Medina, an Islamic holy city in Arabia, underwent a long siege during World War I. Medina was at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. In the war, the Ottoman Empire sided with the Central Powers. Sharif Hussain of Mecca betrayed^{[citation needed]} and revolted against the caliph^{[citation needed]} and the Ottoman Empire which, under the leadership of the secular and nationalistic Young Turks, had ignored the wishes of the Caliph and sided with the Central Powers. Hussain instead sided with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the thick of war. T. E. Lawrence was instrumental in this revolt. Hussain occupied Mecca and besieged Medina. It was one of the longest sieges in history that lasted till even after the end of war. Fahreddin Pasha was the defender of Medina. He was called "the Lion of the Desert" by the British for his patriotism in Medina. The siege lasted two years and seven months.

In June 1916 Sharif Hussain, the Hashemite ruler of Mecca, betrayed^{[citation needed]} and revolted against the Ottoman Empire which, under the rule of the Young Turks, had by that time begun movement towards ethnic nationalism and was marginalizing the office of the Caliph. Hussain wanted to move north and create an Arab state from Yemen to Damascus and establish a Hashemite Caliphate.Medina was, at the time, deemed important in that regard and was connected to the Ottoman Empire through a railway line. Hussain's forces besieged Medina, beginning in 1916 and lasting till January 1919.

Medina (/mɛˈdiːnə/; Arabic: اَلْمَدِينَة اَلْمَنَوَّرَة‎, al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, “the radiant city” (officially), or اَلْمَدِينَة al-Madīnah; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Medina is historically significant for being Muhammad's home after the Hijrah. Before the advent of Islam, the city was known as Yathrib, but was personally renamed by Muhammad.

Medina is home to the three oldest mosques in Islam, namely Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (The Prophet's Mosque), Quba Mosque (the first mosque in Islam's history), and Masjid al-Qiblatain (the mosque where the qibla was switched to Mecca).

Because of the Saudi government's religious policy and concern that historic sites could become the focus for idolatry, much of Medina's Islamic physical heritage has been destroyed since the beginning of Saudi rule.^{[citation needed]}

Salman the Persian or Salmān al-Fārsī (Arabic: سلمان الفارسي‎ Salman al-Farsi; in Persian: روزبه‎ Rouzbeh) was one of Muhammad's companions.

During some of his later meetings with the other Sahabah, he was referred to as Abu Abdullah ("Father of Abdullah").

Salman the Persian was born either in the city of Kazerun in Fars Province, or Isfahan in Isfahan Province, Iran.

It was Salman who came up with the idea of digging a great trench around the city of Medina to defend the city and its people from the army of 10,000 non-Muslims of Arabia. Muhammad and his companions agreed and accepted Salman's plan because it was safer and there would be a better chance that the non-Muslim army of Arabia would have a larger number of casualties. Salman came up with the idea from remembering the same thing happening in Persia; when the Persians learned that their enemies planned to invade their territory, they dug a trench around them to be safe. The attack that the Muslims had expected, is known as the Battle of the Trench.

The Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.

The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf War, Gulf War I, or the Iraq War, before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the U.S. as "Operation Iraqi Freedom").

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost was paid by Saudi Arabia.