File 57/1905 ‘Arabia: - Situation in Yemen (1905-11). Arab revolt against Turks. Imam of Sanaa’s letter to the King. Fighting in Yemen 1911. Agreement between the Turks & the Imam’ [‎29v] (63/692)

reliable source that the total mortality from cholera amongst the above force
exceeded 500.
General Seyyid Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. is now commanding a division up at Sana a.
Since the last week of April there have been no military operations in the vilayet
of Yemen proper, from which time, it might be said, that the revolt in the YemeiO,
highlands, under the Zeidi Imam, collapsed almost as suddenly as it commenced.
Things in this province have since assumed, more or less, their normal aspect.
The generalissimo of the forces, Izzet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who has some twenty battalions at his
disposal in Sana’a, has been very busy receiving various sheikhs and the heads of Arab
clans in the mountains, who come in daily to announce their submission.
These sheikhs are being received with great ceremony and are dismissed with lavish
presents and sums of money.
It is estimated that since the end of April over 8O,000L have been distributed in
Sana’a alone in purchasing the submission of the tribesmen.
It is also freely rumoured that Izzet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. is in correspondence with the imam,
Seyyid Yahya, with a view to securing some permanent arrangement with him and also
to inducing him to liberate all Turkish prisoners.
It will thus be seen that operations are at an end in Yemen proper, at least for the
present, and that the authorities have succeeded in re-establishing the status quo in this
vilayet. They apparently do not intend to go further, although a few weeks ago
there was some talk about an expedition to Shahara, the imam’s stronghold in the
mountains.
The results of the recent insurrection in the Yemen may be summed up as follows :
It has cost Turkey some 8 or 4 millions of money to bring an army of 30,000 men to this
country with a proportionate number of guns and a considerable quantity of stores and
ammunition and to maintain that force in the field during the operations of the past four
months. She has only succeeded in inflicting slight punishment on the imam’s levies
and in expelling them from her old positions in the mountains, which she has now again
occupied. I his result, however, has not been brought about without incurring serious
loss of life, due principally to the ravages of cholera and other diseases.
On the other hand, the imam, Seyyid Yahya, who has put the Ottoman Govern
ment to very great expense, and has severely taxed its military strength, has himself
been "v ery little hit by the operations, and has incurred but small expense in doing so.
He can, moreover, boast of having taken a thousand prisoners and added to his arsenal
some six or eight guns and a considerable quantity of small arms and ammunition.
^ ie mean time, affairs in the sanjak of Assyr, which now also comprises the
fehema, north ol Geezan, have been going apace.
. I he garrison at Abha under Suleiman Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the mutessarif, consisting of four or
five battalions of infantry and two batteries of artillerv, and having a total strength of
8,000, has been besieged since November 1910. Although it has been able to keep the
lebels at bay, rebel does not appear to be forthcoming.
,, ^P r ^’ ^ ie m °kile force of 1,500 men and four guns that accompanied
m mm b ieree f from Mecca reached Lith, only to find that the two battalions moved
lr om Yemen to reinforce it, were cholera infected.
puimg the past month it is said that nine or ten battalions have arrived at
Lmmmda from Constantinople to reinforce the shereef’s army.
i,, 'f . a ^ (r > ho "^r, from all accounts, has not been able to make much headway,
a . ! loa& 1 it was teceri y stated by the authorities that the sheikhs and tribesmen in the
Sh^reer^banner 11 1 ^ ^ eil( ^ eie ^ their submission, and were flocking to the Grand
. b” 8 ‘" tell yT e S co " tradicted by Liter reports received here to the effect that the
b n y ' a f Sl ! ffei ! J an important reverse not far from Cumfuda, where in a
evidentlv 0 'CYl* | a - mo ' > ll whole battalion was wiped out by the rebels, who were
evidently assembled m great strength, waiting to challenge its advance.
near Milhahif T'"’, reach ? d Hodeidah that the Turkish “ karagol ” of Sha’ar,
eTI of seven mnn t e v. e t aJS raa, 'i h t0 nor th-east of Cumfuda, was forced, after a
Seyyid Mustapha, l.fa pr^i 1 Tlieutel^ yid Mahomed - el - Idris?e ’ s followers, led by
culled “ Tlln'ef Ril f^P r i Soners ''’ ere taken by the Arabs and removed to a place
auS dso Ml into th irl A lS n ?T Sab ? eah> the Idrisee ’ s stronghold. Two mountain
” ' Ibout the 9StK M la -r dS ’ ^ T 06 1)6611 USed a g aillSt Abha -
but this has since rAC ^' as run,oure< I here that Abha had actually been captured,
ecentl Ceeni comnbn r r® lnC “’. aS 11 is known that Suleiman Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. has
i ecently been m communication from Abha with the Yemen authorities.