the Baghdad alliance, as this rule was the most important rule that was actually established throughout the countries participating in this alliance, and this means that Britain's interest in preparing the Habbaniyah rule, but it has achieved balance with the United States Center in Turkey and, on the other hand, the British control of the Arab Gulf region was subject to the power of Britain, Iraq, that is, in Habbaniyah in particular.
On March 30, 1959, the British and Iraqi governments agreed to withdraw British forces from the Habbaniyah base. However, the evacuation arrangements were stalled, but the evacuation began on April 6, 1959, and by May 31, 1959, the last group of British soldiers and officers who were camping at Habbaniyah base had left Iraq. Thus, the evacuation of British forces would have been final from Iraq after a struggle that lasted for more than a quarter of a century, and Habbaniyah base became a camp for the Iraqi army after it was granted a base for the British army in accordance with the 1930 treaty.
The British presence and the pillars of the monarchy have disappeared, and Habbaniyah has remained a dear Iraqi good land washed from the occupation forces from the waters of its lake. Which is going to express to the next generations about what the Iraqi will to defend the sovereignty of their Iraq inch by inch.
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