ملف ١٩١٧/٧٥٦ الجزءان ٢-٣ "النشرات العربية أرقام ٦٦-١١٤" [و‎‎١‎٥] (٨٣٤/٣٨)

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sundry till their claims shall be satisfied by the King, to whom
meanwhile they renounce allegiance. They have also held up a
supplies caravan on its way to All. The latter, however, has
received his October allowance of money all right. Later inform
ation sa^ that the Masruh Harb are also disaffected, and th”t
supplied^by^he Turks!"' bril ™ g them witl *
nn further fresh cases of cholera at Akaba
up to October 2 /. We know tliat the food problem at Medina
has readied a crisis, the bread reserve having been exhausted on
October -O, and the local date crop having failed owing to hot
winds. Orders about supplies to Hejaz, issued some time ago
n Damascus, have not been carried out, and fresh orders, issued
last week, are not likely to be more effective.]
The Wadi Musa Area.
± L^ut.-Col. P.C. Joyce sends the following, under date
October 12 :—
(a) Raid on Shobak.
oaa . was undertaken by Sherif Abd el-Mu’in with some
wOO Bedouins. Malud Effendi and some thirty men of the
regular Arab ^Corps with two machine guns also took part at
Abd el-Mu m s special request, although it was against Malud’s
judgment to proceed with such a very small force. Shobak was
occupied without any resistance. About 120 Arab inhabitants
on loot and about twenty horsemen came out and welcomed the
lent, and the remainder of: the population took no part against
him ; but neither did they offer any active assistance. The
thirteen gendarmes, who composed the garrison, immediately
came over to Malud and were sworn in to the Sherif s service
Abd el-Mu in then proceeded to the railway line between lias
el-xiadid and Aneiza and tore up about 300 rails. He was
assisted by the local Arabs and there was no opposition. He
then went to Hish, about four miles south-east of Shobak which
was guarded by only one company of Turks. The Arabs had
?AA V l° U o 1 A y A r f ei 1 Ved ne 4 WS that the whole of the woodcutters, some
/00 to 800 Arabs and Armenians, were ready to join them on
arrival. This venture however did not succeed ; the Arabs were
unable to deal effectively with the company guarding the forest
and the woodcutters all collected together in the middle of the
forest to await events. Eventually Abd el-Mu’in and the Arabs
drew off having captured some twenty prisoners and deserters.