bin Ali. He had been prepared to muster Omani tribesmen to expel the Saudis from Buraimi, but at British instigation, the matter was settled by arbitration. To prevent the Imam interfering with the settlement over Buraimi, a battalion-sized task force, the Muscat and Oman Field Force was raised, and occupied the town of Ibri. The Sultan's prestige and authority was damaged by his disdain for his own people. At this point, the SAF consisted of: Batinah Force (an infantry unit raised from the coastal region north of Muscat) Muscat Regiment (the expanded former Palace Guard). Muscat and Oman Field Force Some British officers were attached to each unit. Jebel Akhdar campaigns With the Field Force occupying part of his territory, Ghalib tried to declare the Imamate of Oman independent, but in December 1955 the Field Force captured Ghalib at the town of Rostaq. He was released on recognisances. Rebellion in 1957 Talib bin Ali, the Imam's brother, had fled to Saudi Arabia. He returned from there in 1957 with 300 well-equipped fighters, and the insurrection broke out again. Talib's forces occupied a fortified tower near Bilad Sait, which the Field Force lacked the heavy weapons to destroy. After some weeks' inconclusive fighting, Suleiman bin Himyar, the Sheikh of one of the major tribes in the interior, openly proclaimed his defiance of the Sultan, and began a general uprising. The Muscat and Oman Field Force was largely destroyed as it tried to retreat through hostile towns and villages. The rebellion was suppressed by the Muscat Regiment and the Trucial Oman Levies from the neighbouring United Arab Emirates. The decisive factor however, was the intervention of infantry (two companies of the Cameronians) and armoured car detachments from the British Army and aircraft of the RAF. Talib's forces retreated to the inaccessible Jebel Akhdar. The SAF's attacks up the few paths up the Jebel were easily repelled. Stalemate 1957–1959 The Sultan's army was reorganised under a British soldier, Colonel David Smiley. The Batinah Force was renamed the Northern Frontier Regiment and the remnants of the Muscat and Oman Field Force merged into the new Oman Regiment. Within each unit and sub-unit, Baluchi and Arab soldiers were mixed. This prevented units defecting to or openly sympathising with the rebels, but led to tensions within units, and orders were frequently not followed because of language problems. Many of the notionally Omani soldiers were recruited from