War in the Levant
| War in the Levant | |||||||
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| Part of Arab Cold War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Supported by: | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Mubarak Al-Sadr(King of Iraq) |
 Hafez al-Malki(President of Syria) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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Start of the war: 100,000–150,000 |
Start of the war: 180,000–200,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Military dead: 100,000–190,000 |
Military dead: 210,000–350,000 | ||||||
| Civilian deaths: 150,000+ | |||||||
The War in the Levant (among other names) was a protracted armed conflict that was fought between Iraq and the Syria that was fought between April 18, 1984, to September 28, 1989, a combined total of five years. The war began when the Royal Iraqi Air Force began a series of strategic bombing runs against the Syrian Arab Air Force as the first action of an Iraqi invasion of Syria's eastern territories before the Syrian Arab Army launched a counter-offensive. Iraq's rationale for the war was fears of a potential Syrian invasion of the country citing its support for Arab Socialist Union and other Ba'athist political parties and militant organizations, plans for Iraq to be annexed as part of the proposed United Arab Republic, and increased border conflicts and tensions between both states. Iraq wished to annex Syria's eastern regions in order to expand its territories, prevent the UAR from being established and to displace Syria as the main power in the Levant. The war was the product of a prolonged state of tension between both Iraq and Syria following the takeover of the latter country by the Democratic Arab Socialist Union in 1967 which overthrew the previous Iraq-friendly government under Haydar al-Hassan.
Iraq's invasion of Syria would see great gains, however the Iraqi defeat at Mosul would be the beginning of Syria's counter-offensive which would see them recapture all lost ground by mid-1985 due to strained Iraqi logistics and continued foreign support from Eastern Bloc states such as the United Commonwealth, Egypt, Libya and other states in the Landonist International (Landintern) which allowed them to rebuild their shattered air force. By contrast, Iraq received foreign aid and support from Hashemite Arabia, Hasa, and the Trucial States along with Western Bloc countries such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Kingdom of Sierra. Starting in November 1985, the Syrian Armed Forces launched a counter-invasion into Iraq seeking to occupy the nation, depose its monarchy, and establish a Ba'athist government with the long-term goal being its annexation into the United Arab Republic. The Syrian invasion got as far as Hillah before being halted by Iraqi forces and the Battle of Baghdad would be a protracted engagement that ultimately ended in an Iraqi victory and saw many Syrian military personnel defect to the Free Syrian Council. From 1986 to 1989, the war was fought on the Iraq–Syria border, Ira's northmost regions and Syria's southeastern frontier until the war ended on September 28, 1989 with the signing and passing of League of Nations Resolution 598 which formally ended the war and both countries agreed to it. Syria and Iraq agreed to the resolution as fatigue, war exhaustion, waning morale, and economic devestation from the war took a great toll on both sides forcing their governments to agree to peace.
The War in the Levant is the most devastating conflict fought between the conventional armies of developing countries and remains the deadliest conflict fought in the Middle East during the Cold War and as part of the Arab Cold War as well along with one of the deadliest wars fought in the Middle East throughout its history. One of the deadliest wars fought in the Levant, both Iraq and Syria were left scared and required extensive aid in order to rebuild after the war and the damage lead to social and political unease and unrest in both countries leading to the 1990s uprising in Iraq and the Damascus Spring of 1999 in Syria as part of the Revolutions of 2000. Ba'athist Syria would be in a state of frequent conflict with the Western Bloc, in particular the Conference of American States and NATO throughout the 90s and would pave the war for the eventual military invasion of the country in 2004. In total, at least 500,000 people died over the course of the war with Syria having the higher casualty figures overall due to it being attacked first. Reparations were not paid to nor by either side and both governments declared victory despite failing their respective war-time goals and objectives.
Terminology
The war's name, War in the Levant and alternatively known as the "Levant War", comes from the fact that the war was fought in the Levant, a region located in the Middle East where Iraq and Syria are based in. Throughout the entire conflict, the region was a battleground between both countries with towns, villages, and cities in the area suffering extensive damage and needing major reconstruction efforts post-war. Other names include the "Iraqi–Syrian War" or the Iraq–Syria war due to it being fought between both countries.
In Iraq, the conflict was known as the "National Defensive War" due to the central government's justification for the war as one of self-defense against Ba'athist aggression. In Syria, it was referred to as the "Imposed War" and the "Revolutionary Defensive War" as the government sought to prevent Iraq from annexing its land and deposing the Ba'athist regime, directly or indirectly. Syrian state media would refer to the conflict as "Al-Sadr's Qadisiyyah" in reference to the 7th century Battle of al-Qadisyyah in which Arab warriors overcame the Sasanian Empire during the Muslim conquest of Iran. Today, the war is known as the Levant War in both countries.
Background
Iraq–Syria relations
Both Iraq and Syria were two of many newly independent states that emerged following the success of the Great Arab Revolt in the 1930s during Great War I where Syrian and Iraqi Arabs rose up against the Ottoman Empire and deposed Ottoman rule in the Middle East and established new countries with Iraq and the Kingdom of Syria being established in 1938. Early on, Iraq and Syria had fairly stable relations due to mutual cooperation during the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. King Faisal I of Syria established warm ties with Iraq due to both nations having monarchies in charge of their governments. The discovery and investment of oil in the Levant made it ideal for the Ottomans to invest in and investment would continue by Syria and Iraq, drawing investment and attention from Western business interests throughout the Interwar period in the 1930s and 40s. In 1953, a revolution led by Haydar al-Hassan of the Syrian Army staged a coup and overthrew Faisal, declaring the First Syrian Republic. While this would harm Iraqi–Syrian relations, Haydar made a significant effort to amend them and warm relations returned by 1957 as al-Hassan continued investment in the Trans-Arabian pipeline and other oil pipelines from Syria to Iraq.
Starting in 1952, the Arab Cold War began after Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt overthrew the Egyptian monarchy and established a socialist republic under the guiding principles of Ba'athism and Arab socialism and began the Arab Cold War. The spread of Ba'athism would reach Syria and saw the ideology become the biggest underground political movement in the country as it grew in response al-Hassan's authoritarian policies and regime. Iraq supported al-Hassan's government as they feared that if his regime fell, Ba'athism would takeover and spread into Iraq and threaten the monarchy, especially as there was already a Ba'athist movement in the kingdom already, the Arab Socialist Union.
Spread of Ba'athism
On April 17, 1967, Ba'athist advocate and Syrian Army officer Farouk al-Malki lead elements of the army and air force in a military coup which overthrew al-Hassan from power and installed Farouk as the new president who declared the establishment of the Syrian Arab Republic, a Ba'athist state under the Democratic Arab Socialist Union in a one-party state. Farouk's seizure of power, execution of al-Hassan shortly after the coup, and purge of First Republic officials and opponents of the new government lead to a major fall in Syria's relations with Iraq with the latter refusing to recognize the Syrian Arab Republic as a legitimate state and called for the former government's restoration or for the creation of a new government. The coup would see Syria align itself with the Eastern Bloc and the Arab socialist/Ba'athist states within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) against Western Bloc-aligned states in the Arabian Peninsula backed by Iran.