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An army of Arab volunteers rushed to help the Palestinians in their struggle against colonialism and Zionist gangs who worked to establish a Jewish state in PalestineThe Arab League supervised the formation of this army in December 1947 under the leadership of Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It was initially called the Liberation Army, then the name was changed to the Salvation Army.
The Palestinians and Arabs had high hopes for this army to expel the Zionist gangs from the land of Palestine, but it went into battle without organization, sound military management, or even weapons capable of fulfilling the purpose.
Many analysts and observers were surprised that the Arabs, with their large numbers, were not pushed into battle. Jerusalem Historically, there were less than 3,000 fighters compared to 10,000 well-trained fighters from the Zionist gangs.
Arab League Conference
When Britain felt that Zionism She became able to make her way without her help and the circumstances became suitable for implementation. Balfour Declaration She wanted to blame the establishment of a Jewish state on Palestine On others, so on April 2, 1947, it referred the Palestine issue to United Nations To decide on it in light of new developments, i.e. after the Palestinian Arab people announced their rejection of the Zionist settlement presence.
When it became clear to the Arabs that the committees formed by the United Nations were inclined to Partition of Palestine Council was called League of Arab States to a meeting in Lebanon Between October 7 and 9, 1947, to study the measures that must be taken to confront the conspiracy against the Arab identity of Palestine.
One of the most important decisions taken during that conference was to form a military committee of representatives from various Arab countries whose mission was to study the situation from a military perspective and assist the people of Palestine in defending themselves and their homeland.
This committee – which was called the Military Committee of the Arab League – consisted of Major General Ismail Safwat from Iraq as Chairman, and the membership of Colonel Mahmoud Al-Hindi from Syriaand Lieutenant Colonel Shawkat Shaqir from Lebanon, and Subhi Al-Khadhra from Palestine, and it was not sent Egypt Jordan and Saudi ArabiaYemen No one represents it in it.
Among the committee's recommendations was opening the door to volunteering for Arab youth to participate in the armed struggle in Palestine.
Salvation Army Formation
The enthusiasm among young Arabs to participate in the fighting was intense. In Syria, a large number of officers submitted applications to join the Mujahideen forces, and others submitted their resignations from the army so that they could volunteer in those forces.
The Syrian Chief of Staff produced 46 officers and a large number of non-commissioned officers and soldiers. In Iraq, senior officers led a similar idea, and they were joined by many young officers who had been retired following Rashid Ali al-Kaylani’s revolution.
In Egypt, the Free Officers contacted the head of the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine, Hajj Amin al-HusseiniThey asked him to mediate with the Egyptian government to allow them to volunteer.
In Jordan, a large number of policemen joined the Mujahideen, and thus began the formation of the “Liberation Army,” which was later called the “Salvation Army,” and its leadership was assigned to Fawzi al-Qawuqji as of early December 1947.
Thus, the Salvation Army was formed from Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi, Yemeni volunteers and a small number of non-Arab nationalities (from Türkiye Yugoslavia, Germany and England), so its composition was heterogeneous in terms of personnel, armament, training or method of work.
The number of those who applied to volunteer in the Salvation Army reached about 10,000 people, but those who actually went to Palestine did not exceed 4,630 volunteers, who were distributed among 8 regiments.
The first, second and third regiments were called “Yarmouk“And the fourth is named”Al-Qadisiyah“And the fifth is named”HittinThe sixth is called “Ajnadayn,” the seventh is called “Iraq,” and the eighth is called “Jabal al-Arab.”
These regiments entered Palestine one after the other after their members had been trained for a short period in the Qatana camps near Damascus Under the supervision of Syrian military personnel.
The role of the Salvation Army
The Military Committee was charged by the Arab League Council with developing military plans and proposals “aimed at preventing the formation of a Jewish government in Palestine and forcing the Jews to accept Arab demands,” and the Salvation Army was, as it were, the Military Committee's instrument for achieving this.
Fawzi al-Qawuqji defined the purpose of the Salvation Army’s entry into Palestine in a speech he gave in the municipality of Jaba’. In the West BankHe said, “Our goal is one, which is to cancel the United Nations partition resolution, destroy the landmarks of Zionism and eliminate it once and for all, implement the decisions of the Arab League, and establish the Arab identity of Palestine.”
But the commander of the rescue units in the Galilee region, Lieutenant Colonel Adib Shishakli, had another concept. He saw that the tasks of his forces were to “strengthen the morale of the people in Palestine, to know the capabilities of the armed Zionist forces there, and to test the position of the authorities.” British Mandate Regarding the military actions that take place between Arabs and Jews.
Distribution of the Salvation Army forces in Palestine
With the increasing cries for help from the Arabs of Palestine and the increasing enthusiasm of the Arab masses, the Second Yarmouk Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Adib al-Shishakli, was considered ready for action on December 8, 1947, despite all the shortcomings it had suffered from.
In the evening of that day, the regiment moved from the Qatana camp towards the town of Bint Jbeil. South LebanonThen he entered the Palestinian territories the next day, at a time when a battle was taking place in the Zawiya and Quneitra regions against some of the Hula colonies, which had been arranged specifically to draw the attention of the Zionist gangs to it and divert their attention from the regiment.
The entry of the Yarmouk Regiment into Palestine had a great impact on raising the morale of the Arabs there, and then the entry of the regiments continued in the following manner:
- The First Yarmouk Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Safa (Syrian), entered Palestine on January 22, 1948, and took up positions in the area of fetal-Bissan.
- Al-Qadisiyah Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Mahdi Saleh Al-Ani (Iraqi), entered Palestine in February 1948 and was under the command of the Salvation Army in the village of Jaba.
