Word: dhofar
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Arabia, Oman (pop. 948,000) is on a permanent state of alert against its neighbor to the southwest, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, or South Yemen, which has the only Marxist regime in the Arab world. Until early 1976 South Yemen fueled a rebellion inside the Dhofar province of Oman, and South Yemen still keeps nine infantry and three artillery battalions, plus 60 Soviet-made tanks, just across the Oman border, as well as 160 more tanks in the rear. The Soviets are expanding an air base at Al Ghaida, a town just down the coast from...
Omani and Western planners fear that South Yemen, with additional East-bloc backing, might be able to launch a tank attack against the principal Omani airbase at Thamarit in the desert plain north of Salalah, the capital of the Dhofar. An armored column would need only five hours to reach Thamarit. That threat is one of the many contingencies that the U.S. R.D.F. is meant to deter and to thwart if it ever arises. Therefore the Jade Tiger maneuvers will probably have the U.S. Air Force landing large transports at Thamarit, which has one of the longest runways...
...Taimur, who hoarded state revenues (all in gold) in the basement of his palace. Finally, his Sandhurst-educated son, Qaboos, then 29, staged a palace coup and set about bringing the country into the 20th century. Today Oman boasts 375 schools and 14 modern hospitals. A rebellion in the Dhofar region, fanned by Marxist South Yemen, has been snuffed out as Oman, gatekeeper of the Strait of Hormuz, has built up its military forces. Oman has no large Palestinian presence; Qaboos' top advisers and military commanders are British-two factors that may help explain Oman's special relationship...
...avowed Marxist state in the Middle East, South Yemen has long been something of a problem to other Arab states. Neighboring Oman has protested the South Yemeni government's support of rebels in its Dhofar region. Even radical Iraq gave aid and comfort to Yemeni exiles at odds with Ismail. The Saudis have long been worried by Ismail's attempts to unite his country with non-Marxist North Yemen by force of arms. At home, meanwhile, Ismail was constantly at odds with his own Politburo and achieved such unpopularity that Moscow eventually agreed it was time...