Caliphate Campaign

### Context

The Caliphate Campaign was a coalition war which was fought against the Kekkallah Caliphate, which was fought by the coalition of the Kekstantinople Republic, the 4Chan Reich, and the United Arab Socialist Republic. The planning for an invasion was first considered in the aftermath of the Kollapse, wherein the borders of the former Kekistani lands seemed uncertain, leading to the Kekstantinople Republic initially considering an invasion, but was postponed based on other priorities being forefront such as recovery efforts. As borders were somewhat formalised, incidents continued to occur over the years, with occasional skirmishes being reported along the border, along with confrontations such as a standoff near a crashed Kekistani satellite, or when raiders and warlords frequented each side of the border to reap profit. However, with the seeming hostility of Caliphate towards every other kekistani state led to a formal plan, code named "Operation Goliath" being agreed on between the the Kekstantinoplians, 4Channers, and the USAR. Since it was known that jihad would be declared once war was declared, a fast paced coalition war was planned so that mobilisation of large enemy forces was impossible, with it planned to capitulate the nation in 1 to 2 months max.

### Operation Goliath Commences

The operation began in the early hours of January 15th 2078, with the commencing of a mass scale sabotage and air strike campaign. Across the Caliphate, Airbases, Military Bases, Fortifications, and Supply Depots were bombed by the Kekstanti Airforce, this was compounded with commando teams sabotaging national electric grids, vital railways, bridges, tunnels, and roadways to ensure that reinforcement and supply was limited. By 2am Kek artillery barrages commenced at forward positions at the Kek border, which came as a complete shock to defending Caliphate soldiers, and with no ability to communicate with their high command, were essentially cut off and doomed. By 2:30am the advance began, smashing through the shocked and unprepared border positions, and thus the war began in earnest. As expected the following day, Mr Inshallah declared Jihad against the invading nations, calling on all able-bodied men to defend the nation to the death, simultaneously the same day the first USAR troops came into eyesight of Mecca, beginning a siege that would last months.

### Shock and Awe

By week 1 of the invasion, things were moving smoothly for the coalition, on almost all fronts the Caliphate was in retreat, especially in Persia and Mesopotamia, wherein the troops were overwhelmed by the experienced and technologically superior 4Chan and Kek soldiers. This was further compounded by the beginning of a Shia-Dominated insurgency within the mountains of eastern Persia, in direct opposition to the Sunni-Dominated government of the Caliphate, which had intentions of forming a new Persian state for their people. But not everything was going well for the coalition, the USAR failed to cut off the salient leading into the city of Mecca, but had let Caliphate troops widen the neck of the salient, this was compounded by strong advances by troops in Oman pushing into USAR held Yemen, making the USAR have to divert troops away from its Siege of Mecca to prevent a major breakthrough.

Week 2 of the Invasion saw Kek and 4Chan troops officially link up on the northern coast of Anatolia, making a United front against the Caliphate troops. The rapid advance of the Kek troops was slowed by 2 main factors, there was large amounts of mountains, making advancing a difficult affair due to having to traverse such difficult terrain, this was compounded by an unforeseen issue, a large stream of surrendering troops. Despite Mr Inshallah declaring jihad, the troops trying to fight primary were wielding machetes, which meant they were no match to the modern troops they opposed, hence these demoralised and underequipped troops making to decision that surrender was a better alternative to death, such large numbers meant that advances had to hold to process the prisoners. With large amounts of troops being sent to try and halt the advance of the Coaltion, the Persian Rebels had ample amounts of freedom to expand and consolidate their control in certain areas, becoming a force to reckoned with, and a force the Caliphate was seriously not equipped to effectively deal with.

Week 3 saw an unexpected entry into the war, the Holy Kingdom of Kek declared a Holy Crusade against the islamists, with their troops moving to secure the coastal regions of the Persian gulf. This sudden attack caught the Caliphate completely off guard, with the only units in the area being police and militia, which were easily swept aside by the more well armed troops of the Kingdom. It was upon this news that Mr Inshallah would privately admit that he knew that war was effectively lost, but he was determined to go down fighting, with no surrender being his policy to the nation and its various leaders. Knowing that they had to seize the opportunity, the Kek troops raced for the gulf to do 2 things, cut off the Caliphate troops in Persia from Arabia, and to prevent the Kingdom from grabbing more land, this was achieved and by the end of the week they had reached the coast, much to the surprise of the Royal forces of the Kingdom, who were disgruntled but weren't about to start a war with the Kek's so turned to siezing the Arabian coast of the gulf. Around this time aswell, the Kek forces made contact with Persian Guerrilla's, with both parties agreeing to mutual cooperation out of convenience, as they both had a common enemy they wished to defeat.

