Coll 6/4(2) 'Asir: Relations between Saudi Arabia and the Yemen.' [‎244r] (494/796)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITAN^l&^IAJE^TY’S GOVERNMENT
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EASTERN (Arabia).
November 7, 1933.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 2.
[E 6772/759/25] No. 1.
Mr. Calvert to Sir John Simon.—(Received November 7.)
(No. 322.) Jedda, October 24, 1933.
WITH reference to my despatch No. 305 of the 3rd October, regarding the
strained relations at present existing between Saudi Arabia and the Yemen
I have the honour to inform yon that upon receipt of the Acting Ohiet
Commissioner at Aden’s telegram of the 18th October to the Colonial Omce,
reporting renewed fighting in Najran and the capture of Badr by Zeidi forces,
I at once sought an interview with Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman, who happened
to be on a visit to Jedda, in order to obtain what further information on the
situation he would be willing to impart. I took the step of approaching the
Minister of Finance, notwithstanding the return of the Deputy Minister tor
Foreign Affairs from abroad, owing to the latter’s absence in Biyadh, whence he
was not expected to return for at least ten days and in view of the necessity
as it seemed to me, of bringing my information, from Saudi source^ up to date
as early as possible. I saw Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman on the 19th October, and
reported to you the gist of his remarks in my telegram No 179 of the same date.
2. I opened the conversation by remarking that to judge from the exiguous
information which had reached Jedda for some two or three weeks past there
would appear to have been a lull in hostilities on the southern frontiers of Asir,
but more recently I had received reports which went to show that there was now
a renewal of activity, particularly in Najran. Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman at first
was inclined to repeat what has recently become rather a stock phrase hls >
that the situation remained unchanged and that no further reply had been
received from the Imam Yahya to Ibn Sand’s last telegrams. He, however soon
became more communicative and admitted that heavy fighting ha recen Y ^
place between the Beni Yam and Imamic forces m Najran, whither the Imam s
eldest son, Saif-ul-Islam Ahmad, had returned to take command. He confirmed
that Badr, a township which for so long has been on H e P 01 ^ of ,
the hands of the Imam, had at last fallen, but he implied that thls ha ^ 0C P^ r ^ d
not so much as a result of fighting but through the local sub-tribe of the Beni Yam
always an independent element in the tribe, throwing its lot m with the forces
of the Imam The place had been occupied. ■-> i
3 I next enquired whether Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman himself considered
that this renewal of local hostilities signified that Yemeni preparations for more
general operations were being pushed forward. He replied that the Imam was,
in reality, short of men as he was unable to count 0I 7 „ ...
ganged ’’from the districts his forces had occupied, and that * r .°°P, s J! e [®
few in number. He added that there was now scarcely a Sa " dl * old ^.
Nejd, they were all either in Asir or on their way there, ami that withm one
week he anticipated that Saudi military preparations wou . , P , .,
own personal view was that the Imam Yahya wou remain u Y S
demands that Ibn Saud would soon be pressing upon im an
inevitable. “ Before ten days were up we should see wl l at y e ® houl i s !?’• a “ d th
first thrust of the Saudi army against the Yemen would be through Najran.
4 He urofessed to be glad to be able to pass on the information to me, tp 3
Saudi'Arab Government entertaining such exceptionally friendly s ®“*™ e f nts
the British Government and so forth. He informed me that pter foreig
representatives in Jedda had recently requested information the situat on
with the Yemen and had been refused. This I took to ^ a reference to
Italians here, as Signor Tonci some weeks ago informed me he had made a lerbal
The'low estimate entertained by Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman of the
resources of the Imam Yahya is not borne out by what appears *o be the opmmn
of certain of my foreign colleagues here. From conversations with the Turkish
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