'Military report on Iraq. Area 9 (Central Kurdistan)' [‎11r] (26/394)

Aqra was then attacked and looted, but the tribesmen
quarrelled over the loot, and the Barzanis returned home. Offers
of assistance having been received from a number of neighbouring
tribes, the A.P.O. from Batas entered Aqra on the 9th November,
to be well received by the townspeople, who were not a party to
the activities of the Zibar chiefs.
A punitive column was then sent to the valley of the Greater
Zab. The villagers, who stood in great fear of their Aghas,
flew white flags, and appeared to welcome the protection of the
troops. The houses of the Zibar chieftains were destroyed, after
which the column crossed the Zab and dealt with Barzan. The
rebels were unable to rouse the tribes, largely owing to the loyalty
of Qadir Agha of Shush, who, although belonging to the Zibar
tribe, had severed his connection with it. Paris Agha and
Babekr Agha of Zibar, Shaikh Ahmad of Barzan and his brother
escaped to the mountains and were outlawed. The Amadia tribes
remained quiet, and Saiyid Taha of Shemsdinan refused to listen
to the suggestion of the Turkish Qaimaqam of Neri, that he and
Sutu Agha of Oramar should send assistance to the rebels.
On the conclusion of operations, the administrative frontier
was drawn in to Aqra, and no attempt was made to hold the
country between that town and the Zab. By the end of the year,
therefore, we had withdrawn our control from the mountains of
Kurdistan. From Rowanduz the outpost of Government had
been withdrawn to Batas ; thence the line ran to Aqra and Dohuk,
leaving Amadia and Zibar outside the zone.
The year was not to close without further trouble, for scarcely
a month later Shaikh Ubaidullah of the Surchi, a tribe living
in the immediate neighbourhood of Aqra, began intriguing with
Paris Agha and Shaikh Ahmad for a reduplication of the former
coup. Aeroplane action against the Zibar in January, 1920,
compelled the retirement of Paris Agha to his own lands, but
Shaikh Ubaidullah remained obdurate and refused to come in
to the political authorities.
1920.— Attack on Aqra—Revolt of the Surchi—Assyrian Repatria
tion — The Treaty of Sevres and Rise of Turkish Nationalism.
A state of veiled hostility prevailed during February and
March, during which time the tribes were known to have received
inflammatory propaganda from the Turks, who allowed no
opportunities to pass of inciting them against us.
In April a military convoy was ambushed by the Surchi on
its way to Aqra, and a few days later they attacked the town itself,
which put up a spirited and successful defence. A punitive
column was immediately despatched, and the enemy strongholds
at Bujil, Kalati, and Susnawa were destroyed. The Surchi leaders
thereupon retired into Zibari country.