Week 4 was a low point for the Caliphate, as many realised that the war seemed like a lost hope. This was most prevalent in the armed forces, with many of the men who had been mobilised for Jihad becoming disheartened and simply deserting their posts or surrendering to the advancing forces opposing them. This was seen greatly in Persia, as the rebellion had organised a provisional government, with the rebels forming a ragtag army, much more motivated than the Caliphate troops that were surrounded and without support. The highest ranking commander of Caliphate forces in Persia, Mr Kebab, was contacted by the Kekistani armed forces asking if he desired to surrender him and his forces, understanding that the situation was hopeless and not wishing to cause more deaths of his troops, he agreed as long the Persians let him withdraw to Kekistani lines peacefully, which was agreed on. With this, approximately 60-70% of Caliphate forces in Persia were marched into captivity, the remaining 30% were more fanatical, either being killing in the following weeks or forming resistance cells against the Persians. The end seemed Neigh for the upstart Caliphate. This Persian Resistance would later form the New Persian Republic.

### Devestation Completed

Week 5 came with news on the former eastern border of the Caliphate, the Free Libertarian States made the executive decision to join the party by siezing the borderlands of Far Eastern Persia, which was devoid of authority following the surrender of Mr Kebab and his forces, which became prime real estate for the Corporate Leaders of the State. The Persian Provisional Government was not happy with this revelation, and began to send forces to secure their eastern territories, with the Kekistanis giving their tacit support for this move, not being fans of the questionable ideology that the Libertarians endorsed. In Arabia, the USAR was still being stalemated by fanatical resistance, even being pushed back in some sectors, finally with their front being secured, the Kekistanis began to deploy their airforce to Arabia to assist the struggling Arabian forces, successfully blunting the advances the Caliphate troops had made. To further split their attention, the Keks landed a couple divisions around the fishing towns of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, making advances inland to attract attention. Along with this, an armoured division was sent to the Mecca front to fully encircle the city.

The final week, week 6, resulted in the conclusion of most of the conflict. With troops flooding into Arabia, the Caliphate began to withdraw all its forces into the salient and towards Mecca, which had suffered a siege for over a month with no clear victor in sight, with the Keks refusing to commit AirPower, concerned that they might damage significant cultural property in the process. However, with so many troops moving into the city, the only major highway that was used became overcrowded with traffic jammed vehicles and caliphate troops were stranded, this presented a major strategic opportunity. On the 26th of February, a massive series of air strikes hit the highway, killing thousands and decimating hundreds of vehicles, leaving a graveyard of metal and blood that would Kapp take months to cleanup, nicknamed the Highway of Death. Following this, the rest of the Caliphate except Mecca surrendered, signalling an end to the conflict.

On March 1st, Almin Vahanth gave a victory speech to a crowd in the captial city of Kekstantinople, expressing his gratitude to the armed forces for their swift victory and honouring their sacrifice for the nation, along with thanking the people for enduring the hardships of war, which many had been familiar with. Shortly after, he gave a televised interview to various news outlets live, when a person suddenly came up and fired off a pistol at the President, hitting his shoulder. The man was quickly detained and sent off, but Mr Vahanth remained for another few minutes to finish his interview, stunning reporters as his made a makeshift bandage with his jacket, once finished he was rushed to hospital, wherein a surgery removed the bullet, leaving him with a scar and a bloodied suit for his trouble. Hence the fighting was over, and the peace began.

### Casualties

Coaltion:

-Kekstantinople: 2,500 dead, 5,000+ injured

-4Chan Reich: 4,000 dead, 11,000+ injured

-USAR: 14,400 dead, 30,000+ injured

Calpihate: 100,000+ dead, 200,000+ captured, unknown injured