Operation Intradon in the Musandam,1970-1971: what this counterinsurgency operation says about British military operations in the Arabian Gulf

ABSTRACT This article examines Operation Intradon, a covert British counter-insurgency operation in the northern Omani enclave of Musandam. The operation, which ran from December 1970 to March 1971, was driven by the political aim of forcing the Sultan of Oman to take administrative control of this ungoverned enclave. This would then provide protection to the Strait of Hormuz oil route and remove a threat to the process of federating British protected states into what became the United Arab Emirates. We conclude by identifying what the operation says about how British military operations were crafted in Britain’s informal empire in the Gulf.