A ‘Model Campaign’ Reappraised: The Counter-Insurgency War in Dhofar, Oman, 1965–1975

Kinship and a counter‐hegemonic social order: former revolutionaries in southern Oman

“…Estimates of the participation of female fighters (rare before 1968) vary between 5 and 30 per cent (Takriti 2013: 122). The estimated numbers of fighters do not address support amongst Dhufar's estimated 30,000‐40,000 wartime population (Hughes 2009: 278) – and in some areas one interlocutor suggested that ‘nearly everyone’ had been involved in the Front. In the fluctuating areas under its territorial control, as well as at its base in Hawf in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), the Front promoted social egalitarianism by supporting literacy and educational opportunities, emancipating marginalized groups such as women, slaves, and client groups, rejecting tribalism, and encouraging inter‐marriage across social groups.…”

“…In the case of Dhufar, conventional narratives have stressed the success of the Sultan's and his allies’ counter‐insurgency war (e.g. Hughes 2009). Such accounts overlook how Dhufari revolutionaries’ military defeat does not preclude an ongoing social afterlife of revolution – as an analysis of former revolutionaries’ kinship practices shows.…”

A Proxy War in Arabia: The Dhofar Insurgency and Cross-Border Raids into South Yemen

“…By December 1975 the remnants of the PFLO had been driven across the border into the PDRY, although some insurgent elements continued to fight in Dhofar into the late 1970s. 7 For both the Labour (1964)(1965)(1966)(1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979) and Conservative (1970Conservative ( -1974 governments in office during this period, the UK's support for the Sultanate of Omanand in particular the role of British military personnel both in directing the war against the PFLO and in combat operations with the SAF in Dhofarwas not to be disclosed to parliament or to the British or international media. 8 Britain backed the royal regime fearing that an insurgent victory would destabilise Oman and other pro-Western states in the Arabian Gulf, threatening access to regional oil supplies.…”

State Crime, Irregulars and Counter-Insurgency

“…Some of the research did provide context (e.g. Frémeaux 2012;Gortzak 2009;Hughes Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/scj/ 2009). But other work either lacked detail (seeking quick policy fixes) or was more concerned with effectiveness and the organizational and other variables lying behind this (e.g.…”