Qusayr Emergency

Qusayr Emergency
Part of Cold War Wihda
Colonial Soldiers escorting Saadallah al-Ashari
Date 3 June 1949 – 8 April 1954 (4 years and 309 days) Location Qusayr Result al-Hizbu Victory Colonial Forces leave Qusayr Party for National Liberation and Popular Democracy win 1955 Elections Begining of the Wahhada
Belligerents
Crown Colony of Qusayr	Party for National Liberation and Popular Democracy Fedayeen al-Shaeb Qusayri Democratic Union Talibani Militias
Commanders and leaders
Gov. William Henry Phayre Gen. Andrew McAuley Lt Gen. David Androuse James Mulryan Robert de Havilland	Hidayatullah Bettayeb Riyadh al-Alusi Hussayn al-Baqir ibn Ka'b Naqbiyli Amr ibn Hassan Qahtan al-Amuli † Abdul Majid al-Dimashqi Sayfullah al-Khafaji Zuhayr ibn Ka'b al-Nabhani †
Strength
30,000	Unknown
Casualties and losses
1,293 Killed 4,293 Wounded	6,277 Killed ~16,000 wounded
~9,000 Civilian Casualties

The Qusayri Emergency, also known as the Revolution of Dignity (ثورة الكرامة), or the Anti-Colonial Struggle (النضال ضد الاستعمار), was an armed rebelion in the Crown Colony of Qusayr by Khatti locals and the !British Colonial State in Qusayr.

The conflict is traditionally consitered to have started when members of the 3rd Royal Parachute Brigade executed 18 year old Saadallah al-Ashari while quelling a riot in the Khatti Quarter. His killing was photographed by Edward Fidaki and the image of his death led to the Qusayri General Strike. A State of Emergency was declared by Governor William Henry Phayre in 1949. The conflict led to the draw down and eventual end of !British rule in the area and the Proclomation of the Democratic People's Republic of Qusayr, which now makes up part of Zubaydah.

Background

Qusayr was founded as a colony by the !British initially as a naval staging point for forces operating in the Lakhimadian Gulf. Qusayr would eventually grow to become a major trade colony which facilitated shipping between Erisia, Boutara, and Southern Mauria. The port of Khorisa became the center of economic life in the colony and hosted a sizable Erisian population of 167,000, or roughly 14% of the colonies population. The colony became a significant military outpost during the Great Wars and became host to the Gulf Flotila, and a staging area for the larger Viridian Fleet. Khatti people occupied a lower social level in the colony and were typically of the Working Class. At the start of the 20th century, Khattis were allowed access to higher education, and assimilated khatti were allowed to occupy bureaucratic roles. This shift in privlidge to led to the formation of an urban intelligentsia which found itself both in opposition to colonial rule, but also instisicly linked to the privlidges that it offered in terms of education, and social mobility. Native Khatti would be allowed to become junior officers within the Royal Jaysh.

Qusayrs economic fortunes started to come undone as the !British Empire started to fracture. Khatti Nationalism, Nahyaniyyah, and Communism were factors which erroded at the states grip on power. The Qusayri Workers Party, led by !Oxford educated Mu'ajhizat Hidayatullah Bettayeb.