The Arab League as an organization has no military force, like the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

or the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, but in the 2007 summit, the Leaders decided to reactivate their joint defense and establish a peacekeeping force to deploy in

South Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distric ...

Republic of Iraq A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

, Federal Republic of Ethiopia, and other hot spots.

History

The military history of the Arab League is closely linked to the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is an ongoing intercommunal phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century, but had mostly faded out by the ...

. The 1950 Arab Joint Security Pact set out provisions for collective security among the Arab states, but only in 1961 was the '' Joint Arab Command'' (JAC) proposed as a unified military

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards * ...

for the Arab League first by the Joint Defence Council, an institution of the Arab League. Before the JAC could take shape, a unanimous resolution was passed at the first Arab League summit (January 1964) establishing the United Arab Command (UAC), although the UAC's inactivity following the Samu Incident (1966) and during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

(1967) signalled its ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' dissolution.

Arab Liberation Army

The

Arab Liberation Army The Arab Liberation Army (ALA; ar, جيش الإنقاذ العربي ''Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi''), also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the ...

(“جيش الإنقاذ لعالم “العربي” و”الإسلامي”=الإسلامي ''Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi''), also translated as Arab Countries Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war and was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the

Arab High Committee The Arab Higher Committee ( ar, اللجنة العربية العليا) or the Higher National Committee was the central political organ of the Arab Palestinians in Mandatory Palestine. It was established on 25 April 1936, on the initiative o ...

Holy War Army The Army of the Holy War or Holy War Army ( ar, جيش الجهاد المقدس; ''Jaysh al-Jihād al-Muqaddas'') was a Palestinian Arab irregular force in the 1947-48 Palestinian civil war led by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni and Hasan Salama. The ...

, though in fact the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force. At the meeting in Damascus on 5 February 1948 to organize Palestinian Field Commands, Northern Palestine including

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

was allocated to Qawuqji's forces, although Samaria was ''de facto'' already under the control of Transjordan. The Arab League Military Committee, with headquarters in Damascus, was responsible for the movements and servicing of the Army. The Committee consisted of General: Ismail Safwat (Iraq, Commander-in-Chief), General:

Taha al-Hashimi Taha al-Hashimi (Arabic: طه الهاشمي ;1961–1888) served briefly as prime minister of Iraq for two months, from February 1, 1941, to April 1, 1941. He was appointed prime minister by the regent, 'Abd al-Ilah, following the first ouster o ...

(Iraq), Colonel: Shuqayri (Lebanon), Colonel: Muhammed al-Hindi (Syria) and Colonel: Abd al-Qadir al-Jundi (Transjordan).* The ALA was dissolved at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979 after it signed a peace treaty with Israel; the league's headquarters was moved from Cairo, Egypt, to Tunis, Tunisia. In 1987, AL leaders decided to renew diplomatic ties with Egypt, who was readmitted in 1989 and the league's headquarters was moved back to Cairo.

Current strength of Arab League member states

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List of Arab League member states by military expenditure

The end of 2017 the heads of "Arab League countries" agreed to form a joint Arab military force. This force would comprise some 46,000 elite troops, support between war planes, naval vessels and light armors. .!!’ .!!’ .!!’? .!!’

References

''CIA World Factbook''
{{Arab League https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32106939.amp• Arab League Arab League Arab League Arab League