Fahel War

Fahel War
Part of Sarvatian-Zubaydi Conflict
Interior Ministry Troops during the Battle of Dorakhar
Date 13 April 2014 – 17 May 2014 (34 days) Location Fahel State Result Both sides claim victory Sarvatian forces expelled from Zubaydi territory on 14 May Crackdown on the 2013-2014 Fahel Protests ends Kalaghamut Agreement signed by both sides in July 2014
Belligerents
Zubaydah	Sarvatia
Commanders and leaders
Chairman Hamza al-Quysi Premier Amanullah Azd al-Uqayli Lt. Gen Abd al-Rahman al-Suwaydi MajGen Naji Hassan al-Bakr MajGen René Bachir Gen. Nasr al-Haq (Commander of Interior Troops) Lt. Col Toufic Daoud Bazri (Commander of ZASOF) MajGen. Sa'if al-Neyadi (Commander of the Military Intelligence Derectorate) Governor Daifallah al-Zenkawi	Premier Sasan Hedayati Chairman Kamran Rostami Haajid el-Tariq (General) Jahangir Bagherzadeh (Lt. General) Zafran Pasha (Major General) Abdulghafur Qasim (Brig. General) Nazar Inguilizian (Colonel) Hassan Gharibian (Comiss. General of the State Security Forces) Arshad el-Hashmi (Commandant of the State Security Forces)
Units involved
Units Involved: 1st Corps 17th Motorized Infantry Brigade 18th Motorized Infantry Brigade 20th Motorized Infantry Brigade 3rd Field Artillery Brigade 3rd Corps 3rd Light Infantry Brigade 8th Light Infantry Brigade 3rd Armored Brigade 7th Armored Brigade Ministry of Interior 1st Rapid Reponse Battalion 3rd Light Infantry Battalion 4th Border Security Battalion 1st Internal Security Detachment 2nd Reconnaissance and Target Acquisition Battalion 'al-Qahhar' Unit 747 First Airbourne Battalion 'ar-Rukh' Task Force Sawt (MID)	tbd
Strength
25,000+	40,000
Casualties and losses
1,217 killed in action	2,041 killed in action
572 Civilians killed

The Fahel War (Khatti: حرب الفحل; Harb al-Fahl, Sarvati: جنگ فاهل; Jang-e Fahl) also known as the 34-day War and the Operation Guardian of the Toilers was a conflict fought from 13 April 2014 to 17 May 2014 between Zubaydah and Sarvatia. The conflict began as a military incursion by Sarvatia after alleging that Zubaydah was attempting to violently repress ethnic Sarvati protestors in the state of Fahel. The incursions escalated into a full on advance after Zubaydi border security forces failed to fight during the initial stages of the conflict. Troops from the Zubaydi Ministry of Interior were able to fight Sarvatian forces at Dorakhar, Suq al-Zour, and Haram-e Mardak. Zubaydi army forces would organize and arrive, after fighting several battles near the border, the Zubaydi Army was able to push Sarvatian forces back across the border, after a planned and organized retreat from combat.

The conflict reached beyond the Fahel State. Task Force Sawt, a Military Intelligence Directorate unit was sent to the Baloch SSR and made contact with Lashkar-e-Nishavistan. It is reported by Sarvatia (denied by Zubaydah) that the Sawt Task Force was sent to engineer the May Incidents, which included several coordinated attacks against Military Bases, Police Stations, and Party Headquarters in the city of Mandar. This was followed by NA militants taking control of the SSR's Supreme Soviet. There were similar incidents in the Khatt SSR involving Rabitat al-Mujahidin wal-Muahidin which conducted several attacks on important infrastructure. Most notably their attacks along Freeway 9 which served as an important logistics route for invading forces.

The conflict was claimed as a victory for both sides. Zubaydah was able to fight Sarvatian forces off of its territory before a formal end to the conflict, while Sarvatia saw the invasion as a success as it put pressure on Zubaydi political forces to deal with the Faheli Sarvatis more cautiously. The conflict also served to help secure Premier Amanullah Azd al-Uqayli’s position within the government. His introduction of the Zubaydi Interior Troops was seen as a success and effectively gave al-Uqayli a personal paramilitary, with their success in the conflict cementing their position within the government structure. The Conflict came to an end on 17 May after a formal ceasefire was declared, later that July the two sides would sign the Kalaghamut Agreement, which set out provisions for further conflicts at the border to be settled diplomatically and set out new border policies for both side, although no agreements on territorial changes were made.

