Iraq - History Iraq was formerly part of Turkey´s Ottoman Empire. During the First World War (1914-18), when Turkey was allied with Germany, the territory was captured by British forces. In 1920 Iraq was placed under a League of Nations mandate, administered by the UK. In 1921 Amir Faisal ibn Hussain, a member of the Hashemite dynasty of Arabia, was proclaimed King of Iraq, and his brother, Abdullah, was proclaimed Emir of neighbouring Transjordan, also administered by the United Kingdom under a League of Nations mandate. The two new monarchs were sons of Hussain (Hussein) ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, who had proclaimed himself King of the Hijaz (now part of Saudi Arabia) in 1916. The British decision to nominate Hashemite princes to be rulers of Iraq and Transjordan was a reward for Hussain´s co-operation in the wartime campaign against Turkey. Relations with the Syrian Government deteriorated after a younger generation of Baathists seized power in Syria in 1970. A bitter rivalry existed thereafter between Syrian and Iraqi Baathists. Relations with Syria improved in October 1978, when President Assad of Syria visited Baghdad. Plans were announced for eventual complete political and economic union of the two countries. In mid-1990 the Iraqi Government criticized countries (principally Kuwait and the UAE) which had persistently produced petroleum in excess of the quotas imposed by OPEC. Iraq also accused Kuwait of violating the Iraqi border in order to secure petroleum resources, and suggested that Kuwait should waive Iraq´s debt repayments. On the eye of an OPEC ministerial meeting, held in Geneva in July, Iraq mustered troops on its border with Kuwait. At the meeting, Kuwait and the UAE agreed to reduce their petroleum production, and it was decided that the minimum price of crude petroleum should be increased.