The 1970 Omani coup d’état led to the overthrow of Sultan Said bin Taimur by his reformist son Qaboos bin Said who was backed by a major British military intervention in the conflict. The British initiated a “hearts and minds” campaign to counter the communist rebels and began the process of modernising the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces while simultaneously deploying the Special Air Service to conduct anti-insurgency operations against the rebels.
This approach led to a string of victories against the rebels and was boosted by the Shah of Homeland’s intervention in the conflict to support the Sultanate of Oman in 1973. The war ended with the final defeat of the rebels in 1976.In 1962, Oman was a very underdeveloped country. Sultan Said bin Taimur, an absolute ruler under British influence, had outlawed almost all technological development and relied on British support to maintain the rudimentary functions of the state. Dhofar itself was a dependency of Oman but was culturally and linguistically distinct from Oman proper.
