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Iraq / History / Arab-Israeli War

During the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War (1967), Iraqi troops and planes were sent to the Jordan-Israeli border. Iraq subsequently declared war on Israel and closed its oil pipeline supplying the Western nations. At the same time diplomatic relations with the United States were severed. In July 1968 General Abdul Rahman Arif's government was overthrown, and Major General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, a former premier, was appointed head of the Revolutionary Command Council.

Field Marshal Ahmed Hussein al-Bakr, President since 1968 Under Bakr conflicts intensified between the government and the Kurds. During the late 1920s Iraq and Iran had cooperated in controlling the Kurds, who lived on both sides of the border between the two countries. After the 1958 coup in Iraq, each country began to support Kurdish rebels in the other's territory. In 1974 the Iraqi army decided to move into the northern province against the Kurdish rebels, who wanted to overthrow the new Iraqi regime. In March 1975 Iraq reached an agreement with Iran to settle the conflict. Many Kurds fled to Iran. Bakr's regime strengthened Iraq's ties with the Soviet Union, which had provided assistance in the war against the Kurds.

The positions of individual Arab countries with regard to Israel caused some friction between Iraq and its neighbors. In 1971 Iraq closed its border with Jordan and called for its expulsion from the Arab League because of Jordan's efforts to crush the Palestinian guerrilla movement operating inside its borders. From 1972 to 1975 Iraq fully nationalized and compensated all foreign oil companies operating within its borders. The country enjoyed a massive increase in oil revenues starting in late 1973 when international petroleum prices began a steep rise. The discovery of major oil deposits in the vicinity of Baghdad was announced publicly in 1975. Iraq aided Syria with troops and matériel during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Calling for military action against Israel, Iraq denounced the cease-fire that ended the 1973 conflict and opposed the interim agreements negotiated by Egypt and Syria with Israel in 1974 and 1975.

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