Arab Armies Research Articles

The Israel-Hamas war and the IDF strategy framework

ABSTRACT Hamas’s invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023, with the attendant massacre of some 1,200 Israelis and the occupation of population centres and military bases – something that no Arab army has done since the 1948 war – posed unprecedented challenges to Israel’s socio-political and security establishments. Based on Chief-of-Staff Eisenkot’s 2018 doctrinal manifesto ‘The IDF’s Strategy’, this article assesses Israel’s national security principles and the doctrines for the use of force in an attempt to evaluate whether its political and military actions were aligned with these doctrines during the 2023–24 war with Hamas, and to determine the strategy’s value and possible gaps. It concludes that while the political and military responses appear consistent with the outlined principles, unexpected problems like hostage dilemmas and urban warfare complexities present unforeseen challenges not directly addressed by the manifesto.

ARAB ADMINISTRATION AND SETTLEMENT POLICY IN AZERBAIJAN

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the caliphs who came to power continued the conquests started with the aim of spreading Islam. Some of these activities were related to Azerbaijan. Like every state, the Arab caliphate had its own administrative system, which was more or less the same in all regions. The Arab armies governed the newly conquered territories by appointing governors. From the first day of its capture, Azerbaijan began to be governed by governors appointed here. The first governor who adopted Ardabil as his center, as it was during the Sassanid period, was Hüzeyfa b. al-Yaman has been. We can say that the Arab caliphate aimed to reduce the influence of the Byzantine and Khazars, the leading states of that time, in the region by attracting the local people to their side and forming a unified power unit relying on the support of the local people in the future struggle against them.

Shrouded in history: Unveiling the ways of life of an early Muslim population in Santarém, Portugal (8th- 10th century AD).

In around 716 AD, the city of Santarém, Portugal, was conquered by the Berber and Arab armies that swept the Iberian Peninsula and went on to rule the region until the 12th century. Archaeological excavations in 2007/08 discovered an Islamic necropolis (Avenida 5 de Outubro #2-8) that appears to contain the remains of an early Muslim population in Santarém (8th- 10th century). In this study, skeletal material from 58 adult individuals was analysed for stable carbon (δ13Ccol; δ13Cap), nitrogen (δ15N) and sulphur (δ34S) isotope ratios in bones, and stable oxygen (δ18O), carbon (δ13Cen) and radiogenic strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotopes in tooth enamel. The results of this study revealed a dietary pattern of predominantly C3-plant and domestic C3-fed herbivore consumption during adulthood (δ13Ccol and δ15N, respectively) but a higher proportion of C4-plant input during childhood (δ13Cen) for some individuals-interpreted as possible childhood consumption of millet porridge, a common practice in North Africa-in those with unorthodox burial types (Groups 1 and 2) that was not practiced in the individuals with canonical burials (Group 3). In this first mobility study of a medieval Muslim population in Portugal, δ18ODW values revealed greater heterogeneity in Groups 1 and 2, consistent with diverse origins, some in more humid regions than Santarém when compared to regional precipitation δ18O data, contrasting the more homogenous Group 3, consistent with the local precipitation δ18O range. Ancient DNA analysis conducted on three individuals revealed maternal (mtDNA) and paternal (Y-chromosome) lineages compatible with a North African origin for (at least) some of the individuals. Additionally, mobility of females in this population was higher than males, potentially resulting from a patrilocal social system, practiced in Berber and Arab communities. These results serve to offer a more detailed insight into the ancestry and cultural practices of early Muslim populations in Iberia.

Shay Hazkani. Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War.

