Needless to say, after this first great butting of the heads between the armies of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the Royal Family in Riyadh was somewhat nervous. The new front line was now just 120 kilometers from the big oil center of Al Jubayl, where there were oil refineries and terminals at Port Fahd, pump stations, tank farms, power generation facilities and two airfields, Abu Ali and a much bigger field at King Abdul Aziz AFB. Fifty more kilometers south on the coast was the even bigger terminal port of Ras Tanura and the major supply hub of Dammam.
General Scott looked over the map, thinking the new defensive front looked solid. It was shorter, more compressed, and this time largely composed of Saudi troops, without a weak center, as the Kuwati troops were mostly off the line now. The US was now making a full court diplomatic press to get Qatar and the UAE to commit to the support of the Saudis. Qatar, with a small army, nonetheless agreed to send five battalions, but the Emirates came through in a much bigger way, with five full brigades.
News of that commitment was a great relief to the General, and in spite of a nervous King Salman, he assured the Saudis that they had the means to hold. US advisors were being moved forward to the front to coordinate with Saudi forces, and see if they could not impart something of the fine art of mobile combined arms combat to them. The first thing they advised was that the Kingdom’s good armored brigades needed to be integrated with mechanized infantry at all times, and never fight without it.
That night, the 2nd BCT of the 82nd Airborne Division would land at Prince Sultan / Al Kharj AFB southeast of Riyadh, and it would soon be given orders to get moving north….
Part VII
Endzone
“You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack, and one guy not getting in the endzone.”
Chapter 19
“Ha!” said General Kamel Ayad. A big, heavy set man, the General was quite satisfied with what he had just accomplished. Kuwait was in the fold, and now he had the Saudi sheep on the run.
“Ha! Did I not tell you they would break? Now we pursue them south, ever closer to the real prize, the great fields of Ghawar.”
“Careful, General,” said the Iraqi Defense Minister, Abdul Bakir, his dark hair catching the light with an evil gleam. “Is the army still fresh? The men must be tired after 72 hours hard fighting, and in need of rest. Do we not need to bring up more supplies before you go rushing off further south into the Saudi desert?”
“Supply is still reaching the front as we speak. No, we must keep the pressure on, and hit them again—before the Americans come up and put some backbone into them.”
“But look at these reconnaissance photographs! As they retreat, they are tightening their lines—eliminating the gaps. Your infantry can no longer infiltrate. You will have to simply put your head down and charge at them like a wild bull.”
“That may be true, said the General, “ but this bull has sharp horns. When we break through, they will be put to flight again. We must gain the junction of An Nairyah.”
“Indeed… Well General, I am to tell you that Qusay has obtained some intelligence. The Army of the United Arab Emirates is moving, and that of Qatar. Look here, this photograph tells the story well enough. Those are mechanized columns coming up Highway 5. They will reach Dammam by tomorrow, and the Americans already have troops there, along with a brigade from Bahrain. Frankly, I do not think we will have the strength to unhorse all these chariots.”
“Always the naysayer, Abdul. You spend too much time running a comb through your hair and looking into a mirror! Tell Qusay that if he is worried, then let him invite more Iranian forces to our tent. And where are the Syrians and Egyptians?”
“That is a sensitive matter. They are Sunni states, just like Saudi Arabia! Yes, they have aligned themselves with the Chinese, but soon they will see that has put very little mutton on their plates. Suez is closed, and no ships come to Egyptian ports now. Things there are never good, and now they are terrible. No, the Egyptians will not cross the Red Sea, nor will they get past Israel if they strike east through Sinai, so they will not do that either. Syria has claimed they can spare nothing, because of the insurgency they are fighting.”
“And all the North African states will do nothing as well,” said General Ayad. “They have Sunni majorities, but they do not love us. Saddam and the Ba’ath Party may be Sunni, but Iraq is and has always been a Shiite majority, and they know this all too well.”
“As for the Iranians,” said the Defense Minister, “Qusay is leery about inviting too many to our tent, as you say. Yes, if we need them, they will come. But he fears they may be unruly guests.”
“As long as they will fight for us, then let it be. War is not polite, Mister Defense Minister. You of all people should know that. So we must press on, if only to take enough from the Saudis to make it hurt. Then you and others might negotiate our withdrawal from their kingdom in exchange for Kuwait. That would be honorable. Yes?”
“Don’t be a fool, General. Do you think the Americans will allow us to just snatch away seven percent of the world’s oil reserves in a single day?”
“Allow us? We have already done it!”
“Yes, but they will want to reverse that. They will not be satisfied until we are kicked all the way back to our borders.”
“Perhaps, but they do not have the force to do such a thing. They have but one division in Saudi Arabia. I have many more.”
“And if they send more troops? Then what?
“The Chinese have told us they will prevent that. There is only so much they can airlift. The rest must all come by sea, and if you have been reading the headlines lately, you will have seen the Chinese Navy has been fairly good at sinking ships.”
“Yes, British ships, not Americans.”
“Well I do not sail ships. I command the Army, and thus far, I have done what I was asked to do. Qusay has told me to come here and rub the Saudis noses in the sand, and that is what I will do. Now… If you’ll excuse me, I have orders to write.”
Those orders to his division commanders would be fairly simple. The Saudi Army is in front of you—attack it!
The commitment of forces from the U.A.E. was a godsend, because the Saudi Army was realizing it was overmatched by the combined forces of Iran and Iraq. Behind them came two more MEU’s from Oman, which had come off the Amphibious Ready Groups based there, the 12thand 15th. Thus far, the two BCT’s of the 82nd Airborne had not advanced to the front line action. 1st BCT was deployed around Al Jubayl and Ras Tanura to guard the oil terminals, airfields and ports. 2nd BCT had then deployed along Highway 80 as it approached Dammam, screening the big Saudi Aramco facilities near Abqaiq, and blocking the way south into the vast Ghawar Oil fields.
On the main front, the Saudi Army had finally concentrated on a front extending from the coast at Ras Tanaqib, and southwest behind An Nairyah and into the desert beyond. The weary Iraqi troops were making selective attacks, many of their brigades needing rest and resupply, but on the extreme left of the position, near the escarpment close to a small desert airfield called Sulfa, a new offensive began.
That area was lightly defended, and it was clear that the Iraqis were looking for a way around that flank. At the urging of US advisors, the Saudis ordered their airborne brigade to take to the helicopters and thump their way west, landing at Hadhar Airfield, about 55 kilometers southwest of Nairyah. Light patrol units in the area had noted the arrival of Iraqi Special forces by helicopter an hour earlier, and so both sides were moving this highly mobile forces into that sector, looking for advantage.