Military of the Arab League

The Arab League as an organization has no military force, like the United Nations or the European Union, but recently in the 2007 summit, the Leaders decided to reactivate their joint defense and establish a peacekeeping force to deploy in South Lebanon, Darfur, Iraq, Somalia, and other hot spots.

History

The military history of the Arab League is closely linked to the Arab–Israeli conflict. The 1950 Arab Joint Security Pact set out provisions for collective security among the Arab states, but only in 1961 was the Joint Arab Command (JAC) proposed as a unified military command for the Arab League first by the Joint Defence Council, an institution of the Arab League.

Before the JAC could take shape, a unanimous resolution was passed at the first Arab League summit (January 1964) establishing the United Arab Command (UAC), although the UAC's inactivity following the Samu Incident (1966) and during the Six-Day War (1967) signalled its de facto dissolution.

Arab Liberation Army

Arab Liberation Army emblem

The Arab Liberation Army (جيش الإنقاذ العربي Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi), also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war and was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee's Holy War Army, though in fact the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force.

At the meeting in Damascus on 5 February 1948 to organize Palestinian Field Commands, Northern Palestine including Samaria was allocated to Qawuqji's forces, although Samaria was de facto already under the control of Transjordan.

The Arab League Military Committee, with headquarters in Damascus, was responsible for the movements and servicing of the Army. The Committee consisted of General Ismail Safwat (Iraq, Commander-in-Chief), General Taha al-Hashimi (Iraq), Colonel Shuqayri (Lebanon), Colonel Muhammed al-Hindi (Syria) and Colonel Abd al-Qadir al-Jundi (Transjordan).

The ALA was dissolved at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Current strength

Today, Egypt is considered the strongest military body in Africa and is ranked as having the 10th highest number of troops in the world. Saudi Arabia has recently started to enlarge its military department, with other Arab states of the Persian Gulf following, Morocco is maintaining a strong army in north Africa, along with Algeria and Libya. Syria, Jordan and Iraq's Armies have all grew relatively slower to other rich states.

N	Country	Military Service Age	Military Manpower Availability	Military Manpower Fit	Active Military Personnel	Reserve Military Personnel
_	Arab League	18	129,183,640	119,039,543	3,003,782	2,215,934
1	Algeria	19	19,327,735	16,684,478	130,000	150,000
2	Bahrain	18	353,860	286,860	13,000	n/a
3	Comoros	18	139,491	205,207	1,000	n/a
4	Djibouti	18	391,797	268,730	16,962	15,234
5	Egypt	18	20,772,105	18,479,612	588,500	1,000,000
6	Iraq	18	11,512,731	9,701,179	271,500	528,500
7	Jordan	17	2,920,637	2,506,087	110,700	650,000
8	Kuwait	18	900,745	857,292	15,500	31,000
9	Lebanon	18	2,229,474	1,883,155	87,000	n/a
10	Libya	18	3,489,272	2,970,078	35,000	n/a
11	Mauritania	18	1,214,418	754,782	20,870	n/a
12	Morocco	18	15,791,743	13,160,516	195,800	150,000
13	Oman	18	1,228,492	1,016,551	70,000	20,000
14	Palestine	18	N/A	N/A	176,500	n/a
15	Qatar	18	555,059	462,150	11,800	n/a
16	Saudi Arabia	18	8,240,714	4,725,514	233,500	n/a
17	Somalia	18	4,479,288	2,715,538	20,000	3,000
18	Sudan	18	16,427,378	11,077,040	109,300	85,000
19	Syria	18	11,550,588	9,939,661	450,000	n/a
20	Tunisia	18	4,848,103	4,036,188	35,800	n/a
21	United Arab Emirates	18	752,707	412,490	65,000	n/a
22	Yemen	18	7,926,335	5,583,111	347,050	171,200

List of Arab League member states by military expenditure

N	Country	Military expenditure
_	Arab League	$ 180 Billions +
1	Algeria	$ 13.1 Billions
2	Bahrain	$ 1.365 Billions
3	Comoros	$ 1.6180339887  !?
4	Djibouti	$1.618 Billions +
5	Egypt	$ 7.85 Billions
6	Iraq	$ 18.9 Billions+
7	Jordan	$ 2.5 Billions+
8	Kuwait	$ 10 Billions+
9	Lebanon	$ 1.275 Billions+
10	Libya	$ 3.311 Billions+
11	Mauritania	$1.618 Billions  !?
12	Morocco	$ 3.37 Billions+
13	Oman	$ 9.3 Billions
14	Palestine	$3.49 Millions+  !?
15	Qatar	$ 1.913 Billions+
16	Saudi Arabia	$ 59.97 Billions+
17	Somalia	$ 3.14159 Billions+  ?
18	Sudan	$ 4 Billions+ *
19	Syria	$ 3.3 Billions+
20	Tunisia	$ 1.49 Billions+
21	United Arab Emirates	$ 22.8 Billions
22	Yemen	$ 3.49 Billions+  !?

Joint Military Force

In 2015 the heads of Arab league countries agreed to form a joint Arab military force. This force would comprise some 42,000 elite troops, supported by war planes, naval vessels and light armour.

References

• CIA World Factbook