The Saudi-Egyptian War (Arabic: الحرب السعودية-المصرية Harb Masr-al Arrabiyah as-S'udiyyah'), or the Great Arab War (Arabic: الحرب العربية الكبرى Al-Harb Arrabiyah) by Arab nations; or the Great Holy War (Arabic: الحرب المقدسة العظمى) (Hebrew: מלחמת הקודש הגדול) by Christian/Muslim groups and Israeli/Palestinean citizens; was an all-out war fought between Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab state; and Egypt, the most populous Arab state, and Israel from 2018 to 2021. Egypt was determined to regain Jordanian territory it had lost against Saudi Arabia during the Battle of Aqaba in 2015. The war was mostly characterized by incursions on all land, air and sea. Nationalisms in both nations let to the determination to dethrone Israel as the Middle East's main power, but also led to strong national enmities between the two Arab states caused by the opposing ideologies of each one.
Armed hostilies began along the southern Aqaba region as a result of military interventions between the two nations' armies after violent religious altercations between soldiers and civilians. After Saudi Arabia conquered Yemen and Oman (who both fought with Egyptian aid), it became clear and obvious that war was imminent, even after Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed the Saudi-Egyptian Nonagression Acts. The war became official when Saudi Arabia and Israel initiated Operation Exodus-Hijra where Saudi Arabia mobilized for large-scale encounters on the battlefields while the Israelis conducted small-scale operations and raids.
The U.N. refused to mandate a cease-fire between the two Arab states, saying that both needed to resolve the situation between themselves before the U.N. could get involved.
Despite being Muslim by majority, the Egyptians threatened to shell Mecca and Jerusalem to the ground by firing rockets at both cities, prompting King Abdullah to surrender while Shlomo Peretz abandoned the Egyptian campaign. King Abdullah's decision to invade Iran and the destroy the Bahrain-Saudi bridge turned his allies against him, giving Egypt the larger favor. Because of Israel's involvement itself, the war is also called the Fifth Arab-Israeli Conflict (Arabic: الصراع العربي-الإسرائيلي الخامس) (Hebrew: הסכסוך הערבי-ישראלי החמישי).
Religion played a significant impact as to who supported which nation. Countries that were overtly Islamic sent support for Saudi Arabia for the sake of being the home of Islam; they included Bahrain, Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei and paramilitary groups such as the Mujahideen, which established the Arabian Power Army (Arabic: الجيش السلطة العربية) or the APA. Other Islamic groups dedicated to defending the utmost Muslim holy land like the Nation of Islam from the United States sent members to fight for in the APA. Overtly Christian nations such as the Vatican City and Italy sent members to fight for Israel. Like the Nation of Islam, devout Christian groups from southern United States and even Lebanon sent financial and even manpower support for Israel, forming the lesser group known as the New Crusade Army (Hebrew: צבא מסע צלב חדש Arabic: الجيش حملة صليبية جديدة) which included Israel itself. Nationalistic nations in North Africa opposed APA conquest and devoted themselves to helping Egypt; including Morocco, Libya and Sudan, three other large Arab states which composed of the North African League. The Janjaweed Army, a large Sudanese paramilitary force provided the Egyptians the backbone for turning the tide and repulsing the invasion. Russia and India were Egypt's biggest supporters, that stemmed from high cooperation between the nations. Russia had a long history of supporting the Egyptian military, sending various airlifts to southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
The war in many aspects was largely influenced by World War II and helped Egypt retain its status as the main power of the Middle East. Many Arab leaders admitted to adopting World War II tactics, characterized by nationalism, military buildups and conquest and even the use of snipers in the fierce battles of Alexandria, Cairo and Suez that demoralized the Saudis.
