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Operation Simba
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Operation Simba, and the subsequent fighting around high ground near Sarfait, was the longest running conflict of the Dhofar Rebellion. On 17 April 1972, a battalion of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces (SAF) landed by helicopter to establish a position on a dominating ridge at Sarfait, near the border with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). The aim was to interdict the supply lines used by the guerillas of the PFLOAG from the PDRY to the interior of Dhofar, which ran along the narrow coastal plain beneath the foot of the escarpment at the southern end of the ridge.
Operation Simba | |||||||
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Part of Dhofar Rebellion | |||||||
![]() SAF Sangars on the Sarfait plateau, looking towards the airstrip | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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It was found that the position could not be extended to the coast to block the camel and vehicle tracks running below the escarpment, and lacking water, the position could be maintained only by aircraft or helicopters. The demands placed by the Simba position on the Sultan of Oman's Air Force forced the SAF to curtail other operations in Dhofar and several times threatened the collapse of the position.
After the position had been held for three years, and the overall course of the war turned in favour of the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, the Simba position became the launching point for an operation which was originally intended as a diversion but succeeded in cutting the rebels' supply line, precipitating their ultimate collapse.