'Handbook of Yemen' [‎27r] (58/190)

— 41 —
Never long quiet under alien rule, impatient of taxation,
and disgusted at the spectacle of lands falling out of
cultivation and trade passing to Aden, the Yemenis, especi
ally the highlanders, gave continual trouble to the Turks.
In 1891, a great rising (the first of a series) took place, but
was suppressed after a costly campaign, and San'a was
wrested from the rebels by Ahmed Feizi Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. . Yahya
Hamid ed-Din (a descendant of the Rassite House, but not
of any recent Imam), in whose name the revolt had been
proclaimed, fled on its actual outbreak to Sa'dah, leaving
the headship of the actual fighting forces to his cousin,
Ahmed esh-Sherai. Another general rising followed in 1904
on the death of the son of Yahya Hamid ed-Din, viz. Moham
med el-Mansur, Who had been recognized outside Turkish
jurisdiction as Imam. The latter's son, Yahya, succeeding
to the Imamate, marched south. San'a capitulated through
famine, and all the posts inland of Menakhah surrendered
to the rebels, who took more than seventy pieces of artillery
and a considerable quantity of small arms and ammunition.
Ahmed Feizi Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who had shown such firmness and
ability in the previous rising, posted overland from Basra
to take command of an expeditionary column which had
been collected on the coast, and eventually fought his way
up to San 5 a and re-established order, but only after a
great expenditure of blood and money. The Imam utterly
refused to surrender any of the weapons and stores he had
captured, and it was only on the Turks giving way on this
point that a patched-up peace was made.
In 1911, San'a (under Mohammed ? Ali Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ) was again
beleaguered by the insurgent tribes in the name of the Imam
Yahya. 'Izzet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who relieved the place and became
military governor, proceeded to inaugurate a rapproche
ment with the Imam ; for he saw that the military diffi
culties of the situation (especially in view of hostile Italian
action against the coast) demanded some such policy, if
Turkey was to preserve even nominal sovereignty in Yemen.
At first the Porte refused even to consider such a policy, and
'Izzet had to go himself to Stambul in order to press his