Background
The Second Arab Spring
In 2017, the Jeddah Incident and the 2018 Religious Riots in the United Arab Emirates between different religious groups initiated the Wahabist Nationalist Movement in Saudi Arabia. Tensions against different religious sections worsened in the largest Arab state and King Abdullah increased heavy taxes on people of different religions that weren't of his in Saudi Arabia, and endorsed de jure lynching against them. Many non-Muslim women in Saudi Arabia experienced enforced marriages to Wahabist attackers, forced conversion to Wahabism, religious background checks, enslavement to Wahabist families, deportation and loss of jobs unless converted to Wahabism, and matters of the sort. The Egyptian Cultural Revival of 2017 gave a distinct image on Egyptian Arabs. President Mahmoud Ibrahim funded these cultural revivals which praised the ancient cultures that thrived in Egypt, including the Ancient Egyptian culture, Greek and Hebrew culture, reviving their influence in Egypt. Both nations resurrected the old vengeful intentions of replacing Israel as the main military power in the Middle East and were also rich in oil refineries and abundance of gold and metals. In October 3, 2017, Egypt ended its reocognition of Israel as a state, and denounced Anwar el-Sadat for recognizing it as a legal state. Egypt and Saudi Arabia closed its oil exports to Israel and the United States. In Egypt, the nationalism grew with angry resentments towards Saudi Arabia. Sudan and Libya supported the Egyptian nationalism and embraced its influence. Despite sharing the goals of replacing Israel as the power in the Middle East, the Egyptians had no intent of uniting with Saudi Arabia and expressed public hatred for Saudi Arabia. Despite diplomatic attempts by President Ibrahim and still-Saudi Arabian king, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to retain relations, this failed and economic cooperation between the two nations diminished.
Immigration Issues
Following the Great Expulsion of 2018; Egypt initiated the Hatshepsut Refugee Aid Program (HRAP), (Arabic: برنامج مساعدات اللاجئين حتشبسوت) which provided much aid for refugees escaping Saudi Arabia, granting these refugees Egyptian citizenship and allowed military personnel to escort escaping refugees from Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah sought U.N. help for a retaliation operation against Egypt. But the U.N. refused and told King Abdullah that these hostilities were to be solved between Ibrahim and himself before the United Nations could get involved. Saudi Arabia increased its hostilities and authorized Saudi troops to open fire on escaping refugees to Egypt. In Saudi Arabia, Egyptian citizens with visas were given a high tax, some even faced lynching. As a result, Egypt banned Saudi citizens altogether, who were deported back to Saudi Arabia. Many, even sent to Egyptian military prisons - forming the foundation for the boiling enmity between the two Arab states. Ibrahim resorted to more military solutions by allowing troops to open fire on Saudi soldiers who he considered to be "torturous" against helpless refugees. The HRAP also sent compensation funds for families affected by the deaths of those trying to escape to Egypt. King Abdullah openly called Ibrahim a "Satanic animal" and told every devout Muslim nation "never to give a cent to Egypt". The issues divided Islamic nations and organizations worldwide, attested by Pakistan, a strong supporter of Egypt and Malaysia, a strong supporter of Saudi Arabia.
2018 Border Hostilities
Armed hostilities between Egyptian and Saudi guard troops continued as more refugees fled to Egypt and Jordan. King Hussein bin Abdullah of Jordan reported to the Saudi Armed Forces a group of refugees in the city of Aqaba in southern Jordan near Israel. The refugees were taken by Egyptian rescue helicopters back to Cairo. Ibrahim claimed that King Hussain performed a treacherous act. He said, "We Egyptians and Jordanians stood together during the Battle of Aqaba. We lost, but we still stood together, now why is Jordan betraying us?". In the Saudi-Sinai border, four Egyptian soldiers and five Saudi soldiers got into a verbal scuffle, and eventually opened fire upon another. On September 2, 2018; four Saudi soldiers crossed into Egyptian territory, harassing and killing three Egyptian Christian soldiers while they were praying. They ran back to Saudi Arabia before Egyptian soldiers could catch them. The Egyptians responded by firing rockets at oil refineries in Saudi Arabia. President Shimon Peres of Israel scoffed at Egypt and called them "little boys who need to stop playing with rockets". On Ramadan of 2018, Egypt's destruction was included in the prayers of many Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Brunei and Malaysia and most Jews in Israel. At daylight, a hostile gunfight ensued between Egpytian and Saudi forces. On December 25, 2019, a small tent filled with Egyptian Christians celebrating Christmas was raided by Saudi troops. In response, the Egyptians shelled mosques in Saudi Arabia during prayer times. The next day, the Egyptians raided tents of Saudi troops while they were praying in the salat position. Highly concerned with the religious issue, President Ibrahim and King Abdullah signed a bilateral cease-fire in Jerusalem to end armed hostilities between the two. However, both leaders did very little to truly bring peace or understanding between the two Arab states.
