Editing Axis powers (section)

===Iraq===
{{Main|Anglo-Iraqi War}}
[[File:Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. CM812.jpg|thumb|left|An [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] officer investigates wrecked Iraqi artillery near [[Habbaniyah|Habbaniya]].]]
In April 1941 the [[Arab nationalist]] [[Rashid Ali al-Gaylani|Rashīd ʿAlī al-Gaylānī]], who was pro-Axis, [[1941 Iraqi coup d'état|seized power in Iraq]]. British forces responded by deploying to Iraq and in turn removing Rashi Ali from power. During fighting between Iraqi and British forces, Axis forces were deployed to Iraq to support the Iraqis.<ref name="Rashīd ʿAlī al-Gaylānī">{{cite web |title=Rashīd ʿAlī al-Gaylānī |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rashid-Ali-al-Gaylani |website=Britannica.com |access-date=12 February 2021 |date=14 June 2002}}</ref> However, Rashid Ali was never able to conclude a formal alliance with the Axis.<ref name="Silverfarb & Khadduri">{{cite book |last1=Silverfarb |first1=Daniel |last2=Khadduri |first2=Majid |title=Britain's Informal Empire in the Middle East A Case Study of Iraq, 1929–1941 |year=1986 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195039979 |page=113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKvnCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Iraq%22+%22Rashid+Ali%22+%22Axis%22+%22formal+alliance%22&pg=PA113 |access-date=12 February 2021}}</ref>

Anti-British sentiments were widespread in Iraq prior to 1941. [[Rashid Ali al-Gaylani]] was appointed [[Prime Minister of Iraq]] in 1940. When Italy declared war on Britain, Rashid Ali had maintained ties with the Italians. This angered the British government. In December 1940, as relations with the British worsened, Rashid Ali formally requested weapons and military supplies from Germany.<ref name="Nafi1">{{cite journal |last1=Nafi |first1=Basheer M. |title=The Arabs and the Axis: 1933–1940 |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |date=Spring 1997 |volume=19 |issue=2 |page=16 |jstor=41858205 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41858205 |access-date=12 February 2021}}</ref> In January 1941 Rashid Ali was forced to resign as a result of British pressure.<ref name="Rashīd ʿAlī al-Gaylānī" />

In April 1941 Rashid Ali, on seizing power in a coup, repudiated the [[Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930)|Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930]] and demanded that the British abandon their military bases and withdraw from the country.

On 9 May 1941, [[Mohammad Amin al-Husayni]], the [[Grand Mufti of Jerusalem]] who was an associate of Rashid Ali and in asylum in Iraq, declared [[Jihad]]{{sfn|Jabārah|1985|p=183}} against the British and called on Arabs throughout the Middle East to rise up against British rule. On 25 May 1941, the Germans stepped up offensive operations in the Middle East.

Hitler issued [[Führer Directive No. 30|Order 30]]: "The Arab Freedom Movement in the Middle East is our natural ally against England. In this connection special importance is attached to the liberation of Iraq&nbsp;... I have therefore decided to move forward in the Middle East by supporting Iraq."<ref>{{cite book | last = Churchill | first = Winston | author-link = Winston Churchill | title = The Grand Alliance | series = The Second World War | volume = III | year = 1950 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | location = Boston | lccn = 51002504 | page = 264}}</ref><ref>[[Franz Kurowski|Kurowski, Franz]] (2005). The Brandenburger Commandos: Germany's Elite Warrior Spies in World War II. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Book. {{ISBN|978-0-8117-3250-5}}, 10: 0-8117-3250-9. p. 141</ref>

Hostilities between the Iraqi and British forces began on 2 May 1941, with heavy fighting at [[RAF Habbaniya|the RAF air base]] in [[Habbaniyah]]. The Germans and Italians dispatched aircraft and aircrew to Iraq utilizing Vichy French bases in Syria; this led to Australian, British, Indian and Free French forces [[Syria–Lebanon campaign|entering and conquering Syria]] in June and July. With the advance of British and Indian forces on Baghdad, Iraqi military resistance ended by 31 May 1941. Rashid Ali and al-Husayn, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, fled to Iran, then Turkey, Italy, and finally Germany, where both were welcomed by Hitler and remained throughout the years of the war; Hitler considered Ali to be head of the Iraqi [[government-in-exile]] in Berlin.