Middle Eastern Conflict (NAI)

The Middle Eastern Conflict, also called the Arab Patriotic War, was a conflict that erupted upon the Turkish Sultanate invasion of northern Syria. The Turks decided to invade the Middle East for two reasons, the first being that they wanted to recreate the Ottoman Empire and the second that the Independent State of Greece was able to successfully gap hold back their excursions into Europe. The Central Arab Coalition, a collective of tribes and regional authorities, attempted to hold the Turks back but was quickly forced to pull back to Lebanon from Syria. At that point, they asked the Arabian Kingdom for help.

As Turkish troops pushed into Iraq and Lebanon, the guerrilla warfare and ferocity of Arab resistance grew more intense. Suicide bombings and shootouts were common place in territory occupied by the Turks. In return, the committed massacres of Arab civilians, even if there was no evidence that they were aiding the Arab forces. It turned out to be far bloodier than their campaign against Greece. In 2034, the Central Arab Coalition was dissolved, following the capture of Jordan. But, in 2037, Arabia proposed a treaty of peace with the Turks, who anxiously accepted.

Background
Prior to 2028, the world had a societal collapse, in which most countries fell to revolutions and civil wars. The Sultanate of Turkey was one of the states that emerged from the ashes, being very aggressive and ambitious. It aspired to rebuild the former Ottoman Empire, under it's new Sultan. Plans were drafted throughout 2028 for an invasion. The Turkish staff dismissed Arabs as primitive and not capable of resisting more than several months. The plans turned out to not be very useful to to that in the long run.

Invasion of northern Syria
The war began the next year, 2029, with the Turkish invasion of northern Syria. As expected, Turkish troops initially mowed through the Arab defense forces. The Central Arab Coalition was soon pushed out of northern Syria by the Turkish Army. Just weeks after the war began, the Arab Army lost the major city of Aleppo to Turkish forces. After a brief campaign southwards, the Turks were on the doorsteps of Damascus. The National Defense Force, a paramilitary gendarme-like unit of the Central Arab military, began guerrilla attacks.

Damascus campaign
The Arab Army responded with a quick blitzkrieg by General Sargon Yalda, leading the Arab 4th Army Corps from southern Syria and northern Iraq. The victory was short lived, however, as the 4th Army Corps was defeated in eastern Syria. The generals in command of the Turkish 2nd Army, Elmas Osman and Nurten Tayyip, retaliated by taking most of southern Syria and laid siege to Damascus. After two months, it fell. After successfully taking their capitol, the Turks proceeded to push into Lebanon.

Push into Lebanon
The Turkish 1st and 5th Armies, totaling some 200,000 men, began attacking northern Lebanon. Arab Army troops that regrouped there are ordered to retreat, burning and destroying anything that could be useful to the Turks. Advancing Turkish forces thought that the Arabs were on the verge of defeat, however, they were really heading to central Lebanon to meet with a force of 340,000 troops under a general from Arabia. Much of those troops were from the Kingdom of Arabia.