Shay Hazkani’s Dear Palestine is an innovative, compellingly written, and deeply researched contribution to the history of the 1948 Palestine war, the establishment of Israel, and the effacement of Palestine. Important histories of these events have previously focused on the question of Israel’s culpability in the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem and specifically the issues of who in the Israeli leadership ordered expulsions and whether they were planned prior to the May invasion by Arab armies. Israeli historian Benny Morris paved the way of archival research into these controversies with his 1987 The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem and revised his initial conclusions in later works. Nur Masalha, Ilan Pappe, and Efraim Karsh have since produced responses—Karsh defending Israel, and Masalha and Pappe indicting it. Hazkani indeed adds to our knowledge of these historical debates. His focus, however, differs from that of these other scholars. He argues that the war and the events of its immediate aftermath were meaning-making and identity-making enterprises for both Arabs and Jews. Through mobilization for the war and its conduct, elites and soldiers constituted and contested collective identities, including Arab, Jew, Muslim, Palestinian, Israeli, Mizrachi, and Ashkenazi. His project is not so much to establish what identities prevailed during this time as to recover how individuals and institutions—especially war- and state-making institutions—produced and debated collective identities. He eschews the nationalist binaries of Arab and Jew as primary analytical categories and instead examines how collective identities were discursively generated. Hazkani consequently brings to the history of 1948 elements of relational history exemplified by Zachary Lockman’s Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948 (1996) and Abigail Jacobson’s From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem between Ottoman and British Rule (2011).

Remembering Defeat in Counter-Revolutionary Egypt

: This article analyses how a creative writing workshop in 2017 Cairo dynamically engaged with cultural memories of the 1967 defeat of the Arab armies. The article first situates 1967 as a crucial reference point in discursive attempts to tie personal life stories to national history and in making sense of a widespread feeling of postcolonial disenchantment. It is in the ruinous aftermath of the 2011 uprisings, when a view on a political horizon beyond the stifling present temporarily was reopened, that the workshop critically examined the relations between cultural memory, family history, and everyday life with, at its center, the notion of defeat in all its shapes and intensities. The article argues that the workshop can be seen as ‘an intimate public,’ carving out a space for survival lying largely outside of the sphere of politics. Nevertheless, in its affective plurality that stimulated modes of irreverence, the workshop tentatively opened up new political dispositions under the strenuous conditions of post-2013 Egypt.

Training Jewish Pilots at Flight Schools in Czechoslovakia during the War of Independence

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel. In response, the Arab states invaded Israel and launched an all-out war with the aim of forcibly nullifying the Declaration of Independence. The danger of an invasion of Israel by five Arab armies led by Egypt (alongside Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon) was already known. It was clear to Ben-Gurion and the other heads of the security apparatus of the Jewish community in Palestine/Israel that considering the Egyptian army’s air power and the fact that the Haganah had only a few light aircraft and not a single fighter plane, fighter planes had to be purchased immediately and pilots trained to fly them. The article will describe how the IDF purchased 25 Messerschmitt-Avia fighter jets and 50 Spitfires and planned to train Israel Air Force pilots to fly these aircraft.

The Limits of Détente: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1969–1973

The Limits of Détente: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1969–1973

The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History

The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History

CONQUEST MOVEMENTS ORGANIZED IN AZERBAIJAN SOIL IN THE OMER PERIOD

Umar is a name that has gained management experience with his previous duties as embassy and consultancy. On this occasion, he got to know very well the region he lived in, the balance between the tribes and the neighboring states of the Arabs. After he became the Caliph, he carried Islam away from the Arabian Peninsula due to the contribution of these experiences. Islam reached Azerbaijan in his time. As a result of the long years of struggle between Byzantium and Sassanid (603-628), Azerbaijani lands came under the rule of Sassanid politically. Although the Azerbaijani territories were politically under the Sassanid rule, the Arab armies came face to face with the local people during the conquest. As a matter of fact, the conquered Berde, Sheki, Belencer, Nakhchivan, Gorus, Gebele, Shirvan, Shabran and Aran regions are in the current Azerbaijani religions. Umar carried out his conquests on three fronts. The first is the Iraqi front where the Sassanid’s are located; the second is the Palestine, Egypt and Damascus front against the Byzantines. The third front was towards Azerbaijan and the around the Caucasus. The Caliph won victories by appointing commanders to the conquest regions and expanded the Islamic lands in this context. Since we will deal with the conquests of Umar in Azerbaijan in this article, we will not describe all the wars he made in his caliphate. We will talk about Umar taking Islam to Azerbaijani lands. Islam spread rapidly in these lands due to the living conditions and beliefs of the Turks close to the principles of the religion of Islam. Turks living in these regions for a long time have believed in a single god. Thus, the local people of the country did not have much difficulty in accepting Islam. It is for this reason that Islam spread peacefully during the conquest of the Azerbaijani lands by Umar.

