Jafar al Askari

Jafar al-Askari was an Iraqi politician and army officer who played an important role in the Arab nationalist movements during and after World War I. He was educated in Baghdad and Istanbul and commissioned in the Ottoman army in 1909. He fought on the side of the Ottomans and the Central Powers in Libya until he was captured by the British in 1915. He then joined the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire and became the commander of the Arab army under Faisal I. He participated in the capture of Damascus in 1918 and supported Faisal's bid for the Syrian throne. When Faisal was deposed by the French in 1920, al-Askari followed him to Iraq and became his loyal supporter. He served as the first Minister of Defense and Interior in the Iraqi government and later as Prime Minister twice. He was also a member of the Iraqi delegation to the League of Nations and the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty negotiations. He was known for his moderate and reformist policies, especially regarding the Kurdish issue and the relations with other Arab states. He was assassinated during the Bakr Sidqi coup in 1936, along with other prominent Iraqi politicians.