Decisive Trucial Oman Scouts victory Saudi Arabia Supported by Trucial Emirates British Empire Supported by Turki bin Abdullah Al Otaishan † Major Abdullah bin Nami (WIA) Supported by The Buraimi dispute, also known as the Buraimi war (Arabic: حرب البريمي), was a series of covert attempts by Saudi Arabia to influence the loyalties of tribes and communities in and around the oil-rich Buraimi oasis in the 1940s and 1950s, which culminated in an armed conflict between forces and tribes loyal to Saudi Arabia, on one side, and Oman and the Trucial States (today the United Arab Emirates, or UAE), on the other, which broke out as the result of a territorial dispute over the town of Al Buraimi in Oman, and parts of what is now the city of Al Ain in the Eastern Region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Its roots lay in the partitioning of tribal areas and communities which took place in the Trucial States when oil companies were seeking concessions to explore the interior.
The dispute arose from Saudi Arabia's longstanding claim, made in 1949, of sovereignty over a large part of Abu Dhabi territory where oil was suspected to be present and an area in a 20-mile circle around the centre of the Buraimi Oasis.
The Saudis responded by extending their territorial claim to include the right to negotiate with the Sheikhs of the entire Buraimi/Al Ain Oasis and areas of the southern and western part of Abu Dhabi.
[5][6] The Saudis relied on historical precedent (the oasis had been under Wahhabi influence on a number of occasions in the period between 1800–1869) for their claims, which were countered by arguments from Abu Dhabi and Muscat based on more recent events.
[5] A conference was held in Dammam on 28 January 1952, attended by the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Rulers of Abu Dhabi and Qatar and the British Political Resident, Bernard Burrows.
They were assisted in this by Sheikh Rashid bin Hamad of the Al Bu Shamis branch of the Na'im tribe, much to the disgust of the Sultan of Oman.
[7] The Sulṭan of Muscat and Imam of Oman (in a rare collaboration) gathered their forces to expel the Saudis but were persuaded by the British Government to exercise restraint pending attempts to settle the dispute by arbitration.
[6] The Sultan of Muscat, Said bin Taimur, and the Imam both raised some 6,000-8,000 tribal forces and assembled at Sohar, preparing to march on Buraimi before being appealed by Britain to stand down.
[12] Following the Standstill Agreement on 30 July 1954, it was agreed to refer the dispute to an international arbitration tribunal.,[13] which the Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles unsuccessfully tried to subvert[why?].
A third approach offered Zayed 400 million Rupees and finally, he was informed that the Saudi representative, Abdullah Al Qurayshi, wished to present him with three pistols.
Most of the fighting took place after the surrender of the Saudis, with the Al Bu Shamis and Bani Kaab Bedouin force of some 200 men putting up a spirited resistance to the Levies.
[24] The dispute was eventually settled in 1974 by the Treaty of Jeddah, between Sheikh Zayed (then President of the UAE) and Faisal[6] and Saudi Arabia formally recognised the United Arab Emirates.