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'Abd al-Ilah (14 November 1913-14 July 1958) was the regent of Iraq from 4 April 1939 to 23 May 1953 for King Faisal II of Iraq, his nephew. The two of them were killed in the July 14 Revolution in 1958.

Biography[]

'Abd al-Ilah was born on 14 November 1913, the son of Ali of Hejaz and the nephew of Faisal I of Iraq and Abdullah I of Jordan. When his kinsman Ghazi of Iraq died in an automobile accident in 1939, 'Abd al-Ilah became the regent of the Kingdom of Iraq for his underage nephew Faisal II of Iraq. In 1941, Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani deposed him and seized power in an Axis Powers-backed coup during World War II. In the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941, the Iraqi rebels were crushed by the British Army and 'Abd al-Ilah's loyalists, and he was restored as regent. 'Abd al-Ilah and Nuri al-Said were both nationalists, but they worked with the Allied Powers during World War II. He was friendly with the United Kingdom, and when he allowed for them to continue having a large amount of influence in Iraq with the Baghdad Pact, Iraqi nationalists were angered. Abd al-Karim Qasim led a coup in the July 14 Revolution in 1958, and 'Abd al-Ilah, King Faisal II, many members of the royal family, and their servants were told to line up against a wall before being machine-gunned.

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