The Course of the War

This chapter covers the history of the conflict with reference to the transformation of the DLF into the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG), and its near-victory in seizing control of Dhofar by the summer of 1970. It also analyses the measures the SAF took with military assistance from the UK (including the commitment of the Special Air Service) to reconquer the province from 1970 to 1975. The chapter also examines Britain’s role in regime change in Oman, and in its part in the palace coup in Salalah (23 July 1970) which overthrew Said and replaced him with his son, Qaboos bin Said.