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The Arab League as an organization has no military force, like the United Nations or the European Union, but in the 2007 summit, the Leaders decided to reactivate their joint defense and establish a peacekeeping force to deploy in South Lebanon, Iraq, South Sudan, Federal Republic of Ethiopia and other hot spots.[1]

History

The military history of the Arab League is closely linked to the Arab–Israeli conflict. The 1950 Arab Joint Security Pact set out provisions for collective security among the Arab states, but only in 1961 was the Joint Arab Command (JAC) proposed as a unified military command for the Arab League first by the Joint Defence Council, an institution of the Arab League.

Before the JAC could take shape, a unanimous resolution was passed at the first Arab League summit (January 1964) establishing the United Arab Command (UAC), although the UAC's inactivity following the Samu Incident (1966) and during the Six-Day War (1967) signalled its de facto dissolution.

Arab Liberation Army

The Arab Liberation Army (جيش الإنقاذ العربي Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi), also translated as Arab Countries Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war and was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee's Holy War Army, though in fact the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force.[2]

At the meeting in Damascus on 5 February 1948 to organize Palestinian Field Commands, Northern Palestine including Samaria was allocated to Qawuqji's forces, although Samaria was de facto already under the control of Transjordan.[3]

The Arab League Military Committee, with headquarters in Damascus, was responsible for the movements and servicing of the Army. The Committee consisted of General: Ismail Safwat (Iraq, Commander-in-Chief), General: Taha al-Hashimi (Iraq), Colonel: Shuqayri (Lebanon), Colonel: Muhammed al-Hindi (Syria) and Colonel: Abd al-Qadir al-Jundi (Transjordan).*

The ALA was dissolved at the end of the Palestine War.[4]

Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979 after it signed a peace treaty with Israel; the league's headquarters was moved from Cairo, Egypt, to Tunis, Tunisia. In 1987, AL leaders decided to renew diplomatic ties with Egypt, who was readmitted in 1989 and the league's headquarters was moved back to Cairo.[5][6]

Current strength of Arab League member states

Numbers of military personnel[7][8]
member state Active Reserve Para­mili­tary Total Per 1,000 capita
total active
Algeria Algeria 520,000 150,000 187,200 857,200 19.2 11.6
Bahrain Bahrain 18,400 35,805 11,260 65,465 9.5 2.7
Comoros Comoros 1,000 2,000 0 3,000 3.5 1.2
Djibouti Djibouti 20,470 12,220 2,650 35,340 36.9 21.4
Egypt Egypt 438,500 479,000 397,000 1,314,500 12.6 4.2
Iraq Iraq 193,000 664,169 230,000 1,087,169 24 4.3
Jordan Jordan 100,500 65,000 15,000 180,500 16.1 9
Kuwait Kuwait 72,000 24,000 7,100 103,100 24 16.8
Lebanon Lebanon 95,000 35,000 20,000 150,000 28.3 17.9
Libya Libya 35,000 65,000 0 100,000 14.2 5
Mauritania Mauritania 31,540 66,000 5,000 102,540 22.2 6.8
Morocco Morocco 195,000 150,000 50,000 395,000 10.4 5.1
Oman Oman 128,000 100,000 4,400 232,400 51.4 28.3
State of Palestine Palestine 0 0 0 0 0 0
Qatar Qatar 66,550 15,000 5,000 86,550 31 23.8
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 257,000 250,000 24,500 531,500 13.8 6.7
Somalia Somalia 117,530 20,000 0 137,530 8.1 6.9
Sudan Sudan 109,300 85,000 17,500 211,800 4.3 2.2
Syria Syria 170,000 150,000 100,000 420,000 19 7.7
Tunisia Tunisia 89,800 40,000 12,000 141,800 12.1 7.7
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 65,000 130,000 0 195,000 21 7
Yemen Yemen 66,700 50,000 0 116,700 3.4 1.9
Arab League Arab League 2,790,290 2,588,194 1,006,610 6,385,094 13.8 6

List of Arab League member states by military expenditure

Member state Popu­lation GDP
(nomi­nal)
($billions)[9] 		Defence expenditure (US$)[10]
Total
($mil­lions)		 % real GDP
 Algeria 44,700,000 187.155 9,145.8 4.78
 Bahrain 1,463,265 43.544 1,381.3 3.17
 Comoros 850,886 1.242 — —
 Djibouti 957,273 3.725 36.6 2.63
 Egypt 104,635,983 469.094 4,645.9 1.06
 Iraq 45,318,011 282.876 4,683.1 1.67
 Jordan 11,180,568 48.066 2,323.3 4.84
 Kuwait 4,294,621 183.568 8,244.1 4.53
 Lebanon 5,296,814 21.780 4,739.0 3.37
 Libya 7,054,493 40.836 3,755.7 15.48
 Mauritania 4,614,974 10.091 225.4 2.27
 Morocco 37,984,655 142.874 4,995.0 3.90
 Oman 4,520,471 108.969 5,783.5 5.17
 Palestine 5,227,193 18.818 — —
 Qatar 2,795,484 221.369 15,412.1 6.96
 Saudi Arabia 38,401,000 1,010.588 7,5013.3 7.42
 Somalia 17,066,000 8.416 115.1 —
 Sudan 49,197,555 42.762 3,180.5 0.92
 Syria 22,125,249 11.080 2,494.9 4.06
 Tunisia 11,708,370 46.282 1,156.2 2.48
 United Arab Emirates 9,269,612 503.913 22,755.1 5.64
 Yemen 34,277,612 27.594 1,714.8 3.97
 Arab League 462,940,089 3,434.640 168,995.41 4.44

References

  1. ^ "Ethiopia, Eritrea say US allegations 'inflammatory', 'defamatory'". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  2. ^ Levenberg, Haim (1993). Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine: 1945–1948. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-3439-5
  3. ^ Levenberg, Haim (1993). Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine: 1945–1948. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-3439-5
  4. ^ Levenberg, Haim (1993). Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine: 1945–1948. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-3439-5
  5. ^ "Arab League | History, Purpose, Members, & Achievements | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  6. ^ https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/arab_league.htm
  7. ^ 2019-2021 editions of "The Military Balance"
  8. ^ The International Institute for Strategic Studies (February 2022). The Military Balance 2022. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-032-27900-8. ISSN 0459-7222.
  9. ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". IMF.
  10. ^ "SIPRI Military Expenditure Database". SIPRI The independent resource on global security. STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE.
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