The Jordanian Field Marshal Habes al-Majali, who has died aged 87, was the only Arab commander to administer military defeats on Israelis, Palestinians and Syrians alike. His baptism of fire came during the first Arab-Israeli war, when he successfully defended the town of Latrun, 17 miles west of Jerusalem.
The Jewish state had declared independence on May 14 1948. The next day, the armies of five Arab nations invaded, among them the Bedouin of Transjordan's crack Arab Legion, under the supreme command of Britain's [Sir John] Glubb Pasha. They immediately secured the West Bank, then rushed to fill the vacuum created by British troops leaving Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Zionist Haganah forces were desperate to keep open their lines of communication with the 85,000 besieged Jews of Latrun, the epicentre of the only route linking Tel Aviv with Jerusalem. Lieutenant Colonel Majali, the first Arab to head a legion regiment, occupied a strategic hill straddling the nearby Bab al Wad (Gate to the Valley). His spies fanned the countryside, while he held a deserted British police fort, built near a Trappist monastery in 1936.
When the Haganah attacked on May 25, Majali's Fourth Regiment was ready. Their camouflaged mortars, machine-guns and cannon caught the mainly immigrant recruits on open ground, and cut them to shreds over 15 hours. Up to 400 died and, two months before his death, Habes revealed how he had caught a young Lieutenant Ariel Sharon in the battle. The new Israeli prime minister denied the claim, but Habes was adamant. "Sharon is like a grizzly bear," he grumbled. "I captured him, I healed his wounds."
On June 9, an Israeli Palmach strike-force attempted a second raid on Latrun. This, too, faltered for want of reinforcements, only yards from Majali's command post. In mid-July, he repulsed a final assault - and returned to Amman a thrice-conquering hero. He restored a modicum of pride to Arabs, for whom 1948 spelt nakba (disaster).
Nonetheless, it was a Pyrrhic victory. Despite their losses at Latrun, the Haganah pinned down Jordanian troops who might have been fighting in Jerusalem. The Israelis also managed to build a makeshift bypass round Latrun and siphoned through vital arms, water and supplies. Majali's brigade commander, Colonel Ashton, forbade him from shelling their bulldozers. Ultimately, Jordanian troops, assisted by local Arabs, did capture the Old City and East Jerusalem, but lost West Jerusalem to Israel.
It was in the Old City, three years later, that Habes al- Majali experienced tragedy at first-hand. For two years, he had been the private escort to King Abdullah of Jordan. Then, on July 20 1951, as he was ushering the king to prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque, Abdullah was shot dead by anti-Hashemite Palestinians.
There were more setbacks in store. Majali backed Prince Na'if as successor to the Jordanian throne, though, in the event, his elder brother, Prince Talal, won the crown. Matters only improved after King Hussein (Obituary, February 8 1999) replaced his father, Talal, in 1953. Three years later, Glubb was dismissed, and, in 1957, Majali became chief-of-staff of the Jordanian armed forces, a post he held until June 1967.
Majalis have long dominated Karak, an Arabian province that joined the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921. Though they originally hailed from Hebron, on the West Bank, they had integrated comfortably into Bedouin society, and resented Palestinian political agitation after 1948. Earlier, and more crucially, they had welcomed Hashemite rule in Jordan.
Thus, as a reward for unswerving loyalty, Majalis have been prime ministers, police chiefs and speakers of the Jordanian national assembly; Habes himself served some 20 years as a senator, including a period on the foreign affairs committee. Nonetheless, he preferred martial matters to diplomatic niceties, and, as his brother-in-law, Hazza, once told the British ambassador in Amman: "We Majalis are used to killing and being killed."
Habes joined the Arab Legion in 1932, and soon impressed Glubb Pasha. Despite acquiring modern skills, he never lost his Bedouin elan. King Hussein's biographer, James Lunt, dubbed him the "grand seigneur" of Karak and "beau sabreur" of the army.
Certainly, King Hussein found him indispensable. He ruthlessly tracked down the Hashemite ruler's Nasserite enemies during the uprising of 1958. In 1960, he restored order after pro-Syrian agents had murdered his cousin, the Jordanian prime minister, Hazaa'. Forced to relinquish overall command to Cairo on the eve of the six-day war in June 1967, and bemused by conflicting orders, he lost the West Bank to Israel. He resigned, but served as defence minister for another year.
Majali's return to active duty was sudden and dramatic. Jordanian-based Palestinian fedayeen (guerrillas) were growing more autonomous and audacious. After terrorists destroyed four international aircraft near army headquarters at al-Zarqa, in September 1970, Hussein declared martial law, re-appointed Majali as commander-in-chief, and ordered him to crush the revolt.
Habes did so with relish. Over 10 days, his troops routed the fedayeen; some 3,500 fighters died on both sides. He also repulsed a pro-PLO Syrian invasion - destroying half the enemy's armour in the process, and inadvertently setting off the coup that brought President al-Assad (Obituary, June 12 2000) to power in Damascus. In July 1971, the remaining PLO units in Jordan were expelled to Lebanon.
Despite these victories, the old warhorse found it hard to forgive old enemies; in 1994, for instance, he boycotted the official ceremonies marking Jordan's peace deal with Israel. Seen as atavistic by many, he represented a somehow nobler, if not gentler, past. He is survived by seven children and 27 grandchildren; his wife Bazaa' predeceased him.