The house of Shammar is one of the largest tribes of Arabia. The Shammar were camel herding nomads in the northern Najd for centuries and expanded north into Iraq during the seventeenth century. Many of the Shammar in Iraq gave up nomadism settling in the major cities, especially Mosul. Those that remained in the Najd began to be challenged by the rising House of Saud. In 1921 the Shammar heartland of Jebel Shammar was annexed to Saudi Arabia and the Shammar were subordinated to the Saud. The Shammar remain powerful in Saudi Arabia and have grown extremely wealthy from oil revenues.

In Iraq the Shammar also became one of the most powerful tribes owning vast tracks of land. They were important supporters of the Iraqi monarchy of the House of Hashem. Shammar power was threatened after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958 by Abdul-Karim Qassem, and the Shammar welcomed Ba'athist rule. With the rivalry between the Saudi Arabia and Saddam Hussein the House of Shammar lost favour in Iraq due to their close links to their Saudi fellows. With the overthrown of Saddam the leader of the Iraqi Shammar Ghazi al-Yawar was appointed interim president.