Jebel Akhdar War

The Jebel Akhdar War (Arabic: حرب الجبل الأخضر, romanized: Ḥarb al-Jebel el-ʾAkhḍar, lit. 'the Green Mountain War'), also known as the Jebel Akhdar Rebellion or the Oman War (Arabic: حرب عمان, romanized: Ḥarb ʻumān), broke out in 1954 and again in 1957 in Oman, as an effort by the local Omanis in the interior of Oman led by their elected Imam, Ghalib al-Hinai, to protect the Imamate of Oman from the occupation plans of Said bin Taimur, sultan of Muscat and Oman, backed by the British government, who were eager to gain access to the oil wells in the interior lands of Oman. Sultan Said received direct financing to raise an armed force to occupy the Imamate of Oman from Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC),^{[page needed]} a consortium of oil companies that was majorly owned by what is known today as Shell, Total, ExxonMobil and British Petroleum (BP); the latter was majority-owned by the British government.

The Imamate was eventually supported by Arab states. The war lasted until 1959, when the British armed forces decided to take on direct interventions using air and ground attacks on the Imamate, which won the Sultanate the war. The declarations signed by the sultans of Muscat to consult the British government on all important matters, the unequal trade treaties signed by the two sides favoring British interests, the cession of the Omani Kuria Muria islands to the British, and the vast control over the Sultanate's government ministries, including defense and foreign affairs, exerted by the British rendered the Sultanate a de facto British colony. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the 'Question of Oman' resolution in 1965, 1966 and again in 1967 that called upon the British government to cease all repressive action against the locals, end British control over Oman and reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Omani people to self-determination and independence.^{[excessive citations]}

In the mid-18th century, Ahmed bin Sa'id Al Busaidi expelled the Persian colonizers from Oman and became the elected Imam of Oman, with Rustaq as its capital. Following Imam Ahmed's death in 1783, his son, Said bin Ahmed became the elected Imam. Afterwards, a hereditary line of succession ruled by Al Busaidi Sultans started in Muscat during the 19th century, except for a short period of time when Azzan bin Qais became an elected Imam (1868–1871). The British Empire was keen to dominate southeast Arabia to stifle the growing power of other European states and to curb the Omani maritime power that grew during the 17th century. The British Empire thus made the decision to back the Al Busaidi monarchy of Muscat towards the end of 18th century. The British Empire over time began to establish a series of treaties with the sultans with the objective of advancing British political and economic interest in Muscat, while granting the sultans military protection. By the end of the 19th century, Muscat became increasingly dependent on British loans and remained in an underdeveloped state. The British government maintained administrative control over the Sultanate as the defense secretary and chief of intelligence, chief adviser to the sultan and all ministers except for two were British. The British Political Agent, who resided in Muscat, described the influence of the British government over Muscat as completely "self interested" and paid no attention to the social and political conditions of the locals, which began to alienate the interior of Oman.

Tension between the interior of Oman, the Imamate of Oman, and the Sultanate of Muscat started to rise in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Imamate, similar to the Sultanate, was ruled by the Ibadi sect, however, the dispute between both parties was for the most part political. The Imamate, which has appeared in cycles for more than 1,200 years in Oman, rejected the growing influence of the British Empire over Muscat and Oman. The Omanis in the interior remained consistently opposed to foreign influence over Oman. In 1913, Imam Salim AlKharusi instigated an anti-Muscat rebellion that lasted until 1920 when the Imamate established peace with the Sultanate through the signing of Treaty of Seeb that was brokered by Britain, which had no economic interest in the interior of Oman during that point of time. The treaty granted autonomous rule to the Imamate in the interior of Oman and recognized the sovereignty of the coastal of Oman, the Sultanate of Muscat.

After the discovery of oil wells in other parts of the Arabian Gulf, British oil companies were keen to search for oil in Oman. On 10 January 1923, an agreement between the Sultanate and the British government was signed in which the Sultanate had to consult with the British Political Agent residing in Muscat and obtain the approval of the High Government of India in order to extract oil in the Sultanate. On 31 July 1928, the Red Line Agreement was signed between Anglo-Persian Company (later renamed British Petroleum), Royal Dutch/Shell, Compagnie Française des Pétroles (later renamed Total), Near East Development Corporation (later renamed ExxonMobil) and Calouste Gulbenkian (an Armenian businessman) to collectively produce oil in the post-Ottoman Empire region, which included the Arabian peninsula, with each of the four major companies holding 23.75 percent of the shares while Calouste Gulbenkian held the remaining 5 percent shares. The agreement stipulated that none of the signatories was allowed to pursue the establishment of oil concessions within the agreed on area without including the other stakeholders, yet other oil companies that were not part of the agreement had the opportunity of pursuing oil concessions individually, which ensued Standard Oil Company of California (later renamed Chevron) to win an oil concession with Saudi Arabia in 1933. In the following year, 1929, the members of the agreement established Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).

When Said bin Taimur became the ruler of Sultanate of Muscat, the defense of the region was guaranteed by treaties with Britain. The only armed forces in Muscat were tribal levies and a palace guard recruited from Baluchistan in Pakistan (due to a historical quirk by which the sultan also owned the port of Gwadar). Sultan Said signed a declaration, similar to the one signed by his predecessor, his father, to consult the British government on all important matters, including oil concessions.

In 1937, an agreement between the sultan and a subsidiary of IPC, operated by British oil companies, was signed to grant oil concessions to IPC, in which the sultan received a sizable signature bonus. IPC, after failing to discover oil in the Sultanate region, informed the sultan that oil reserves may exist in the interior of Oman and offered financial support to raise an armed force against any potential resistance by the Imamate. The British government favored IPC's plan as it sought benefits from the expansion of the Sultanate's territory and considered oil discovery in Oman as a valuable insurance against the insecurity of other parts of the Middle East. Sultan Said, who had the backing of the British government, ruled with an iron fist and followed a non-development policy, while prohibiting anything that he considered "decadent" and any form of criticism. On 20 December 1951, a Treaty of Friendship was signed between the United Kingdom and the Sultanate wherein the Sultanate shall not prohibit or restrict the movement of goods imported from the United Kingdom or exported to the United Kingdom, which shall not extend to the exportation or importation restrictions to any other country, with few exceptions.

Prior to 1954, there was a dispute between the Sultanate and Saudi Arabia over the ownership of the Buraimi Oasis, an area which was known to have oil reserves. In early 1953, the Sultanate prepared a force of 500 to deal with the seizure of Buraimi by Saudi Arabia and protect the Trucial States against further Saudi encroachments. In August 1953, Muscat forces were preparing to advance on Buraimi but the British government asked the sultan to withhold, pending negotiations for a peaceful settlement. In October 1955, under the order of the United Kingdom Prime Minister Eden, the British military entered Buraimi and declared the area as part of the Sultanate. The dispute on the ownership of Buraimi carried on throughout the period of the war between the Sultanate and the Imamate.