Iraq Levies

The Assyrian Levies (also known as the Iraq Levies) were 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 composed mostly of Assyrians, Kurds and Iraqi Turkmen who lived in the north of the country, while the nascent Iraqi Army was recruited first from the Arabs who had joined the Iraqi Levies and later from the general Arab population (Beth-Kamala). Eventually the Levies enlisted mainly Assyrian soldiers with British officers. The unit initially defended the northern frontiers of the Province of Mosul when Turkey claimed the province and massed its army across the frontiers. After 1928 the prime role of the Levies was to guard the Royal Air Force bases located 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 when control of RAF Habbaniya and RAF Shaibah was handed to Iraq in 1957.