Geography
Climate
People
History
Religion
Transport
Language
Currency
Communication
Baghdad
Samarra
Karbala
Najaf
Qurna
Mosul
Kufa

Iraq / History / The First Kuwait Invasion

In June 1960, following the termination of the British protectorate over the emirate of Kuwait, Iraq claimed the area, asserting that Kuwait had been part of the Iraqi state at the time of its formation. British forces entered Kuwait in July at the invitation of the Kuwaiti ruler, and the UN Security Council declined the Iraqi request to order their withdrawal.

On the domestic front, other members of the group that had led the revolt against King Faisal II also sought power. A new organization, the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party, known as the Bath party, persuaded the army that Kassem should be overthrown. In 1963 the leader of the Bath party, Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, overthrew Kassem and established the rule of the National Council for Revolutionary Command with a non-Bathist president, Abdul Salam Muhammad Arif. Kassem was executed.

President Abdul Salam Muhammad Arif, Kassim's successor in February 1963.

In 1965 a conflict broke out between opposing groups of Bathists in the council. One group wanted a union with Egypt, and the other favored an alliance with Syria. An attempted plot against Arif failed, but he later died in a helicopter accident. The National Defense Council then elected his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, president. Abdul Rahman Arif, Prime Minster 1965-66.

More on history: