List of wars involving Saudi Arabia

This is a list of wars involving the Saudi Arabia and includes conflicts involving the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its predecessor states.

Emirate of Diriyah (1744–1818)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Monarch	Saudi losses
Battle of Riyadh (1746)	Diriyah	Emirate of Riyadh	Victory Debellation of the Emirate of Riyadh	Muhammad bin Saud	~1700
Battle of Al-Hayer (1764)	Diriyah	Bani Khalid Emirate	Defeat Saudi Defeat	Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad	~500
Battle of Ghrimeel (1789)	Diriyah	Bani Khalid Emirate	Victory Debellation of Al-Ahsa		?
Saudi–Mamluk War (1790–1811)	Diriyah	Mamluk Iraq Al-Muntafiq Emirate Supported by: Sheikhdom of Kuwait Ottoman Empire Bani Khalid Emirate	Victory Defeat of Mamluk Dynasty. Beginning of the Invasion of Karbala		1000
Al-Ahsa Rebellion (1792)	Diriyah	Bani Khalid Emirate	Defeat Saudi Retreat from Al-Ahsa		?
Saudi Invasion of Al-Ahsa (1793)	Diriyah	Bani Khalid Emirate	Victory Dissolution of the Bani Khalid Emirate in Al-Ahsa Incorporation of Al-Ahsa into Emirate of Diriyah		?
Ibn Ufaisan's Invasion of Kuwait (1793)	Diriyah	Sheikhdom of Kuwait Great Britain	Defeat Saudi Retreat from Kuwait		?
Saudi Invasion of Qatar (1798-1793)	Diriyah	Qatar Bahrain Oman Ottoman Empire	Victory Incorporation of Qatar into First Saudi State		?
Invasion of Karbala (1802)	Diriyah	Ottoman Iraq Ottoman Empire	Victory Saudi Takeover of Karbala		None
Invasion of Basra (1803)	Diriyah	Al-Muntafiq Emirate	Victory Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad assassinated by a man from A'amarah in Iraq		?
Battle of Khakeekera (1811)	Diriyah	Bahrain Kuwait	Defeat Invasion of Bahrain repelled	Saud bin Abdul-Aziz	~300
Battle of Al-Safra (1812)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Victory Ottoman retreat to the port of Yanbu		~600
Battle of Medina (1812)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat Ottoman control of Median		~4000
Battle of Jeddah (1813)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat Ottoman control of Jeddah		?
The First Battle of Hanakiyah (1813)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Victory The Capture of 300 Ottomans		?
The First Battle of Turubah (1813)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Victory		?
The Battle of Taif (1813)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat the capture of the Saudi General Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Adwani		50
The Second Battle of Turubah (1814)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Victory		?
The First Battle of Al Qunfudhah (1814)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Victory the Ottomans Fail to Take the Town		?
The Second Battle of Al Qunfudhah (1814)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Victory the Ottomans Fail to Take the Town	Abdullah bin Saud	?
The Battle of Bsl (1815)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat		~5000
The Battle of Bisha (1815)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat		100
The Battle of Asir (1815)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat		?
Battle Qasr of Al-Baajaa (1815)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Victory The Death of 110 Ottomans		?
The Second Battle of Hanakiyah (1817)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat		200
Siege of the Rass (1817)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat Treaty after Huge Ottoman Losses		70
Siege of the Unayzah (1817)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat Ottoman control of Unayzah and Rass		?
Siege of the Dhurma (1817)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat Ottomans commit war crimes and mass deportation of Women and Children to Diriyah		~2000
Siege of Diriyah (1818)	Diriyah	Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Empire	Defeat End of the First Saudi State		~1300

Emirate of Nejd (1824–1891)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Monarch	Saudi losses
Nejd Rebellion (1821–1824)	Nejd	Egypt Eyalet	Victory Beginning of the Second Saudi State	Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad	?
First Saudi Civil War (1834)	Supporters of Faisal	Supporters of Mishari	Victory to Faisal's forces Execution of Mishari ibn Abdul-Rahman	Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud	?
Egyptian invasion of Nejd (1838–1843)	Nejd	Egypt Eyalet	Victory Egyptian retreat, Khalid ibn Saud toppled		?
Second Saudi Civil War (1865–1875)	Supporters of Rahman	Supporters of Saud	Victory to Saud's forces Exile of Rahman, Saud becomes Emir	Saud bin Faisal bin Turki	?
Al-Hasa Expedition[1][2] (1870-1871)	Nejd	Ottoman Empire Kuwait	Defeat Ottoman conquest of Najd Sanjak[3]		?
Battle of Arwa (1883)	Nejd	Jabal Shammar	Defeat Saudi defeat		?
Battle of Mulayda (1891)	Nejd	Jabal Shammar	Defeat End of the Second Saudi State	Abdul Rahman bin Faisal	~1000

Emirate of Riyadh (1902–1913)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Monarch	Saudi losses
Battle of Riyadh (1902)	Riyadh	Jabal Shammar	Victory Beginning of the Third Saudi State	Ibn Saud	1,200 dead[4]
Battle of Dilam (1903)	Riyadh	Jabal Shammar	Victory Saudi takeover of southern Nejd		160
First Saudi–Rashidi War (1903–1907)	Riyadh	Jabal Shammar Ottoman Empire	Victory Saudi takeover of central and northern Arabia		2,600+
Battle of Hadia (1910)	Riyadh Sheikhdom of Kuwait	Al-Muntafiq Emirate	Victory Defeat of the Al Muntafiq Tribe		?
Conquest of al-Hasa (1913)	Riyadh Ikhwan	Ottoman Empire	Victory Incorporation of al-Hasa into Saudi Arabia		?

Emirate of Nejd and Hasa (1913–1921)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Monarch	Saudi losses
Battle of Jarrab (1915)	Nejd and Hasa	Jabal Shammar	Defeat Change of course of the Arab Revolt	Ibn Saud	?
Battle of Kinzaan (1915)	Nejd and Hasa	Ajman Tribe	Victory Death of Sa'ad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud[5]		?
Al-Khurma Dispute (1918–1919)	Nejd and Hasa Ikhwan	Hejaz	Victory Hashemite land cessions		+7,000 soldiers and +1,392 civilians killed[6]
Kuwait–Najd War (1919–1920)	Nejd and Hasa Ikhwan	Sheikhdom of Kuwait	Defeat Ikhwan retreat from Kuwait		?
Conquest of Ha'il (1921)	Nejd and Hasa	Jabal Shammar	Victory Debellation of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar		?

Sultanate of Nejd (1921–1926)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Monarch	Saudi losses
Ikhwan raids on Transjordan (1922–1924)	Nejd Ikhwan	Transjordan	Defeat Ikhwan defeat	Ibn Saud	500+[7]
Saudi Conquest of Hejaz (1924–1925)	Nejd Ikhwan	Hejaz	Victory Incorporation of Hejaz.		?

Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (1926–1932)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Monarch	Saudi losses
Ikhwan Revolt (1927–1930)	Hejaz & Nejd Kuwait  United Kingdom	Ikhwan	Victory Ikhwan defeat.	Ibn Saud	At least 700
Saudi–Yemeni Border Skirmish (1931)	Hejaz & Nejd	Yemen	Unclear		?
Najran conflict (1931–1932)	Hejaz & Nejd	Yemen	Victory		?
Idrisid Emirate Rebellion (1931–1933)	Before 1932: Hejaz & Nejd After 1932: Saudi Arabia	Emirate of Asir Supported by: Yemen	Victory Rebellion suppressed Beginning of the Saudi–Yemeni War		?

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1932–present)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Monarch	Saudi losses
Saudi–Yemeni War (1934)	Saudi Arabia	Yemen	Victory Treaty of Taif signed on 14 June 1934, guaranteeing 20 years of peace between Saudi Arabia and Yemen Saudi Arabia leaves and Yemen gains control of Al-Hudaydah Jizan, Asir, and Najran became the provinces of Saudi Arabia	Ibn Saud	?
First Arab–Israeli War (1948–1949)	Egypt  Iraq Transjordan Syria  Lebanon Saudi Arabia Yemen HWA ALA	Israel	Defeat Arab League invasion of former Mandatory Palestine repelled 1949 Armistice Agreements		?
Buraimi Dispute (1949–1955)	Saudi Arabia	British Empire Trucial States Sultanate of Muscat and Oman	Defeat Saudi Arabia withdraws and Oman regains control of Na'im and Al Bu Shamis, Buraimi and Hamasah Emirate of Abu Dhabi consolidates control of Al Ain Start of Saudi Arabia – United Arab Emirates border dispute, resolved by the Treaty of Jeddah signed in 1974.		?
Jebel Akhdar War (1945–1959)	Imamate of Oman Saudi Arabia	Sultanate of Muscat and Oman  United Kingdom Ibriyin Tribe	Defeat Defeat of the Imamate of Oman		?
North Yemen Civil War (1962–1965)	Kingdom of Yemen  Saudi Arabia	Yemen Arab Republic  United Arab Republic	Defeat Saudi Arabia stopped supplying the Royalists	Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	~1,000 soldiers and civilians
Al-Wadiah War (1969)	Saudi Arabia	South Yemen	Victory al-Wadiah reoccupied by Saudi forces	Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	?
Ramadan War (1973)	Egypt  Syria Iraq  Jordan  Algeria Morocco  Saudi Arabia  Cuba	Israel	Defeat[8] Arab invasion repelled; UN ceasefire Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty[9] Israel–Syria Disengagement Agreement		?
Lebanese Civil War (1976–1979)	ADF  Syria  Saudi Arabia  Sudan  United Arab Emirates  Libya  South Yemen	LF FLA	Victory[10] ADF mission goals achieved[10] ADF becomes an all-Syrian force in 1979	Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	?
Grand Mosque seizure (1979)	Saudi Arabia	Ikhwan	Victory Saudi military retake Masjid al-Haram		127 soldiers[11] 11 civilians
Qatif Uprising (1979)	Saudi Arabia	OIR	Victory Uprising Suppressed		?
Saudi-Iranian Air Engagement (1984)	Saudi Arabia	Iran	Victory Two Iranian planes shot down. Iranian Failure to attack Saudi oil tankers.	Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	None
Mecca Incident (1987)	Saudi Arabia	Iranian Pilgrims	Victory		85 Security Guards
Gulf War (1990–1991)	Kuwait United States  United Kingdom  Saudi Arabia  France  Canada  Egypt  Syria  Oman  United Arab Emirates  Qatar  Italy  Australia	Iraq	Victory Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait; Emir Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah restored Heavy casualties and destruction of Iraqi and Kuwaiti Infrastructure		24 soldiers 1 civilian
Iraqi No-Fly Zone Enforcement Operations (1991–2003)	United States  United Kingdom  France  Australia  Belgium  Netherlands  Saudi Arabia  Turkey  Italy	Iraq	Victory Various bombings of Iraqi forces both arial and naval Mass numbers of Iraqi targets killed or destroyed Reduction in Iraqi air defense Beginning of the Iraq War		None
First Intervention in the Somali Civil War (1992–1995)	United States  United Kingdom  Spain  Saudi Arabia  Malaysia  Pakistan  Italy  India  Greece  Germany  France  Canada  Botswana  Belgium  Australia  New Zealand	Somali National Alliance	Defeat Failure to capture SNA leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid; specific Aidid lieutenants captured Civil war is ongoing		None
Operation Ocean Shield (2009–2016)	NATO  Malaysia  South Korea  India  Saudi Arabia	Somali pirates	Victory Number of pirate attacks have decreased dramatically since the start of such operations, however attacks still occur near the coast waters of Oman, Yemen, Kenya, and Somalia Piracy drops 90%[12]	Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	None
Sixth Sa'dah War (2009–2010)	Yemen  Saudi Arabia  Jordan  Morocco	Houthis	Stalemate[13] Houthis consolidate control over Sa'dah		133 soldiers 4 civilians
Saudi-led intervention in Bahrain (2011)	Bahrain Peninsula Shield Force  Saudi Arabia  United Arab Emirates  Kuwait	Bahraini opposition	Victory Suppression of Bahraini opposition		1 soldiers[14]
War on ISIS (2014–)	Iraq  Iraqi Kurdistan Free Syrian Army Rojava United States  United Kingdom  Jordan  Turkey  Saudi Arabia  Bahrain  Qatar  United Arab Emirates  Morocco  Australia  Belgium  Canada  France  Germany  Denmark  Norway	Islamic State al-Nusra Front Khorasan	Ongoing Multinational intervention against Syrian Islamists		3 soldiers
Saudi-led intervention in Yemen (2015–)	Hadi government  Saudi Arabia  United Arab Emirates  Senegal  Sudan  Qatar  Bahrain  Kuwait  Jordan  Morocco  Egypt  France	Houthi government Houthis Saleh loyalists Ansar al-Sharia Islamic State	Ongoing Houthis dissolve Yemeni government Houthis take control of northern Yemen Conflict in Najran, Jizan and Asir	Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	1,000 + soldiers[15] ~500 civilians[16]

References

1. ar:عبد الله الثاني الصباح#cite note-2
2. Abu-Hakima, Ahmad Mustafa. "The Expedition Route, Midhat Pasha in Al-Hasa, Kuwait's Role in the Ottoman Expedition 1871-1873, Abd Allah's Direct Role in the War." The Modern History of Kuwait, 1750-1965. London: Luzac &, 1983. 85-89. Print.
3. Gábor Ágoston; Bruce Alan Masters (2009-01-01). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. pp. 320–321. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7. Archived from the original on 2014-06-29. Retrieved 2013-05-20.
4. Aburish, Said K. (1995). The Rise, Corruption and the Coming Fall of the House of Saud. New York: St. Martin’s Press. p. 14.
5. "King Abdulaziz' Noble Character" (PDF). Islam House. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
6. Political Science. Middle East/North Africa/Persian Gulf Region. University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved 2011. Archived 2017-10-26 at the Wayback Machine
7. Noel Joseph Guckian. British Relations with Trans-Jordan, 1920–1930. University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Ph.D Thesis: pp.217-218. May 1985.
8. References:
   • Herzog, The War of Atonement, Little, Brown and Company, 1975. Forward
   • Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, Yom Kippur War, Double Day and Company, Inc, 1974, page 450
   • Luttwak and Horowitz, The Israeli Army. Cambridge, MA, Abt Books, 1983
   • Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, Schocken Books, 2004. Page 498
   • Revisiting The Yom Kippur War, P.R. Kumaraswamy, pages 1–2 ISBN 0-313-31302-4
   • Johnson and Tierney, Failing To Win, Perception of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Page 177
   • Charles Liebman, The Myth of Defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur war in Israeli Society Middle Eastern Studies, Vol 29, No. 3, July 1993. Published by Frank Cass, London. Page 411.
9. Loyola, Mario (7 October 2013). "How We Used to Do It — American diplomacy in the". National Review. p. 1. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
10. SM Saseen, The Taif Accord and Lebanon's Struggle to Regain its Sovereignty, p. 63.
11. "Pierre Tristam, "1979 Seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca", About.com". Archived from the original on 9 February 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
12. "Somali piracy is down 90 per cent from last year". The Journal. 15 December 2013. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
13. Zimmerman, Katherine L. Yemen's Pivotal Moment. Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute, 2014.
14. "Bahrain king declares martial law over protests". NBC News. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-07-14. Retrieved 2019-10-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
16. "Yemen's guerrilla war tests military ambitions of big-spending Saudis". Archived from the original on 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2017-07-02.

Further information

• Bowen, Wayne H. (2008). The History of Saudi Arabia. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-313-34012-3. OCLC 166388162.
• "Wars involving Saudi Arabia". BBC.</ref>

External links

• Hous of Saud, a 2005 documentary by PBS' Frontline.
• https://web.archive.org/web/20180319160145/http://thirdgradersatwar.com/ find out what really happened as told by a Cavalry Scout
• Website about the french Daguet Division
• Gulf War Discussion from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
• Historical Context from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
• Gulf War Guide – Iraq, U.S., UK Operation Desert storm War site with special features on the war
• Saddam Hussein & the invasion of Kuwait.
• CBC Digital Archives – The 1991 Gulf War
• Master Index of Desert Storm Oral History Interviews by the United States Army Center of Military History
• Bibliography of the Desert Shield and Desert Storm compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History
• Persian Gulf War
• 20th Anniversary of Desert Storm in Photos
• Profile: Al Houthis