An Egyptian Medical Officer and Qurʾān Commentator in Ottoman Syria

Abstract This article pays a particular attention to an Arab army physician and scholar from the mid-19th century who placed empirical science at the center of Islamic thought and situated it within Qurʾānic exegetical debates. He is the Egyptian Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Iskandarānī, a medical officer who ended up working in Ottoman Syria, and whose works were copied and printed (in)directly by the Ottomans. Apart from the limited information contained in previous scholarly literature, which, on the basis of his first commentary alone, repeatedly presents this commentator as one of the first people to have produced a “scientific interpretation of the Qurʾān”, little is known about his personal and professional background and the production of his commentaries. This study also sheds light on exegetical and intellectual directions produced outside Egypt in the 19th century.

Killing the dispensables: massacres perpetrated in the villages of Eastern Aleppo Province in 2013

ABSTRACT In 2013, Aleppo province was engulfed in violence. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and affiliated Shi’a militias executed a campaign of massacres in the rural areas located on the eastern fringes of the province. The violence caused an exodus from this region, eventually dissipating local rural communities entirely. What can explain such extreme and brutal political violence perpetrated at a local level in the east Aleppo countryside throughout 2013? To find an answer, I analyse the personal accounts of those who witnessed the violence and YouTube videos. Taken together, these sources provide a visceral description of the massacres—in particular the summary executions in the village of Rasm al-Nafl, as a case study of extreme violence in one of the poorest rural areas of Syria. Problematizing mono-causal sectarian explanations, I argue that a deeper non-sectarian complex of rurality and a process of subaltern othering in combination with opportunism, governmental retribution, and strategic military concern for territorial control in order to secure alternative supply routes to Aleppo, ultimately led to the eradication of life and cultural genocide in these rural areas.

Review of: K. Pollack. Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness

The review analyzes the recent book written by an American military expert and political scientist Kenneth Pollack and entitled Armies of the Sand: Past, Present and Future of the Effectiveness of Arab Armies. The author of the monograph has been studying Arab armies and Middle East conflicts for more than 30 years and had previously published several papers that consider the military organization of different countries in the region. In this book, Pollak seeks to summarize long-standing discussions that consider the reasons for the low military effectiveness of the Arab armies after the Second World War. The author consistently examines four principal arguments that seek to explain the reasons for the failures of the Arab armies on the battlefield (the influence of the Soviet military doctrine, politicization, the level of socio-economic development, culture). For each of the hypotheses, Pollack selects the most representative examples from the history of military operations carried out by the Arab armies after 1945. In doing so the researcher tries to prove or disprove the hypotheses. To better substantiate his conclusions Pollack also examines whether non-Arab armies that presumably faced the same difficulties as the Arab ones also performed poorly on the battlefield. The author concludes that Arab culture has been the most influential factor that prevented Arab armies from winning wars.

Jewish intelligence and the question of the Arab countries invasion prior to the 1948 War of Independence

ABSTRACT Before the end of the British Mandate and the establishment of the State of Israel, the Yishuv’s intelligence services assessed that King Abdullah would be willing to accept the existence of a Jewish state and that the other Arab countries, for internal and external reasons, would not be interested in getting involved in war. They concluded that an invasion by regular Arab armies in response to a declaration of a Jewish state would be a ‘low probability’ and that Arab propaganda calling for the destruction of Israel only amounted to a war of nerves. Today it is abundantly clear that the intelligence agencies failed to weigh these factors correctly. In fact, what primarily motivated the Arab regimes to launch an all-out war was indeed their internal and external situation, since by so doing they could divert public attention away from their internal problems and ameliorate their external status.