Background

Faheli Sarvatis

The Sarvatis of the Fahel region are a sizable ethnic minority in the region, comprising roughly 37% of the population. Their precess in the region has been contested by historians. Ancient Tiberian historian Drusus of Caeionia wrote of possible Agoano-Parculian speaking people known as the Rhausiaei, Soxogaeda, and Tyraddasi. Today, many believe these people to have been members of the wider Aghelonea people group. An ethno-linguistic community that existed in the region and was of Argean and Agoano-Parculian origin. Possibly distinguished by dialectal differences. Many believe they were more closely related to the so called "Roaming Rhiphyneans", a poorly attested to Agoano-Parculian people's originally from the northeast frontiers of the earliest Sarvati state.

Modern Sarvatians would come to occupy the region as Early SArvati kingdoms occupied the region, where it would become a key part of the imperial frontier for centuries, trading hands several times in antiquity. During the Medieval Period The region would be home to a kingdom known as Nuridan. This kingdom was known as an important trade hub in the region. It eventually came under the control of the Sarvati empire in the mid to late 7th Century. It would be one of the key battle grounds of the Khatti Invasions and spread of Nahjiyyah. Arabs would come to occupy the region in greater numbers after the invasions.

Since the colonial era, Faheli Sarvatis have fought to establish themselves. They were mostly inactive during the Wihda, their rural and more socially conservative political culture rebuffed them from Sarvati proper, but had interests in the continued colonial rule of the country, fearing Khatti supremacism would threaten their communities. Some Fahelis fought for the State of Fahel, even as a Khatt dominated political entity, fearing they would be politically drowned out in a wider nation state. Some opted to fight during the Wihda as insurgents. Forming groups like the National People's Defense Council, Faheli Worker and Peasant Red Army, and the Faheli People's Front. Post-Wihda, Fahel State, and the ethnic Sarvatis that lived within it were economically disadvantaged as the coastal communities of the south were rebuilt and invested into. Fahel lacked a modern transport system, lagged behind national standards on education, poverty, and general health.

Course of the War

Initial Border Confrontation

From 26 Febury to 20 March, there were multiple clashes at the border between Zubaydah and Sarvatia stemming from mounting political tensions as a result of the protests. The most intense of these clashes would occure between 7 March and 10 March when Elements of the Sarvati State Security Forces fired upon a Zubaydi Border Police station near Kabeer in the northern section of Fahel State. These clashes resulted in multiple injuries on both sides, and the destruction of a border crossing, but no recorded fatalities.

later that week in Warad District another border incursion would flare up. The Sarvati Army would place a Kafan-1 ECM device on the border near the Nafaq al-Af'a Border Crossing. Zubaydi forces, belonging to the Border Security Force - Rapid Response Unit "Shakush" would cross the border and disable to the Kafan-1, with a minor firefight stemming from the operation. Zubaydi forces claiming the unit was intended to diruspt legal aviation operations on the border. While Sarvatia claimed the unit was put into place to counter Zubaydi use of UAV Reconnaissance. The last major border altercation would happen between 19 March and 20 March. Local Protestors had organized a large march in the city of Baghcheh. At roughly the same time, United of the Sarvatian Military would attack a Border Security Force station along the Ghabari Hills. The attack included small arms fire and light mortar strikes, the confrontation would last 7 hours and leave two men dead on both sides, Zubaydis Pvt. Abdullah Hassani and Lcp. Ali Nasr al-Ruhti would be killed by a mortar strike hitting their observation post. While Sarvatian Pvt. Qasim Soomekh would die after being shot by a sniper while running ammunition to a machine gun nest. Pvt. Gholam Tabrizi would be severly injured by a sniper and eventually die two day later. In total, there were about 48 injuries between the two sides during this confrontation.