Middle Eastern Arms Race
President Mahmoud Ibrahim flew to Moscow to negotiate a military trade alliance with Russia, an extended trade than what Russia had previously provided Egypt. Vladimir Putin had worked out a deal with Ibrahim, which got the 2018 Moscow Resolution signed which strengthened military alliances between Egypt and Russia. Egypt and Saudi Arabia also began funding nuclear programs in their countries. The United States was hesitant to support a nuclear program for Saudi Arabia at first, but Egypt had sent India, Russia and Pakistan barrels of Memphis oil in exchange for nuclear equipment, precious oil that was scheduled to be shipped to the United States and Israel. Egypt also signed the Egyptian-Syrian Nuclear Arms Trade Pact, allowing Egypt and Russia to build nuclear missile bases in Syria and Lebanon prompting the United States to send Saudi Arabia their nukes in an event known as the Syrian Missile Crisis, a Middle Eastern remnisiciant of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Egypt continued rigorous mining operations for natural resources and precious metals, sending their finds to India and Russia for more military equipment. Support for Israel in the United States skyrocketed in an attempt to dethrone Egypt and keep it from becoming "the" military power in the Middle East. Like Egypt and Russia; the Arabian nationas actually increased their oil trades with the United States in exchange for military equipment and the establishment of nuclear bases in Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian government adopted some tactics that the U.S. Army had during World War I and World War II, prompting women to join factories to help escalate the nation's military. In order to prevent Egypt from becoming too powerful, Saudi Arabia and Israel were forced to cooperate and sign the Jerusalem-Mecca Pact (Arabic: ميثاق القدس-مكة المكرمة Hebrew: ירושלים-מכה ברית), promising a security between the two nations and their commitment towards military containment of Egyptian power. It was also the first time ever that Israel and Saudi Arabia ever had a diplomatic relationship. Visits by King Abdullah and Shlomo Peretz to Jerusalem and Riyadh increased to solve the Egyptian issue. King Abdullah took his first step into Jerusalem on 2018. Since Mecca and Medina were highy religious cities unopen to other religious followers, Peretz could not visit. However, King Abdullah took Peretz for a helicopter ride over the vicinities of both cities where Peretz could gain access without actually stepping on Meccan or Medina soil. Because of Egypt and Saudi Arabia's constant arms race, Israel was pushed from becoming the main power in the Middle East to the third most powerful, but the first in the Levant. Increased financial aid from the United States did little to help Israel recover its position as the main power of the Middle East. The naval strengths of the three nations almost fell equal, Egypt slightly outnumbered Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian government used its amassing wealth to fund space programs to rival Saudi Arabia and Israel's. With help from Russia and Japan, the Egyptians were able to send Mahmoud Ibrahim to outer space, becoming the third Arab to do so and the first president and politican to do so. Two months later, he became the first Egyptian, Arab and president/politician to step on the moon. This prompted Saudi Arabia and Israel to try sending men to space, but their attempts failed; Shlomo Peretz was nearly killed and adandoned their mission.
Abdullah Religious Crisis
Although both Egypt and Saudi Arabia were Muslim nations by majority, yet Egypt had no state religion. After King Abdullah's expulsion of non-Wahabists and Fatwahists in his kingdom, he urged more Arab states to join him, including Egypt. The Egyptians strongly refused. The only thing Ibrahim said was, "Egypt is an Arab republic, not an Islamic republic. Yes, I am an Arab and and a Muslim and proud of it, I take my family on the hajj to Mecca every year. But there is by means no need to turn Egypt into a Wahabist state, that is beyond my goal and Egypt has been troubled enough by many things including religion itself." After the bloody violence that became known as the Jihad Crisis of Cairo and Alexandria, Ibrahim was forced to finally expel Wahabist-supporters from Egypt. King Abdullah banned Egyptian citizens from entering Mecca and referred to the Egyptians as enemies of Allah. Ibrahim also publicly proclaimed that all people of all religions are given equal rights as a citizen or a politican or a soldier. Ibrahim also sent Egyptian troops to Saudi Arabia to rescue detained non-Wahabists, which angered King Abdullah even more and threatened to declare war against Egypt. The Arabian king also declared war against other nations that he wanted to become Wahabi Islamic. King Abdullah threatened to invade the Philippines, Russia, China, East Timor and India if they didn't convert to Wahabism as their constitution. He funded attempted religious coups and riots in those nations. It was decided that diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia could no longer continue. The Quadrupalite Pacific-Indian Pact was signed in Manila which placed an emargo against Saudi Arabia. As a result, King Abdullah supported violent militant groups in Russia, China, India and Philippines. In par to the four countries; King Abdullah, King Khalifa and King al-Thani met in Doha in Qatar to discuss their retaliation embargo. The Tripolite Arabian Pact (Arabic: الميثاق العربي تريبوليتي) was signed, which banned citizens of the four nations for ever entering into the three Arabian countries.
