File 756/1917 Pt 1 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 1 to 65’ [‎577v] (1159/1240)

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Capture of Teirna.
The capture of Teima by the local Anazeh, reported on
^ oo a likelv to lead to their more eftective co-operation
with the She, if. ' They recently held up a caravan from Hail,
"Listing- of artillery, troops and supplies but not being in
sufficient strength to attack, they merely demanded and were
triven forty rifles. The Turks are believed to be senousy
alarmed at the prospect of Teima being used as a base tor attacks
on the railway, and may be expected to make a determined
attempt to recapture it and cnast.se the Anazeh. he
Turkish officers at Hail are reported to be short of cash, as Ibn
Rashid’s Grandmother, who has pro-British sympathies, holds
the nurse 0 striiia:s and refuses to provide him with funds.
Hejaz Intelligence.
The Akaba situation shows little development. The Turkish
force that occupied Fuweilah (strength about two battalions with
some hundreds of mounted men) has not attempted any forward
move. As far as Aba el - Lissan and F u weilah, the road from Maan
to Akaba runs over open rolling country, affording little oppor
tunity for the exercise of Arab tactics, and the water supply at
Aba el-Lissan is enough for perhaps 5,000 men. After Fuweilah
the road descends the steep Nag'b el-Star (dropping nearly 2,000
feet in a zigzag road of about four miles) and then runs over the
sandy plain of°El-Eisma, which is studded with precipitous rock-
pinnacles of red sandstone. Behind one of these, at Gfuweira
(twenty miles from Fuweilah) are the present headquarters of Auda
Abu Tayi, who has about 600 Howeitat with him. The waterat
Guweira lies in two side valleys to the north, and is sufficient for
about 2,000 men, but difficult of access. After Guweira the
Akaba road runs up a broad valley to a watershed, and then runs
for twenty miles through the gorge of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Itm, a watercourse
from forty to 300 yards wide, with cliff sides 300 to 3,000 feet
high serrated and broken in the wildest way. The bed is rough
underfoot, turns and twists through the hills, and has no water
supply in it, though weak springs exist in side ravines, from one
to three miles off the road.
The Arab tactics are to allow the l urks to advance to Guweira
and beyond, sniping them when possible, and cutting off patrols
and supply caravans. In Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Itm itself they would hold all the
water sources strongly and occupy the hills each side of the main
valley. The Turkish problem is to carry enough water from Aba
el-Lissan to Akaba (fifty-five miles) to support the relatively con
siderable body of troops necessary to force Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Itm, and maintain
itself before Akaba, where the wells, being all under machine gun
fire from the sea, cannot be relied on as available for an attacking
force. A hurried Turkish advance on Akaba is therefore hardly
to be looked for, as it is impossible unless the Turks can persuade
a sufficient number of the Sherifian Arabs to cease fighting, and