Iraq Levies

Iraq Levies
Three members of the RAF Levies arrive at Liverpool aboard SS Orbita in 1946.
Active	1921–1955
Country	Iraq
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army Royal Air Force
Engagements	World War II  • Anglo-Iraqi War

The Iraq Levies (also known as the Assyrian Levies as they would eventually become dominated by ethnic Assyrians) was the first Iraqi military force established by the British in British controlled Iraq. The Iraq Levies originated in a local Arab armed scout force raised during the First World War. After Iraq became a British Mandate, the force became a minority manned force of mostly, Iraqi Turkmen, Kurds and Assyrians who lived in the north of the country while the nascent Iraqi Army was manned by Arabs. Eventually it became a mostly Assyrian manned and British officered force while it was used mostly for the guarding of the Royal Air Force bases in Iraq.

The Levies distinguished themselves in May 1941 during the Anglo-Iraqi War and were also used in other theatres of the Second World War after 1942. The force thereafter grew and survived until it was disbanded in May 1955 when control of RAF Habbaniya and RAF Shaibah was handed to Iraq.

The Iraq Levies traced their history to the Arab Scouts organized in 1915 by Major J. I. Eadie, of the British Indian Army who served as a Special Service Officer in the Muntafiq Division in Mesopotamia. He recruited forty mounted Arabs from the tribes round Nasiriyeh, for duty under the Intelligence Department as bodyguard for political officers in southern and central Iraq. By 1918 the Arab Scouts increased to 5,467 Arabs, Kurds, Turkoman, Marsh Arab and Assyrian militia.