Background
During World War II, the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula were important staging and shipping routes for the U.S. to provide both lend-lease assistance to Russia, as well as supply the allied forces fighting the Imperial Japanese forces in Asia.
Owing to Saudi Arabia’s importance, primarily its location, in 1943 the US extended lend-lease status to Saudi Arabia, one of only three Arab countries to receive this aid. In 1944, the U.S. War Department (renamed in 1949 the United States Department of Defense) proposed building an airbase in or near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Read more about this topic: Dhahran Airfield
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