File 3300/1916 Pt 3 'Aden News-Letters: 1919-20' [‎407r] (168/633)

The CoaiTiandur of If.; .a.*(JL^ATI8* recently paid
a visit to 1 oicha and gathered that bheikh ahciullah
-iffendi was acting as the XraiiA'e Anil there curing the
absence of his brother t ali ( thin« n t who wae inland en»
gigged in be .ting up recruits for the Imam* The Com Jider
was told that Sheikhs v/ho refuse to respond to advances
of Ali C thmun were i>ent by him to the Imam as prisoners.
Later news regarding Tais states that the /grabs
in Baber have be«n making continual raids on Taix and
that bheikhs in the neighbourhood are rising against the
^aidis.
The trouble apT>eiir8 to have originated in the
refusal of one of the bheikhs of Jebel baber to pay
tribute deirs nded from him* A fl>ree of 3CC laidis which
was despatched to punish the bheikh was repulsed with
heavy lose, ' egotiations are now saia to be proceeding
between the parties lor a settlement,
AblR ,
Captain amluddin, 1,1.b, # writes that eversince
the expulsion of aharif hamood from abha after the bomb*
ing of his house in December last (vide Captain Pazlud* f
din's diary dated Ibth 'ecember I919) t ba im Bey, the
Idrissi/ua Commander on that side had been trying to get
into the town by negotiations. He lately occupied & fort
called Murtasa and another place called Thara(or bara).
1 0 strategically important points on the borders of
Abha t an vrr©te to hasan aidh to let him enter Abha and
take possession of the arms tind tamriunition surrendered
by the lurks and kept in his custody for ultiiru te trans*
mission to the Idrisi. Hasan Aidh replied to this commu*
nication by a surprieo attack by night on Salim Bey*s
forces with a large force and compelled him to retire
from llurtasa as well &s Sara and to fall back on Skaibaa* /
Hasan aidh is said to have sustained a loss of 3tC men
while balim ley lost 37 of his men, a large number of
Asiriun