United Arab Command

The United Arab Command (UAC) (also Unified Arab Command or Joint Arab Command) was a unified Arab military command established by unanimous resolution of the thirteen member states of the Arab League at the summit held in Cairo, Egypt, on 13–16 January 1964.

Origins

Predecessors

The UAC was the culmination of a history of

water diversion initiatives.^[1] The PMC's response was that joint military action would require extensive preparation and that the Chief-of-Staffs Committee (the Military Advisory Committee) should be invoked to set up a joint apparatus of approximately 100 officers.^[2]

Another pan-Arabist body, the

Joint Defence Council, consisting of Arab foreign and defence ministers and chiefs-of-staff, met in Cairo (10 – 18 June 1961) and proposed the establishment of a Joint Arab Command. The UAR encouraged the delegation of decisive power to the commanding officer of this new command; under the terms of the 1950 Arab Joint Security Pact, such a commanding officer "would be chosen from the member state with the largest troop presence", namely Egypt.^[3]

Background

The UAC was proposed by

River Jordan: the Hasbani River and the Banias.^[4]

The creation of the UAC was announced by Cairo Radio; no mention of the UAC was made in the official

Abdel Khalek Hassouna, had stated that certain adopted resolutions would remain secret.^[5]

Response

king of Jordan, had experience of joint defence arrangements among the Arab states, and was not particularly enthusiastic about the establishment of the UAC.^[6] Nonetheless, he gave it his support, and later charged the UAC with command of the military operations of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a condition to Jordan's co-operation, lest the PLO draw Jordan into a war with Israel for which it was ill-prepared.^[7]

foreign minister (22 January 1965 – 11 August 1966), in a memorandum to the Defence and Oversea Policy cabinet committee, wrote that the formation of the UAC and its undertaking of "ostensibly defensive military planning against Israel" constituted a "somewhat more dangerous phase" of the Arab–Israeli conflict.^[8] Certainly, Britain conceded that the UAC had become a "relatively competent and effective body", capable of ordering a retaliatory action against Israel should the Arab water diversion plan come under attack.^[9]

Arthur Lourie, Israeli ambassador to Britain, claimed that the establishment of the UAC had raised the tension in the region and had enabled Egypt to gain control over the military forces of its fellow Arab states.^[10]

Organisation

The UAC was to be headed by an Egyptian lieutenant general, Ali Ali Amer,^[5]^[11] and with headquarters in Cairo.^[5] Notwithstanding the Egyptian bent to the UAC, its cost of creation, GBP 15 million, was mostly contributed by the oil-rich member states, with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait topping the list.^[11]

Following the 1966

Egyptian military.^[12]

Tasks

An early task of the UAC was the

King of Jordan, the command of the PLO's military operations.^[7]

However, meaningful action by the UAC against Israel was given two pre-conditions by the commander-in-chief, Ali Ali Amer, at the second Arab League summit, held in Alexandria, Egypt, in September 1964. Firstly, the confrontation states – Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – must allow the UAC to station foreign Arab troops on their soil at the UAC's discretion.^[13] Secondly, there must be co-ordination and standardisation of strategy, tactics, organisation and weaponry.^[13] While the second pre-condition was agreed to in principle, the three confrontation states baulked at allowing Egyptian encroachment on their territory.^[13]

Decline

Operation Shredder

The pre-conditions to military action set at the September 1964 Arab League summit proved insurmountable: in November 1966, the

aftermath to the incident, the UAC was noticeable for its inaction.^[14]

Six-Day War

Following the

Samu Incident, Jordan and Egypt, in signing a mutual defence pact on 30 May 1967, agreed to revitalise the UAC, placing it under the command of Abdul Munim Riad, chief of staff of the Egyptian military.^[12] Nonetheless, when the 1967 Six-Day War

began, the UAC was no longer considered an active body.