'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎81v] (162/536)

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for two months. Its origins are still obscure. r I hey are thought to he P 1 ’ 1111 ^ 11 >
in the resentment of the Idrisi family and Asiri tribesmen against the final
incorporation of their country in that of Saudi Arabia, which the renaming o
the Kingdom in September had implied and which was manifestly one ot its
obiects. Contributory causes seem to have been (1) serious friction between the
Saudi Governor of the province and Seyyid Hasan-al-Idnsi, its nominal ruler,
friction which the Saudi Government have been at some pains to dehne as
personal, but which probably owed much to their policy; (2) advances and
promises of support to the Idrisi made by the Dabbagh fraternity, the active
southern-Red Sea members of the anti-Saudi ‘‘ Hizb-al-Ahrar-al-Hijazi oi
Heiaz Liberal party; while (3) there was no doubt a certain degree of encourage
ment from the Yemen, although the astute Imam himself has maintained a
studiouslv correct attitude throughout, graced by frequent expressions of Arab
sympathy and brotherly advice, dispensed to Ibn Saud by telegraph. Yet,
although the Imam Yahya and Ibn Saud furthermore exchanged identic views
also by telegraph, on the untrustworthiness of foreigners and their territorial
designs thev have watched each other like cat and dog. During the course ot
the rebellion, one of the Imam’s sons lay at the head of a large concentration ot
Yemeni troops on the northern Yemeni frontier.
364. Jizan was the rebel’s first objective. It fell to the Idrisi on the
6 th November, after only two days’ siege, and the Saudi Governor became his
prisoner. Asir was negligently held, the Saudi garrisons being small and
unsupported; other centres fell at once to the rebels. On the 17th November,
however. Saudi reinforcements, hurried from the Hejaz, retook Jizan. Reinforce
ments to the number of about 2,500 passed southward from Jedda both by sea
in sanbuqs and a chartered German steamer, and by land in all the lorries which
could be mustered. They formed a coastal expeditionary force which, by about
the end of December and after what seems to have been considerable fighting,
subdued the whole coastal region as far south as the Yemeni border. The Idrisi
himself and his remaining adherents were apparently driven into a pocket in the
highlands backing on the Yemen. Meanwhile, a second expeditionary force
under the Saudi Amir of Khurma, Khalid-bin-Luwey, known for his sacking of
Hashimite Taif, had set out southward from that region, gathering t^ihal
contingents of camelmen on the way until it was some 5,000 strong. It reached
\bha in northern Asir about the 25th November, and after some fighting moved on
southward to Sabya. Khalid-bin-Luwey died on the way of illness, said the
official communique. He was replaced by his son Naad, while Abdul Aziz-bin-
Musaid, Governor of Hail and cousin of the King, was designated Governor-
General of the province with headquarters at Abha. A third force, composed of
Nejdi Ikhwan under the Amir Khalid-bin-Muhammad, nephew of Ibn Saud, was
reported to have set out from Riyadh for Asir and to have started opeiating theie
at about the same time as Khalid-bin-Luwey s force, but it has since disappeared
from view. It seems possible that it is lying in reserve in case trouble eventuates
with the Yemen. . , ^ ,
365. Bv early January the Saudi Government seemed to have most ot the
situation in hand again. Seyyid Hasan-al-Idrisi was in his retieat in the Asu
highlands and had not responded to the Saudi invitation to surrender and receive
pardon. The Saudi Government claimed that the majority of his tribesmen,
however, had submitted within the period of grace allowed.
366 Ibn Saud sent an envoy to the Imam Yahya in December. The person
chosen, one Muhammad-bin-Dhawi, is a subordinate employee in the King’s divan
at Riyadh, and seems to be of little personal importance.
r-s
HI.— Foreign Relations.
International.
367. The Saudi Government announced in the local press in November that
they had been invited to take part in the World Economic Conference in London.
It is not yet known whether they have accepted the invitation, which was not, in
any case, conveyed through the British Legation.
Great Britain.
368. Relations were neither close nor disturbed to any unusual extent.
The Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan and Asir situations caused a certain activity, described -in