On 9 June 1941 17th Brigade arrived in Basra and joined Iraqforce, which had fought the Anglo-Iraqi War to secure the British-owned oilfields during May. These oilfields were perceived to be threatened when a coup d'état brought into power Rashid Ali al-Kaylani who was sympathetic to the Axis powers. By the second half of June the brigade had moved to Mosul to defend British-owned oilfields from an anticipated thrust by Axis forces south through the Caucasus.