The
Army of the Holy War or
Holy War Army (
Arabic: جيش الجهاد المقدس;
Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas) was a
Palestinian Arab
irregular force in the
1947-48 Palestinian civil war led by
Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni and
Hasan Salama. The force has been described as Husayni's "personal" army. The
Arab League set up the
Arab Salvation Army (
Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi) as a counter to the Army of the Holy War and as part of its plan to contain the Palestinian Arab leadership and to prevent it from exercising independent political or military options, although in practice the Arab governments prevented thousands of volunteers from joining either force.