مغازی معمر بن راشدتعارف و تجزیہ

Ma'mar Bin Rashid (714 CE) was born in Basra. Ma'mar was belonged to wing of powerful Arab clan Azd. That wing name Hādān was comprised over people who were once slaved. Azd clan had a strong hold on Ma'mar birthplace, Basra and adjacent area like Oman. Like other scholars of that age Ma'mar was also a Persian descendent. Basra was not a Persian city indeed but built as a miltiray camp for Arab Army over the ruin of some dwellings. Beside the river bank and beneath the stones of Basra the ruin of wahshat Abad UrdShair was laying. Book Al-Magazi written by Ma'mar bin Rashid on life of Prophet Muhammad pbuh is considered a highly notable work of that era. This literary work got importance from many dimensions. This work achieved high value as oldest, fine and classical piece of work on Prophet Muhammad pbuh life. It dates back to second century after Hijra. It also reflects the culture and civilization of that era. It is recorded in Arabic language. This book is not only useful for scholars but for common people too. This book contains sufficient material about the history of Prophet Muhammad PBUH companions. So as a primary source it is inevitable to explore which types of efforts were made by early Muslims to record and repress-ent Prophet Muhammad PBUH life. Introduction and analysis of Ma'mar work will be done in following lines.

Military, Civilian, or Both: David Ben-Gurion’s Perception of National Security After the War of Independence

Over the years, attempts to define the notion of national security in terms of what it means and what it represents have ranged from a classical, purely military definition, to a broader multidimensional concept encompassing a range of different features. Studies on Israel’s national security concept have tended to emphasize the formative role played by David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister and defense minister. These works have focused on the military aspects of the national security concept, based on arguments concerning the perceived threat of wartime engagements with Arab armies. This article argues that Ben-Gurion’s national security concept was essentially a civilian perspective with military features that responded to the four types of threats, local, regional, international, and Jewish, facing the State of Israel at the time, most of which were not military.

An Early Operational Analysis of Russian-Supplied T-90s in Syria

ABSTRACTOn 30 September 2015, Russian military forces began their overt involvement in the then-four-year-old Syrian Civil War; the subsequent Russian air campaign and political support to the Assad regime are now well documented. However, Russia’s material military support remains largely understudied. This article explores one line of material supported with a demonstrated impact on Syrian Arab Army military operations, as well as Russia’s use of Syria as a sandbox for promoting its defense industry. This article seeks to analyze the deployment, impact, and use of half a dozen T-90A main battle tanks provided to Syrian government forces and their allies in November 2015. It argues that the provision of this weapon played a role in the regime’s significant victories on the battlefield — and assesses their impact on the battle of Aleppo (19 July 2012–22 December 2016). Its performance on the battlefield likely served as a positive showcase for the platform, which contributed to a series of considerable arms deals of the platform to states across the Middle East and South and East Asia. Finally, our research demonstrates the extent to which this platform was utilized by various pro-regime proxy forces in Syria, including those closely linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Until We All Rise: Aspects of Traditional Muslim Burial Practices and Ceremonies in Tajikistan

Islam, which spread out to Central Asia after its conquest by the Arab armies in early 8th century, has expanded and taken roots in the spiritual and everyday life of each ethnic group of the region in its own way. In its Central Asian geo-cultural contexts, similar to other regions where it came to be the faith of majority, it is more prone to integrated characteristics, including traditional ethnic beliefs and ritualistic elements. The study of Islam among other things in the context of local traditional rituals, particularly the funerary traditions and observances, which has also kept many cultural elements pre-existing the arrival of Islam, has profound meaning in many aspects; such as re-interpretation of the afterlife views and development of cycle of observances and ceremonies that are performed in the hope of earning merit on behalf of deceased and a hope for the day when all who died rise again. The focus of this paper is to present the funerary ritual cycle of Tajik Muslims. The limits of the contribution are set to Tajikistan; but also refer to corresponding and parallel ceremonies observed among the Tajiks living in other neighbouring countries. The impact of this contribution is both in its inventory of the literature on the topic but also on discussion of the importance of these rituals and how the communities feel about the reasons and performance of these ceremonies. The ceremonies that provide merit for both deceased and their kin award them with a sustaining hope that they all will rise and unite in the Last Day. The material for this contribution was collected through group and individual interviews of people from various regions of Tajikistan (April-September, 2014), personal observations and from previous studies on the topic. In what follows I will provide a short literature review on existing studies on funerary traditions of Tajik Muslims and also a descriptive compendium of all currently practiced cycles of funerary ceremonies.