Rumors and Mobilization

On March 21st there were reports that Zubaydi Internal Troops were moving equipment up from the south, into Fahel State in order to help counter protests in the region. The Internal Troops were moving equipment along with the army, who had started to mobilize after the increase in tensions along the border. Social Media accounts posted videos and photos of the military equipment being moved, with multiple claims being made by various accounts. One account claimed that the vehicles were military and that they were heading to the border to prop up the border police. Another one claimed that they belong to Internal Troops heading to Qalbedirh, the capital of Fahel state and where protests had been most active and violent.

Rumors quickly began to spread that armed interior troops were beginning to amass and violently suppress protestors in the city. Sarvatia had been tuned into these claims and on the 23rd publicly called for Zubaydah to retrain itself in the region, publically giving credence to those same rumors. Governor of Fahel Daifallah al-Zenkawi rebuffed these claims in a joint press conference with Chairman of the Federal Council Hamza al-Quysi stating that the build up in military forces was directly in response to repeated Sarvati incursions on the border. Sarvatia would in turn build up military forces along the border, particularly around the a stretch of the border between Nafaq al-Af'a and Wadi al-Lazurd where the terrain was flatter than the surrounding hills.

A series of minor conflict would continue along the border. Zubaydah would experience difficulties in transporting men and equipment into the region, as a result Zubaydi Internal Troops would be called up and sent into the region to help ensure a defensive posture along the border. Between 23 March and 10 April a total of 16 men would be killed in border skirmishes. Both Sarvatia and Zubaydah would continue to escalate rhetoric. Governor al-Zenkawi would claim that Sarvatia was using the internal tensions as a pretext for conquest of the region, claiming that Sarvatians intended to expel Khatts in the region and make way for further Sarvati settlement in Fahel. Sarvatia would claim that the reason for escalated tensions would be pressure Zubaydah into reconciling with the protestors. On 11 April Zubaydi forces would use artillery to disrupt Sarvati positions along the border. Later that night a car bomb would strike the Mahabat al-Rasul Mosque in Qalbedirh. Zubaydah would claim that it was the work of Fadayan-e Mellat, and immediately place the city under lockdown as they attempted to find the terrorist. However a later inquiry by the state in 2017 would find that the source of the explosion came from a Ministry of Interior truck improperly holding old artillery shells.

Sarvatia, fearing a violent reprisal against ethnic sarvatis in the city, would active their forces, Battle Plan E would see Sarvati military forces cut through the al-Af'a Gap between Nafaq al-Af'a and Wadi al-Lazurd, and then swing towards the cities of Baghcheh and Qalbedirh. With the first target of the attack being the city of Makan al-Dayiq.

Battle of Makan al-Dayiq

At 11:28 pm On 13 April, Sarvati fighter jets crossed the border into Zubaydi airspace and struck several pieces of communications infrastructure. Zubaydi air defense was not able to shoot down any part of the initial defense, but was enough to limit the reach of the Sarvatian attack. Sarvati troops would cross the border soon after, facing resistance from Border Guard forces who would within the next few hours surrender under intense firepower disparity. Limited air combat was dampened by night time conditions.

Sarvati soldiers would break through the Nafaq al-Af'a Border Crossing and quickly make there way towards the city. Police and Border Guards attempted to put up resistance to the Sarvati advance but only had limited success in slowing their overall progress. Zubaydi Internal Troops would make their way into the city but with limited heavy weaponry, and establish defensive positions within the city itself as well as attempting to choke off advances around the city. Sarvati troops would enter the city at 5:12am on 14 April. Met with stiff but ultimately inconsistent defense from Internal Troops. By 1:37pm the town was effectively surrounded on three sides by Sarvati army forces, and with daylight came renewed air and artillery assault.

Zubaydi military forces at this time were still mostly outside of Fahel State and were using antiquated road systems to deliver logistics to the frontlines. There was a severe lack of mobilization infrastructure in the region. Internal Troops who had been forward deployed in the region for months made up the bulk of the forces being sent into the front. With Gen. Nasr al-Haq leading the majority of the organizational effort. By early 15 April the vast majority of the Interior Troops in the city had been pushed out, with the exception of the 1st Rapid Response Battalion which still held out in the south central Afriya District of the city. Elements of the 3rd Light Trooper Battalion would organize a successful counter attack into Sarvati held portions of the city, in what would be the first victory for Zubaydi forces in the war. The majority of the Zubaydi forces in Afriya District would evacuate and retreat deeper into the hills. Makan al-Dayiq would officially be captured by Sarvati forces on 16 April after a series of clean up operations.

