Coup successful
25-553: Musandam may refer to: Musandam Governorate , the Omani part of the Musandam Peninsula Musandam Peninsula [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
50-461: A luxury hotel. Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said immediately set on his priorities of modernizing the country and defeating the insurgency in the newly renamed Sultanate of Oman 's interior. Prior to taking the throne, Oman had no secondary schools , only one hospital , and a total of ten kilometres (6.2 mi) of paved roads. He redirected the country's oil revenue to economic initiatives, moving
75-567: A military presence, and the peninsula continued to be ruled by local tribes. In 1970-71, following the British backed 1970 Omani coup d'état , British and Trucial Oman Scout forces invaded Musandam ending local rule and establishing a permanent Omani military force. Musandam Governorate consists of four provinces : The area has great strategic importance owing to its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz . The administrative head of Governorate
100-687: Is a governorate of Oman . With the exception of the exclave of Madha , it is located on the Musandam Peninsula , which juts into the Strait of Hormuz , the narrow entry into the Persian Gulf , from the Arabian Peninsula . The governorate is also an exclave, separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates . Its location gives Oman partial control, shared with Iran , of the strategic strait. In
125-493: Is governor and minister of state. The current governor is Sayyid Ibrahim bin Said al Busaidy ( الـسَّـیِّـد ابراهيم بن سيد بن ابراهيم الْـبُـوسَـعِـيـدي ). The rugged coastline resembles the glacier -carved coasts of polar regions, but in this case, the coast was shaped by the movement of Earth's crust . The Arabian Plate is slowly pushing under the Eurasian Plate , creating the earthquake-prone mountains of Iran. On
150-517: The Al Hosn Palace in Salalah , Oman and met no resistance. The tribal sheikh of the five hundred guardsmen entrusted to defend the palace's exterior had been persuaded by the British to order his men to stand down prior to the coup. The remainder of the coup was carried out predominantly by Arab troops in order to mask the extent of the involvement of the British in the operation. During
175-593: The British government as a whole in the coup was denied for forty years with the official government narrative being the coup was carried out predominantly by Arab troops with their British commanders taking part on personal initiative. In truth, the coup had been planned by MI6 , the Foreign Office , and the Ministry of Defence and given the go-ahead by prime minister Edward Heath . Contingency planning of
200-630: The Dhofar War , the palace coup was executed with the British and saw Sultan Said bin Taimur deposed and sent into exile to the United Kingdom . The coup was a pivotal moment in modern Omani history as Qaboos swiftly set in motion numerous wide-ranging modernisation reforms in the kingdom, transforming Oman from an underdeveloped backwater into a country on par with many Western states in terms of political stability and economic development. At
225-566: The Soviet Union and China after a string of military defeats. This, coupled with mounting international opposition to the rebellion including the deployment of Iranian troops in 1973 led to a final defeat of the rebels in 1976. Internal unrest in Oman successfully ended owing to an initiative by Qaboos to include all ethnic and tribal groups into the administration of the country and granting amnesty for former rebels. The involvement of
250-509: The slave trade and arms dealing , were prohibited by the British, resulting in confrontations between the Omani authorities and tribesmen in the country's interior. These confrontations led to Oman seeking military support from the British who agreed to defend Sultan Faisal bin Turki from attempts at overthrowing him. In 1913, Sultan Taimur bin Feisal took the reins of Oman and brought back
275-491: The British to maintain control in his own country, which he refused to rule in a modern manner, at one point refusing to even leave his palace after an assassination attempt. The Dhofar War was a communist insurgency launched in 1963 and had gripped the country since then, pitting British-led Omani troops against the insurgents primarily in the southern part of the country. The Sultan's Armed Forces (SAF) were under de facto British command. British Colonel Hugh Oldman commanded
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#1732765168147300-586: The Sultan's troops in Muscat , while Brigadier John Graham was the overall commander of the SAF. By 1970, all of the country's only major source of revenue, petrodollars , was either going to fighting insurgents or directly into the sultan's coffers. Sultan bin Taimur's poor leadership of the country and over-reliance on British military support aggravated the British government , who began to view Taimur's deposition as
325-469: The country away from subsistence farming and fishing , and building modern infrastructure. Schools were built, the country was electrified, numerous roads were paved, and Western media ceased labelling the country as "medieval". Slavery in Oman was abolished, and by 1980, Oman had 28 hospitals, 363 schools, and 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi) of paved roads. In addition, the Majlis Al-Shura
