The Arab League

Arab League

The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...

 as an Organization has no military force, like the UN

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 or EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, but recently in the 2007 summit, the Leaders decided to reactivate their joint defense and establilsh a peacekeeping force to deploy in South Lebanon, Darfur

Darfur

Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, and other hot spots.

Combined together the Arab League makes one of the powers in the World today with 130 million manpower availability, putting it third after India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and before the US's 67 Million Manpower.

History

The military history of the Arab League is closely linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The 1950 Arab Joint Security Pact set out provisions for collective security

Collective security

Collective security can be understood as a security arrangement, regional or global, in which each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and agrees to join in a collective response to threats to, and breaches of, the peace...

 among the Arab states, but only in 1961 was the Joint Arab Command (JAC) proposed as a unified military command

Command (military formation)

A command in military terminology is an organisational unit that the individual in Military command has responsibility for. A Commander will normally be specifically appointed into the role in order to provide a legal framework for the authority bestowed...

 for the Arab League first by the Joint Defence Council

Joint Defence Council (Arab League)

The Joint Defence Council of the Arab League is an institution of the Arab League established under the terms of the Joint Defence and Economic Co-operation Treaty to co-ordinate the joint defence of the Arab League....

, an institution of the Arab League

Institutions of the Arab League

The institutions of the Arab League are the permanent and non-permanent decision-making and advisory institutions created by the Charter of the Arab League and other agreements since the Arab League's establishment in 1945.-Principal institutions:...

.

Before the JAC could take shape, a unanimous resolution was passed at the first Arab League summit

1964 Arab League summit (Cairo)

The 1964 Arab League summit was the first summit of the Arab League, held in Cairo, Egypt, on 13 - 16 January 1964 and attended by all thirteen member states....

 (January 1964) establishing the United Arab Command

United Arab Command

The United Arab Command was a unified Arab military command established by unanimous resolution of the thirteen member states of the Arab League at the summit held in Cairo, Egypt, on 13 - 16 January 1964.-Predecessors:The UAC was the culmination of a history of pan-Arabist collective security...

 (UAC), although the UAC's inactivity following the Samu Incident

Samu Incident

The Samu incident refers to events on November 13, 1966 involving an Israeli military attack on the Jordanian-controlled West Bank village of Samu in response to Fatah raids against Israelis near the West Bank border...

 (1966) and during the Six-Day War

Six-Day War

The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

 (1967) signalled its de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

dissolution.

Current strength

Today, Egypt

Military of Egypt

The Egyptian Armed Forces are the largest in Africa, and the Arab World, and is the tenth largest in the world, consisting of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy, Egyptian Air Force and Egyptian Air Defense Command....

 is considered the strongest military body in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and is ranked 10th internationally. Saudi Arabia

Military of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's armed forces are mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense and Aviation. The Ministry also has responsibility for the construction of civilian airports as well as military bases, and for Meteorology departments...

 has recently started to enlarge its Military department, with other Arab states of the Arabic Gulf following, Morocco

Military of Morocco

The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces are the summation of the armed forces of the kingdom of Morocco.It was founded in 1956 after Morocco's independence from France and Spain...

 is maintaining a strong army in north Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, along with Algeria

Military of Algeria

The People’s National Army is the armed forces of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. Algeria has a large and reasonably well-equipped military to counter foreign and domestic threats...

 and Libya

Military of Libya

The Libyan Armed Forces constituted the state defence organisation of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya before they were destroyed, and are being replaced by a new national army. A Major General, Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi, was named interim chief of staff of the rebellion's armed forces in mid July...

. Syria

Military of Syria

The Syrian Armed Forces are the military forces of Syria. They consist of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Air Defense Force.-Manpower:The President of Syria is the commander in chief of the Syrian armed forces, comprising some 646,500 troops upon mobilization. The military is a conscripted force;...

, Jordan and Iraq's Armies have all grew relatively slower to other rich states.

N	Country	Military Service Age	Military Manpower Availability	Military Manpower Fit
_		18	129,183,640	119,039,543
1		19	15,959,400	13,301,364
2		18	353,860	286,860
3		18	139,491	205,207
4		18	183,123	88,201
5		18	20,772,105	18,479,612
6		18	11,512,731	9,701,179
7		17	2,920,637	2,506,087
8		18	1,331,865	1,142,499
9		18	1,998,636	1,687,532
10		18	2,934,827	2,522,448
11		18	1,214,418	754,782
12		18	15,791,743	13,160,516
13		18	1,228,492	1,016,551
14		18	∞	∞
15		18	440,729	355,161
16		18	13,066,921	11,252,056
17		18	3,502,519	2,061,057
18		18	16,427,378	11,077,040
19		18	8,479,752	6,875,446
20		18	4,848,103	4,036,188
21		18	1,150,575	946,646
22		18	7,926,335	5,583,111

List of Arab League member states by military expenditure

N	Country	Military expenditure
_		53,399,070,000
1		2,994,000,000
2		627,700,000
3		12,870,000
4		29,050,000
5		6,300,000,000
6		1,008,000,000
7		1,392,000,000
8		3,007,000,000
9		540,600,000
10		1,300,000,000
11		19,320,000
12		2,306,000,000
13		252,990,000
14		NA
15		694,000,000
16		31,500,000,000
17		22,340,000
18		587,000,000
19		858,000,000
20		356,000,000
21		1,600,000,000
22		992,200,000