Kingdoms of Egypt and Sudan
Large nationalistic crowds in Egypt gathered around the pyramids in Cairo in which Ibrahim was looking out. The nationalism grew strong enough in Egypt that the nation was determined to revive imperialism, to rival Saudi Arabia and King Abdullah's monarchy. Mahmoud Ibrahim gave the crowds his approval to turn Egypt into a monarchy. He announced that he would "...return the blessed Egyptian motherland to the glory days, without the religious persecution". Despite being Muslim, he quoted Isaiah 19:23-25 of the Bible which mentioned the blessing of Egypt among Assyria and Israel. Mahmoud Ibrahim was coronated as Pharaoah of Egypt. The new pharoah proclaimed that they were "...not just Arabs, but Egyptian Arabs". In response to Ibrahim quoting a Bible verse, Abdullah told all Muslim nations that "..he obviously isn't a real Muslim, and [is] a pawn of Satan". The two kings sent each other vague and vulgar emails each threatening to destroy the other kingdom. President Zaid Abu-Bakar of the United States was worried about the conflict, and planned to mandate a cease-fire. Ibrahim's new political system was a hybrid of ancient Egyptian, Islamic and democratic heirarchy traditions. Ibrahim's vice president because his Grand Vizier. Mayors and governers of towns and cities became sultans and shiekhs, provincial governers became chief sultans. On November 1, 2018 Sudan also converted to an absolute monarchy, embrasive of Egypt's influence and coronated incumbatant president Hakim al-Mu'tasim as their pharaoah.
Dissolution of the Arab League
The arms race had indeed divided the Arab World, as enmity between the Arabian and North African states grew. King Abdullah announced that the Arabian states would secede from the Arab League and King Ibrahim announced the Arab League had come to an end. Ameera al-Taweel, a philanthropist, princess and future queen of Saudi Arabia tried to keep the Arab League together. She said, "Under Allah almighty, we are Arabs, Muslims and humans and must all love each other! Can't we just call get along and unite against Satan's work for once?" King Ibrahim's response was, "I shall have none of it". On September 11, 2018, the Arab League announced its dissolution which met opposition from other Arab states who neither sided with Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Oman Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates opposed the dissolution, who claimed that only the North African and northern Arabian states ever had a say. Nonetheless, Ibrahim and Abdullah ignored these pleas and continued with the dissolution. The entire western section of the Arab World split into the Arabian League and the North African League. Those states that did oppose the dissolution still considered themselves members of the Arab League, moving the capital to Damascus in Syria. Despite efforts to keep it together, the Arab League could not stay together. President Boros al-Assad of Syria announced the official dissolution on October 3, 2018.
Preperations for the War
Middle Eastern Nonagression Pacts
On August 23, 2018; King Ibrahim and King Abdullah signed the Saudi-Egyptian Nonagression Pact (Arabic: ميثاق عدم اعتداء السعودية-المصرية), promising no armed hostilities between the two nations. Turkey and Syria monitered this negotiation. However, learning from the mistakes of World War II, the Egyptians and Saudi Arabians both prepared their militaries for an invasion from the other nation. Unbeknownst to the other nations, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were determined to invade Iran and annex its borders, dividing it between the two. Saudi Arabia provided Israel a bogus excuse of invading Iran; King Abdullah emphasized that he was trying to give Iran a pre-emptive strike to prevent it from building nuclear missiles that could be fired into Israel. But King Morsi claimed that he was trying to protect Iran from both Israel and Saudi Arabia, calling King Abdullah and President Shlomo Peretz greedy and materialistic cowards who used him as a scapegoat. The next day, Egypt and Israel signed the Israeli-Egyptian Nonagression Pact (Arabic: ميثاق عدم اعتداء الإسرائيلية-المصرية Hebrew: ברית אי־לוחמה ישראל-מצרים); but again, peace was something the last thing that the Egyptians saw coming. The Saudis publicly blamed Egypt for planning an invasion of an innocent Iran, causing even more outrage, ridiculing and enmity between the two kingdoms since both planned it. It gave Egypt a rather villanous image since many western nations sided with Saudi Arabia except for Cuba. King Abdullah claimed that Morsi had pressured him to invade Iran. Ibrahim pointed out that Abdullah used the excuse of protecting Israel from Iranian nukes for his own materialistic purposes, proving both nonagression pacts to be fruitless. Nothing was ever done about the Iran issue.