350-442: The coup, Said bin Taimur shot Sheikh Braik Al Ghafri, a coup plotter and son of a prominent Omani governor in the stomach before accidentally shooting himself in the foot as he cocked his pistol. Said bin Taimur managed to briefly escape with a few confidantes and bodyguards down a series of hidden passageways and tunnels but was recaptured quickly. The wounded sultan urged his adviser to send an urgent message to Oldman informing him of
375-487: The events that had transpired, which Oldman being a coup planner ignored. The coup ended when Said bin Taimur signed a document of abdication, handing over the reins of the country to his son, Qaboos. Bin Taimur was flown out of the country on an RAF Bristol Britannia , first to Bahrain for medical treatment and then on to London where he lived the remaining two years of his life in a suite in The Dorchester ,
400-640: The governorate, Khasab . Isolated from surrounding powers by mountainous terrain and a rocky coast, the Musandam peninsula was historically self-ruled by local tribes including the Shihuh and Habus . By the early 20th century, Musandam was claimed by the Sultan of Oman who stationed a representative in Khasab . The Sultan did not exert effective control over the area, neither collecting tax nor establishing
425-459: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Musandam&oldid=860733763 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Musandam Governorate The Musandam Governorate ( Arabic : مُحَافَظَة مُسَنْدَم , romanized : Muḥāfaẓat Musandam )
450-494: The kingdom to a more stable financial footing and quelled tribal unrest in the country. He ruled until his abdication in 1932 at which point his eldest son, Said bin Taimur , took over as Sultan. Under Sultan Said bin Taimur's rule, Oman became increasingly isolationist and underdeveloped. Internal unrest flourished such as in the case of the Jebel Akhdar and Dhofar wars. Sultan bin Taimur became increasingly reliant on
475-521: The leading edge of the Arabian Plate, the Musandam Peninsula is sinking. The higher elevation mountains remain above the water, but the sea has rushed in to fill the valleys with fingers of water. 1970 Omani coup d%27%C3%A9tat The 1970 Omani coup d'état was the overthrow of Sultan of Oman Said bin Taimur by his son Qaboos bin Said in Oman on 23 July 1970. Occurring in the midst of
500-495: The northern section of Musandam, around Kumzar , the language is Kumzari , which is a southwestern Iranian language closely related to Larestani and Luri . The Musandam Peninsula has an area of 1,800 km (690 sq mi) and, at the 2020 census, a population of 49,062. Access to the peninsula was formerly difficult, with the only options being limited flights or a ten-hour drive through four immigration posts. The Shinas fast ferry service between Muscat and Musandam
525-554: The only viable way to defeating Oman's growing communist insurgency. British officials contacted the Sultan's 29-year-old son, Qaboos bin Said al Said , a graduate of the British Sandhurst military academy who was under house arrest per his father's orders. Cassette tapes with voice messages were sent to Qaboos, informing him of the plan the United Kingdom was concocting to topple his father. Qaboos agreed and
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#1732765168147550-497: The operation proceeded. On 23 July 1970, British-led military units were being put into position to topple the Sultan. Graham convened the top Arab commanders of the Desert Regiment, the main Omani unit that would carry out the coup, and informed them of the letter sent to them by Qaboos which "commanded" the British officers to carry out the coup. The meeting secured their loyalty and cooperation. The troops arrived at
575-654: The time of his death in January 2020, Sultan Qaboos was the longest-serving ruler in the Middle East . Beginning at the end of the 19th century, Oman gradually came under the influence of the British Empire through a series of treaties and diplomatic arrangements. Eventually, the Omani Sultan became increasingly reliant on Britain for support and advice. The Sultanate's primary sources of revenue, notably
600-444: Was established with the power to review legislation and call government ministers to meet with them. The success of the Dhofar War which was proving to be a formidable challenge for the state was reversed with the removal of Taimur. Qaboos launched a concerted £400 million effort to modernize the Omani military, even founding a navy to protect the country's oil exports. The communist rebels gradually lost their foreign support from
625-460: Was launched in August 2008 to alleviate this problem and make the region more accessible. The governorate is accessible by land only from the United Arab Emirates . Mainland Musandam can be accessed by Ras al-Khaimah near Al-Jeer via Route 2 , and an exclave of Sharjah, Dibba Al-Hisn . Oman Air provides an air link between the capital of the country, Muscat, and the main administrative town of
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