'Administration Reports 1920-1924' [‎197v] (399/412)

64
They failed in their main objective, which appears to have been to punish the
Diyahin who were^ camped near there, but killed eleven men and wonnded over
twenty—all Kuwait subjects—^and plundered a number of sheep, donkeys ajjd
camels. The raiders then went to Fantag, the most northerly of the four vil
lages mentioned above which are known collectively as the Qusur, but were
driven off by the villagers.
Ori the morning of the 27th April all the inhabitants of these Qusur villages
came in panic into Kuwait, saying that a large force of Ikhwan was advancing,
but their fear proved to be entirely without foundation.
These events caused much nervousness in Kuwait. On the 27-th April a
meeting of the leading townsmen was held, and, although the Shaikh assured
them that they had nothing to fear, and said.that he had written a letter of com
plaint to Ibn Sa'ud and that no further action was necessary, they insisted on the
wall being strongly manned at night as a precautionary measure—and this was
done for some considerable time.
On the 14th May the Shaikh deceived a letter from Ibn Sa'ud, expressing
his regret at this raid, which he said he was equiring into. On the 19th he receiv
ed Ibn Sa ; ud's reply to his formal letter of complaint, and in this he definitely
promised to have restitution made. The animals were eventually returned in
the beginning of August, less such as had died—which, however, constituted a
very considerable number.
On the 7th May a raiding party from 'Iraq sighted a force of Ikhwan with
three standards at Mujdair, which apparently consisted of eighty horsemen and
three hundred camel riders under Haif-al-Fuqam of the Sahabah sept of the
Muwahah sub-section of the Tlwah section of the Mutair. The 'Iraqis at once
retired, but on the 8th they saw the same force at Shuqaiq, less than forty miles
south of Jahrah, and gave warning of the fact at Jahrah on their way through.
Some alarm was caused when the news reached Kuwait, but two days later the
force retired to the south again without doing anything.
An important tribal affray took place at Nuqair, 110 miles south of Kuwait
on the 20th May. Habis bin 'Ashwan, of the 'Ubaiyat sept of the Aulad Wasil
sub-section of the Buraih section of the Mutair, had raided the 'Awazim. The
latter had appealed to Ibn Sa'ud who had ordered restitution to be made, and had
told the 'Awazim that they were at liberty to attack Ibn 'Ashwan if he failed to
comply with this order. As Ibn' Ashwan kept making excuses and refused to dis
gorge all the plunder^ the 'Awazim, under their paramount shaikh, Ibn Jami'
of the Had alin sub-section of the Ku'ah section of the tribe, attacked him and
captured all his property. Ibn 'Ashwan, who had only about 150 men with him
and was greatly outnumbered by the 'Awazim, but up a very stubborn fight, but
he himself, his son and more than half his followers were killed. The 'Awazim
also suffered very heavily.
On the 31st May Ibn Shuqair, of the famous Dushan family of the Muwahah
sub-section of the 'Ilwah section of the Mutair, (to which Faisal ad-Dawish also
belongs), and founder of the Ikhwan village of Qaryah, or Jaryah as it is always,
pronounoed, attacked the Dhafir at Qusair, some thirty-five to forty miles south
west of Nasiriyah. At first the Dhafir were overpowered and forced to retire.
Afterwand's, however, they rallied and counter-attacked the Ikhwan who were
then collecting booty, and inflicted a crushing defeat on them^ Ibn Shuqair himself
being: amongst the killed.
In the latter part of June Ibn Sa'ud's son, Faisal, arrived at Qaryah to try
and settle various tribal disputes on behalf of his father, and remained there for
some time. It was he who finally effected the return of the plunder taken by
the 'Ajman in the Jalib ash-Shuyukh raid.
On the 5th August a party of Ikhwan, believed to have been Mutair from
Qaryah, raided Mudairah, a camping ground on the north side of Kuwait Bay,
some nineteen miles from Jahrah, and plundered over two hundred sheep belong
ing to Kuwait subjects.
On the 26th December a party of Tkhwan raided the Zaiyad and other 'Iraq
tribes near TJmm-ar-Rahl, about sixty-five miles south of Nasiriyah. On the 28th
December the raiders were located and bombed by British aeroplanes, and fled,
abandoning the sheep which they had plundered. Some of these sheep were
subsequently found by Kuwait Arabs in an exhausted condition to the west of
Jahrah, and were looked after by the Shaikh's orders until they could be handed
pver to their owners.