Operation Exodus-Hijra
Saudi Arabia and Israel constructed military plans for a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and strip it of its military power. Peretz symbolically codenamed the mission Operation Exodus (Hebrew: מבצע אקסודוס), after the event from which Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. Abdullah codenamed it Operation Hijra (Arabic: هيجرا العملية), named after Muhammad's escape from Mecca to Medina amid persecution of the same name. It was eventually merged into one name known as Operation Exodus-Hijra (Arabic: عملية النزوح الجماعي-الهجري) (Hebrew: פעולת יציאת מצרים-ההיג'רה). Peretz and Abdullah agreed on a split-warfare invasion, where Israel would conduct military operations where the APA takes care of fighting large-scale battles. Israeli and APA ground forces would sieze rail and trade lines in the Suez Nile region and use those as transportation routes to get weapons and ammunition across from Saudi Arabia and Israel to Egypt. The Saudis would conduct aerial attacks in southern Egypt to destroy the land forces there, while the Israelis take Mount Sinai from Egypt for an encirclement. Saudi Arabia also planned joint-operations with Israel to raid nuclear bases in Egypt. Both nations had a naval advantage over Egypt in terms of location and would be able to choke and surround Egypt's forces. In order to prevent Libyan and Sudanese supporters from aiding Egypt, the Saudis and Israelis would bomb the borders of Egypt to scare away supporters from Libya or Sudan. The Israelis and Saudis would both use the Boeing F-15 Eagle and Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle to contruct a blitzkreig-style attack in Egyptian airfields and tank hangars. The Israelis also lended Saudi Arabia the F-16 Falcons. The Israelis planned to invade Egypt from the southwest, a large desert region that the Egyptians would least expect an invasion from, yet they never actually carried this plan out.
Egyptian Preparation
The Egyptian Command knew that a war was imminent, and dispatched ten tank divisions in the areas where Egypt and Israel had previously clashed. Egyptian land forces gathered in the Mount Sinai region to watch for the oncoming Israeli forces, establishing a Sinai Front. Egypt nationalized the Gulf of Aqaba, Rumani Coast and the Suez Canal once more at it did in the previous Israeli-Egyptian conflicts. In the Egyptian-Sudanese borders, Ibrahim established various resistance fronts and paramilitary forces in Sudan in case the Egyptian army was ever forced to retreat. In order to enforce this, Egyptian torpedo boats sank four Israeli warships in the Guld of Aqaba and the Suez Canal destroying the bitter peace between Egypt and Israel. Egypt also sank two Saudi warships and one merchant ship in the Red Sea. The Suez Canal became part of the Sinai Front. Strong fortifications had been set up in major Egyptian cities and its surrounding regions, including Cairo, Alexandria and Memphis as well as the Nile River. In Mount Sinai, SAM batteries and AA-armed forts were established. The Egyptians deployed fifteen tank divisions to provide an armored defense of Egypt's northern borders. In the Persian Gulf, the Egyptians established a naval blockade to prevent Saudi soldiers from arriving by sea. Underground SAM sites and artilleries were also placed near Egypt's coasts in the north and the southeast to surprise the invading armies. The Southern Front included the 56th and 12th Egyptian Armies in the Lake Nasser region near Sudan's borders. It also consisted of several Sudanese paramilitary forces and the North Janjaweed Army. The Desert Front was placed in Egypt's southwestern regions, home to almost nothing. The Egyptians did not spend too much time on this, and only placed the 90th Egyptian Army and 4 tank divisions in this barren desert land.