THE INFLUENCE OF RUSSIAN MILITARY INVOLVEMENT IN THE WAR IN SYRIA

The Russian military intervention in Syria, conducted between September 2015 and March 2016, was one of the crucial moments in the Middle East conflict which has evolved since 2011. It not only prevented the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad but also enabled the initiative to be taken by the Syrian Arab Army. The simultaneous conducting of two military operations by the Russian army, i.e. the Russian involvement in both Ukraine and the Middle East, requires thorough investigations into the course of these operations. Such investigations may provide answers to a number of questions which appear of key importance to Poland, e.g., regarding Russia’s logistic and technological abilities to conduct military operations outside its territory, the military outcomes of the Russian intervention, and the potential social opposition to the human losses sustained by Russia as a result of such interventions. Considering the above, the aim of this article is to outline the Russian military intervention in Syria, and its influence on the course of the war. Special attention was paid to such issues as the causes behind the Russian intervention, the situation on the Syrian war frontlines prior to this intervention, the Russian forces engaged and the resources intended for this military operation, as well as its outcome.

From Rebel Rule to a Post-Capitulation Era in Daraa Southern Syria: The Impacts and Outcomes of Rebel Behaviour During Negotiations

In June 2018, the Syrian Arab Army launched a military campaign that aimed at ending rebel rule and restoring territorial control over Daraa and Quneitra govern orates southern Syria. This research presents a wide-range of developments that occurred in Daraa govern orate after a Russian-brokered agreement that ended rebel rule. Based on exclusive interviews with senior ex-rebel and civilian actors, this study investigates how rebel leaders’ behaviour at the negotiating table shaped Russia’s level of commitment towards each former rebel leader as well as former rebels and civilians of their localities in the post-surrender era. Finally, this research identifies the main territorial configurations in Daraa govern orate as well as the main challenges facing local institutions and service provision after the resurgence of state rule.

Islam and Economic Performance: Historical and Contemporary Links

This essay critically evaluates the analytic literature concerned with causal connections between Islam and economic performance. It focuses on works since 1997, when this literature was last surveyed comprehensively. Among the findings are the following: Ramadan fasting by pregnant women harms prenatal development; Islamic charities mainly benefit the middle class; Islam affects educational outcomes less through Islamic schooling than through structural factors that handicap learning as a whole; Islamic finance has a negligible effect on Muslim financial behavior; and low generalized trust depresses Muslim trade. The last feature reflects the Muslim world’s delay in transitioning from personal to impersonal exchange. The delay resulted from the persistent simplicity of the private enterprises formed under Islamic law. Weak property rights reinforced the private sector’s stagnation by driving capital from commerce to rigid waqfs. Waqfs limited economic development through their inflexibility and democratization by keeping civil society embryonic. Parts of the Muslim world conquered by Arab armies are especially undemocratic, which suggests that early Islamic institutions were particularly critical to the persistence of authoritarian patterns of governance. States have contributed to the persistence of authoritarianism by treating Islam as an instrument of governance. As the world started to industrialize, non-Muslim subjects of Muslim-governed states pulled ahead of their Muslim neighbors, partly by exercising the choice of law they enjoyed under Islamic law in favor of a Western legal system.( JEL N25, N45, O43, O53, P51, Z12)