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{{No footnotes|date=June 2009}}{{Orphan|date=July 2009}}
The '''Assyrian War of Independence''' was a temporarily successful war of independence waged by the Assyrian Patriarch and the chiefs ([[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic|Assyrian]]: [[malik]])of the [[List of Assyrian tribes|Assyrian tribes]] between 1843 and 1933, with later assistance from the [[British Empire]], against the [[Ottoman Empire]], the [[Soviet Union]], the [[Qajar Dynasty|Persian Empire]], the [[Kingdom of Iraq]], the [[French Mandate of Syria]], and the [[British Mandate of Mesopotamia]].
Following the fall of the [[Assyrian Empire]] to the [[Babylonian Empire]], the [[Median Empire]], and eventually the [[Persian Empire]], most of [[Assyria]] came under Persian rule. Over the ensuing centuries, [[Assyrians]] struggled to maintain their ethnic identity amid [[Christianity in Asia|massacres]], but eventually secured the right to build [[Church of the East|Christian churches]] throughout the [[Persian Empire]] of the [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanians]].
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In the early days of [[World War II]], Rashid Ali al-Gaylani came to power as Prime Minister of Iraq. As one of his first acts, he sent an Iraqi [[artillery]] force to confront the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] base situated in [[Habbaniya]], [[RAF Habbaniya]]. By the end of April, the Iraqi armed forces were situated in strong positions on the escarpment above the base and a siege began.
Iraq had been a major supplier of [[petroleum]] to the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] war effort and represented an important landbridge between British forces in [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]] and [[British Raj|India]]. To secure Iraq, [[Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] ordered General [[Archibald Wavell]] to protect the air base at Habbaniya. At Habbaniya, the besieging Iraqis demanded the cessation of all training activities and of all flights in and out of the base.
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