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Military Peacekeeping in the Middle East
Two days after the initial landing, Robert Murphy, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, arrived to attempt a political solution. As he met with Arab leaders throughout the Middle East, Murphy’s toughest job was to convince them that the U.S. military action was not taken to assure Chamoun’s reelection. The UNOGIL triumvirate, understandably perturbed by the arrival of the U.S. force, did not feel it proper to establish any formal contact or working relationship with the Americans. The U.N. group did not withdraw and eventually a workable compromise was worked out. The U.S. military restricted themselves to Beirut, its harbor and airport. Adm. James L. Holloway, greatly admired by the U.N. officers, set up his headquarters on one of the Sixth Fleet vessels in the harbor, while the U.N. observers continued their operations in the rest of the country. A new Lebanese President, General Chehab, took over on September 23. An armistice was arranged, and by October 25 the last American troops had left Lebanon. Despite sporadic flare-ups during the fall, by December UNOGIL’s mission, considered complete, was disbanded. Toward the end, UNOGIL was patrolling some 10,000 miles a day in jeeps, supported also by foot, horse and donkey patrols, not to mention 24-hour air reconnaissance. During the American landing in Lebanon, two battalions of British paratroopers arrived in Amman under the cover of more than 50 U.S. fighter aircraft. This British force augmented the loyal Bedouin core of King Hussein’s army, enabling him to retain his throne. As the British paratroopers withdrew from Jordan in late October 1958, the U.N. military observers were very helpful in making overflight arrangements with Syria and Lebanon. The British forces had been flown from Cyprus to Jordan over Israel without permission. Israel formally protested this violation of its airspace and was not disposed to grant overflight privileges for the evacuation of the troops. Damascus was exceedingly concerned about the routes and scheduling of the air transportation of large numbers of troops through its airspace. General Bull, given a leave of absence from his post in UNOGIL, negotiated with the appropriate authorities in Damascus, Amman, Beirut and Nicosia the routing and control of flights and organized the participation of U.N. personnel in manning a special radio beacon and control posts. The departing British troops were routed over southernmost Syria, Mount Hermon and Sidon to the Mediterranean, bypassing Israel and the more heavily populated centers of Syria and Lebanon. Eighty-six round-trip missions (Nicosia-Amman), from October 25-29, by transport aircraft and single flights of 6 fighter aircraft carried 2,168 passengers, 117 vehicles and 25 guns. Observers in Yemen—UNYOM On September 18, 1962, Imam Ahmad, the despotic ruler of Yemen, died and was succeeded by his son Imam Badr. Eight days later, a military coup led by Brig. Gen. Abdullah Sallal drove Badr from the capital, Sana’a. Badr fled to the rugged mountains to the north, where he collected an army of supporters. Although Saudi Arabia refrained from sending troops across the border, it provided the Royalists with medical, military and other supplies, which increased as Egypt started providing Sallal’s Republicans with both men and arms. In time there were more than 25,000 Egyptian troops serving in Yemen, and Egyptian fighter planes were flying across the border to bomb Saudi Arabian centers. This civil war continued for six months before Ralph Bunche, aided by the independent efforts of U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, was able in the spring of 1963 to effect a peace formula among the nations involved. (The Royalists were not consulted, since they were not considered to constitute a nation.) The agreement called for: Saudi Arabia to cease providing aid to the Royalists; the Egyptian forces to begin a phased withdrawal; and a demilitarized zone to be set up extending 20 kilometers on each side of the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. U.N. observers would patrol inside the zone to prevent infiltration of military supplies, and would also check on the progress of the disengagement of Egyptian troops. The United Nations Yemen Observation Mission (UNYOM) started arriving in Yemen in June 1963, although funded for only two months' activity. In July its largest contingent, a Yugoslav reconnaissance unit, arrived. An air component of some 50 Canadians with light aircraft also joined other observers from Denmark, Ghana, India, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan and Sweden. Most had been attached to the U.N. operations in the Congo and the Middle East. At no time did the entire group number more than 200. The head of the mission was General von Horn, former Chief of Staff of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine. It is possible that U.N. Secretary General U Thant had found it convenient to transfer General von Horn out of the spotlight in Jerusalem, where his views and actions had greatly irritated the Israeli Government. The presence of UNYOM actually made very little difference to the state of affairs in Yemen. The Royalists ignored the observers; Egypt did not withdraw its troops and, consequently, Saudi Arabia continued to supply the Royalists. General von Horn complained to the United Nations about the size of his force, poor supply and inadequate numbers of suitable aircraft. Helicopters, for example, shipped from the Congo to Aden, could not obtain enough lift to operate efficiently in the hot and thin air of the Yemen highlands.
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