File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎26v] (61/834)

Railway Raids.
(a) Northern Section.—UxiYsm\ et-Teheimi, with whom was
Sheikh Mutlukh abn Jemian of the Beni Atiyah and some 400
tribesmen, has reported on the Hil! Post Four affair of October
18-20 (see p. 426.). He says his men attacked and captured not
only this post, together with two patrols coming from north and
south respectively, but, previously, a post north of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Ethil,
held by twenty men ; here they cut 650 (?) rails at kil. 710,
isolated a relief train coming up from Tebuk, and wiped out a
body of forty to fifty Circassian cavalry sent from the same place,
who put up a stout resistance ; also they attacked a post of
seventy Turks camped on the line between el-Hadhm and
Mahtab, who offered little opposition and were all killed or
captured, as was another party of s.eventy sent out from Tebuk.
Altogether the two Sheikhs claim to have taken over 250 prisoners
and killed 300 ; but though Lieut.-Col. Joyce thinks these
totals not very far above the mark, the Sheikhs’ own premisses
and enemy accounts argue that, all told, the enemy losses did not
exceed, say, 250. It remains, however, a very creditable and
useful performance on the part of unassisted Bedouins.
In spite of recent reinforcement, the enemy reports that this
section of the line is still very vulnerable, the 2 nd Composite Force
having a very large proportion of sick and useless men. There
has been some damage done to the railway about November 5
between Bir Hurmas and' el-Hadhm, but it seems to have been
quickly repaired. On November 9, a fairly strong force of Arabs,
divided into three parties, was operating at kil. 603, between Dhat
el-Haj and Harret el-Amara. They held up a patrol under an
officer until reinforcement arrived from the former station, and
then they retired, having, presumably, inflicted losses on the
patrol. One of the Maan planes, flying towards Dhat el-Haj,
was put out of action by its motor overheating from lack of
water, and it is doubtful if it can be repaired.
On November 11 , a bridge near Khirbet es-Sumra, north of
Amman, was blown up as a two-engined train, containing
“ Kuchuk ” Jemal Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , G.O.C. VUIth Army, his staff, some
soldiers and Labour Corps, was passing over it. The Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was
not hurt, but his A.D.C. and some twenty others were killed
The two engines were derailed, and, presumably, the bridge was
wrecked.
General.
According to information given, on November 1 , by Aziz
Jlfiendi, lately returned from the vicinity of the southern section
of the railway, the Anazeh now holding Teima are 1,000 Wuld
Suleiman tribesmen under Sheikh Mashan el-Awaji; with then,
are 400 Ageyl, from King Husein’sarmy, under Sheikh Shlash, a
Shammar tribesman. Ibn Rashid has moved his camp three hours
eastward from Medain Salih, fearing attacks from railway raiders,