Sarvatian Advance

After the Battle of Makan al-Dayiq Zubaydi forces retreated to the south and west. Interior Minister Abd al-Qahhar Fahdi would task Nasr al-Haq and Umar Ali al-Daradji with establishing a defensive possition along Highway 15 which connected the cities of Dorakhar, Suq al-Zour, and Haram-e Mardak. Interior troops ahead of the new defensive possitiion would preform rearguard opperations as the 1st Internal Security Detachment and 3rd Light Trooper Brigade established the majority of the defenses. ZASOF commander Toufic Daoud Bazri would move the First Airbourne 'ar-Rukh' Battalion into the defensive area via helicopter. the Airbourne forces would slowly replace Internal Troops who were on the frontlines. ar-Rukh would engage with Sarvati forces in a moving defense between 15 April until the 20th of April. Airbourne forces would target Sarvati tank forces using Arcadian made ATGMs, with multiple conformed kills against older tanks and APCs. Sarvati forces would engage a small force in the Villiage of Yarmallah which would hold up the Sarvatian advance from 20 April until 23 April which would constitute some of the worst losses for the Sarvatian armed force to date. with nearly 7 tanks lost and 5 APC and an undetermined number of IFVs. ar-Rukh forces would take heavy losses in the fighting and would ultimatly be forces to retreat.

The Zubaydi Air Force along with air-defense systems would be successful in hampering Sarvati air operations, limiting overall success in the advance. As ar-Rukh fell back, Interior troops belong to the 4th Border Security Battalion would against orders attempt to counter-attack Sarvati forces near the villiage of Bethij. This counter-attack would fail, resulting in the near collapse of the Zubaydi western sector as it still stalled for time in trying to establish an effective defensive possition near Dorakhar. This break in the line would funnel most of the Sarvati forces west, thinking that they could exploit said opening in the line.

Sarvati forces would begin their initial shelling of Dorakhar after taking the villiage of Suq ar-Radh on 21 April. Most Internal troop forces would be stationed along what was now called the Nasr Line.

Battle of Dorakhar and Zubaydi Counteroffensive

Members of Unit 747 during the Battle of al-Khair

Zubaydi Internal Troops would solidify their defenses along the Nasr Line. Sarvati forces would assault the city of Dorakhar on the morning of 23 April after an intensive artilliary barrage that lasted nearly 16 hours. Sarvati forces came into contact with defensive formations. The defensive position held off intial Sarvati advances for hours as Sarvati soldiers cleared trenchlines, multiple IED's would also hamper Sarvati troop movements into the city.

Sarvati forces would make their initial incursion into Dorakhar at 8:29 pm, and would establish control of the cities historic Market District by 6:00 am on 24 April. Sarvati forces would quickly force themselves into the cities northern districts. However effective urban defense by Internal Troops rendured further Sarvati advances ineffective. Particually fighting around Jibrayiyl al-Hakim Square was intensive and saw multiple attempts by Sarvati forces to use tanks to break through stuborn Zubaydi defenses. between 27 April and 2 May, Internal troops would halt Sarvati advances in the city and would hold the Nasr Line effectively.

Zubaydi regular armed forces were now ready for forward deployment on the frontline. Led by MajGen Naji Hassan al-Bakr and MajGen René Bachir the combined forces of the 1st Corps and 3rd Corps would enter into Dorakhar on 3 May. Zubaydi forces spearheaded by the 7th Armored Brigade would Assault Sarvati forces in the southwest district of Za'franiya, Boxing them in between the mostly open courtyards that made up much of Za'franiya and the narrow maze-like streets of the cities old quarter. Initially done so that they could concentrate enemy forces for air strikes and artillery, the military decided that such messures were not an option incide the city. Insead Zubaydi forces would deploy modified Civilian UAVs which could drop small explosives. While these Drones were an asset to forces in the city theyre overall effectiveness was limited, Zubaydi and SArvati forces would continue to fight in close street-to-street combat as the Sarvatis were slowly pushed out of the western portion of the city.

