SUMMARY
The PFLO (al-Jabha al-Shaabiya li-Tahrir Uman; Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman) was a socialist/Marxist, Arab nationalist armed group that sought, primarily, to overthrow the governing sultanate regime in Oman. It grew out of the Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) that formed in the sixties, before transforming into the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG; al-Jabha al-Shaabiya li-Tahrir al-Khalij al-Arabi al-Muhtall) in 1968. In late 1971 or early 1972, its name was adapted to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG; al-Jabhah al-Shaabiyah li-Tahrir Uman wa-al-Khalij al-Arabi) before it was revised once more to the final PFLO name in 1974.
The PFLO rebellion originated in the Dhorfar region of southern Oman, which was an economically depressed area only loosely connected to Oman before 1970. The population struggled to sustain its agrarian livelihood in Dhorfar under the isolationist policy of the Omani regime, which allowed it to suffer from a lack of growth and development despite Omani oil resources. This motivated the imamate tribal communities of Dhorfar to unify their dissatisfaction under the DLF, the precursor of the PFLO. As a rural, tribal movement with a limited territorial aim for the independence of Dhofar from Oman, the DLF waged a low-level guerrilla campaign in the mid-1960s but this resulted in less than 25 deaths a year and was therefore not recorded by UCDP.
However, a fundamental change to the group’s nature occurred when Marxists managed to take over the leadership of the group at the DLF’s second congress in 1968. Driven by Marxist ideology, the group objective was transformed into seeking an all-encompassing revolution against the governing regime of Oman as well as the other Gulf states. A resolution formalizing this new goal was passed and has been recorded as the first stated own goal in the UCDP. To reflect its fundamental transformation, the DLF was also renamed PFLOAG. However, by 1972, severe losses on the battlefield and in support led to internal disputes and factionalism. At the fourth congress in 1974, this resulted in the PFLOAG relinquishing its objective to liberate the Gulf region: instead, it reframed itself as a national liberation movement seeking to liberate Oman from the foreign forces intervening and assisting the Omani regime to maintain its power. Once again, the name of the group was changed to PFLO to reflect this ideological shift. After the PFLO adopted its left-wing orientation in 1968, it organized itself with a military wing called “People’s Liberation Army” to follow the Maoist example. It also had a youth wing called the “Oman Youth Organization” and an education program that taught Arabic classes and politics.
By 1968, the PFLO had established major supply routes into Dhofar, secured weaponry such as light machine guns, land mines and mortars as well as radio communications. By 1970, the PFLO had grown to approximately 5000 regular troops with nearly half based in South Yemen and it controlled 80% of Dhofar. However, US estimates reported only 800 core fighters with approximately 1000 part-time militias remaining by 1972; by 1975, this had reduced even further to approximately 850 troops. The noticeable reduction was driven by a change in strategy by the governing Omani regime, which implemented an effective carrot-and-stick approach that addressed most of the original Dhofar-specific grievances after Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id came to power in 1970.
The PFLO precursor, DFL, was led by Mussalim bin Nafl; a wealthy tribal Sheikh who disapproved of the conditions that the Dhofar tribes endured living under the Omani governing regime. However, the leadership of the group was taken over by radical leftist at the second congress in 1968. Pro-Marxist Mohammed Ahmad al-Ghassani, a leader of one of the militant, Arab nationalist factions within the DFL, became the head of the Executive Council whilst Mahad bin Musallim Bayt Sa’id led the Military Committee.
In 1971, the PFLO merged with the urban-based NDFLOAG (al-Jabha al-Wataniya al-Dimuqratiya li-Tahrir Uman wa-l-Khalij al-Arabi, National Democratic Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf) that had been formed by Omani students in Iraq. In recognition of this, the group amended its name from Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf to Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf, whilst retaining the same acronym PFLOAG.
The PFLO was backed by troops from socialist South Yemen, from whose territory it conducted most of its operations and received essential supplies from. It also received weapons, financial assistance and/or military training from other countries including China and the Soviet Union. Egypt and Iraq were also reported to have supported the PFLO prior to 1975.
