On 2 May 1941, after much tension between the Rashid Ali government and the British, the besieged forces at RAF Habbaniya under Air Vice-Marshal H. G. Smart launched pre-emptive air strikes against Iraqi forces throughout Iraq and the Anglo-Iraqi War began for real. On 3 May, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop persuaded Hitler that Fritz Grobba be secretly returned to Iraq to head up a diplomatic mission to channel support to the Rashid Ali regime. Grobba was to return under the alias "Franz Gehrke." Grobba's mission was to be sent to Iraq along with a military mission commanded by the High Command in the Armed Forces ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht", or OKW). The military mission had the cover name "Special Staff F" ("Sonderstab F") and it included Brandenburgers and a "Luftwaffe" component. "Sonderstab F" was commanded by General Hellmuth Felmy.