- The Hittin Regiment, led by Captain Madlul Abbas (Iraqi), entered Palestine in March 1948 and was stationed in the Tubas area.
- The Third Yarmouk Regiment, led by Major Abdul Hamid Al-Rawi (Iraqi), entered Palestine in April 1948 and was stationed in Jerusalem andRamallah.
- Ajnadayn Regiment, led by Captain Michel Issa (Palestinian), took over the defense of Jaffa And Bab El Oued.
- The Iraqi Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Adel Najm al-Din (Iraqi), entered Jaffa on February 16, 1948, and its commander assumed command of its garrison, in addition to its units.
- Jabal al-Arab Regiment, led by Major Shakib Wahab (Syrian), was stationed in the Shefa Amr area near Nazareth.
These regiments (except for the Jabal al-Arab Regiment) formed the Central Region Group, led by Commander Fawzi al-Qawuqji himself.
In addition to these regiments, independent companies were stationed in this region, including the Lebanese Company led by Captain Hekmat Ali, and the Euphrates Company led by Captain Khaled Matarji.
Equipment and preparation
This army was equipped with a mixture of English, French and Belgian rifles, a small number of mortars of various calibres and some machine guns, and the weapons of a single regiment were not homogeneous, which created great difficulties in training with ammunition, which was already very scarce.
It was difficult or impossible to obtain it, as Western countries imposed a ban on the sale of military equipment to countries in the region. The Middle EastAlthough it did not skimp on the Zionist forces with weapons and ammunition, especially through the British Mandate forces.
The Salvation Army did not have enough time to train, as the majority of the volunteers were civilians who lacked good military training. At the same time, the army lacked a sufficient number of leadership, organizational, and administrative apparatuses, as it had, at best, only half the required number of officers.
As for administrative and supply affairs, they were supervised by non-military young men, most of whom had worked in the national field in Syria.
The Military Committee assigned Dr. Amin Ruwaiha to supervise the health aspect, so he established the Nablus Hospital, which included 200 beds. This hospital continued to receive the wounded until the Salvation Army withdrew to the north, and was then handed over to the Iraqi Army.
Salvation Army battles
The Battle of Jiddin was the first battle fought by the Salvation Army in Palestine. On the night of January 21/22, 1948, in order to distract from the crossing of the First Yarmouk Regiment into Palestine, the Second Yarmouk Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Adib al-Shishakli, launched a surprise attack on a Zionist colony in Jiddin, near Tarshiha in the northern region.
One of its results was that the rescue forces were able to obtain the first confirmed information about the Zionist colonies and their methods of defence.
The battle raised the morale of the Palestinians, and it became clear to the rescue forces that the Zionist gang forces were fiercely defending their colonies and relying on strong fortifications, unlike the Arabs who were fighting in open lands.
The reinforcements that came to help the Zionist forces in Jeddin and clashed with the Arab forces that were smaller in number and equipment did not show steadfastness in the fighting, so the Arabs defeated them after inflicting a number of dead and wounded on them, while the Zionist forces defending the colony, despite losing their forward positions and the fires that broke out in some of their buildings, took refuge in the castle and continued fighting until a British force arrived and rescued them, which forced Shishakli’s forces to retreat according to the instructions they had not to clash with the British.
The Battle of Agriculture was the next in a series of battles of the Salvation Army, fought by the First Yarmouk Regiment on the night of 16/17 February 1948 despite the difficult weather conditions and the restrictions imposed on movement by the agricultural lands covered with rainwater.
The regiment's forces were able to pass through the barbed wire surrounding the colony under heavy fire from the Zionist forces, and they penetrated and engaged in violent street fighting. Arab units stationed on the outskirts of the colony were able to cut off the road to reinforcements sent to support its garrison.
During that battle, the poor quality of the weapons carried by the Arab fighters became clear, as at least half of them were out of order, which weakened the firepower of the attack and led to relatively large losses (37 martyrs and more wounded) among the attacking Arab forces.
Then the battles continued, including in the northern and central regions the battles of Mishmar Ha'Emek, Nabi Ya'akov, Bab al-Wad, Qastal, Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, Metula, Manara, Nabi Yusha, al-Shajara, Ramat Yohanan, Tiberias, Safed, Acre, and al-Malikiyah. The Salvation Army followed in its fighting tactics a mixture of regular combat and guerrilla warfare, depending on the situation.
Reasons for defeat
The commander of the Salvation Army, Fawzi al-Qawuqji, recalls that he asked the Inspector General of the Salvation Army, Major General Nour al-Din Mahmoud, about the mission of this army after May 15, 1948, the date set for the entry of the regular Arab armies into Palestine. He replied that “this army is linked to the Arab League, and it would be good for its commander to ask the Secretary-General of the League,” adding, “If you want to stay with your army where it is, that’s fine, but your mission ends after the entry of the regular armies.”
With the entry of the regular Arab armies, telegrams were sent to the leadership of the Salvation Army from Damascus and Amman, urging the army to withdraw quickly, at a time when its commander felt from the statements King Abdullah I That this army would soon be dissolved, so Al-Qawuqji developed a plan for withdrawal that would begin on May 17, 1948 and end within 3 days, which is what happened.
The truce imposed by UN Security Council One of the reasons for the defeat and turning the scales in favor of Israel After the strategic and military situation was in favor of the Arabs, as the truce helped the Zionist gangs to organize their affairs, reorganize their forces, and strengthen their military readiness and equipment.
On the other hand, the regular Arab forces participating in the battle interacted based on their countries' national interests, and the participating regimes lacked confidence in each other, and each of them refused to place its forces under the command of another country, which was reflected in the weakness of the battle's management.