Heavy fighting in the cities Old Quarter saw Sarvati forcces pushed to the nothern districts of the city between 5 May and 8 May. Faultering supple lines and constant battery from Zubaydi artillery and aircraft made the Sarvati possitions outside of the city dificult to control. Unit 747 would take the villiages of Manifa and Al-Khair north of Dorakhar, cutting off a major route for Sarvatian resupply. Unit 747 would initiate the Battle of Route 7 while regular army forces increased their push north. Ultimately expelling most Sarvatian forces by 11 May.

May Incidents and Khatt SSR Insurgency

Starting in early late April, elements of the Insurgent group Nishavi Popular Liberation Movement begane to increase attacks against security forces in the Nishavi SSR. The first series of attacks started on 28 April when militants attacked a series of Army Garrisons throughout the SSR in a coordinated attack. These resulted in the deaths of 3 soldiers and 5 insurgents. The attacks would continue with an increasing tempo. On 3 May, a group of nearly 17 insurgents belonging to the group Lashkar-e-Nishavistan (LeN) took control of the Abdolabad gas facility, near Abdolabad. As Sarvati forces were attempting to handle the situation at the gas facility, a group of 10 insurgents attacked the Abimarvarid International Hotel in the city of Mandar on 5 May. Followed by a bombing at a Ministry of Interior Field OFficer in Mandar the next day. These attacks would drive resources away from the Fahel conflict as the intensity and syncretism of the attacks made them difficult to deal with for local forces. These attacks were collectively called the May Incidents and would continue until May 27th When Sarvati security forces were able to crack down on insurgent cells operating in the region. In total 208 people were killed in the region between 28 April and 27 May.

On 28 April in the Khatt SSR members of Saraya Abu Nishqiband al-Salam would strike military assets along Highway 7 using both IEDs and small arms fire. The attacks would last from late april well after Sarvatian forces withdrew from Fahel and were traveling to garrison via Highway 7 and other connected routes in the SSR. These attacks would kill roughly 12 Sarvati soldiers and 32 insurgents but would drastically slow down traffic along the road which acted as the Sarvati militaries main supply route for its forces in the Fahel.

Initially there was no evidence connecting Zubaydah to these attacks. However after an investigation by the Sarvati Defense Ministry, aided by Lynsk officials from the International Arbitration and Peace Court it would be uncovered that Zubaydah had some hand in these operations. A body recovered from the Abdolabad attack was identified as Yusuf al-Qawali, a former Zubaydi security service volunteer and member of the Morad Group, an anti-communist minority rights group which was active in Zubaydah. The Morad group was suspected as a go-between for insurgent groups in Sarvatia and Zubaydi intelligence services. Investigators would eventually obtain documents from anonymous sources in the Zubaydi government which showed links between al-Qawali and a group known as Task Force Sawt. Documents did not relate to activities in 2014, but rather detailed some members, as well as its formation in 2014 by Sa'if al-Neyadi, a Major General with the Zubaydi Military Intelligence Directorate.

Sarvatia has accused Zubaydah for coordinating the attacks within its territory and using terrorism as a tool of war. all of which Zubaydah has denied.

Sarvatian Retreat

After the Battle of Dorakhar, Sarvatian forces saw their advancing line surrounded by advancing aubaydi forces on 3 sides. Zubaydi air strikes as well as the Khatt SSR Insurgency and May Incidents put a strain of Sarvati logistics. Sarvati general Haajid el-Tariq would organize a retreat from Fahel soon after Sarvati forces were pushed out of Dorakhar. The goal of the retreat was to preserve forces after making gain sin the regions. Political leadership in Sarvatia had determined that it had achieved its goals and felt that a prolonged conflict was no longer in their best intrests.

The retreat would last from 13 May until the last units reached the border on 17 May. Zubaydi forces were aware of the reasons for the retreat. Many commanders opted to trail Sarvati units, but not engage them while they retreated. However some small battles occured during this time mostly in the Zagh'a district. on 16 May, just as the last of the forces were evacuation, a Zubaydi fighter-bomber dropped a Hawkeye Cluster Munition on a collumn of retreating soldiers along 7 Highway. The bombing killed 62 soldiers, most were support and logistics personel. It was the single deadliest air strike of the conflict.

Sarvati soldiers returned home, reseving praise from locals.