File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎168v] (345/834)

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i! 1
On May 14 the enemy re-occupied Jerdun with three
companies o£ infantry and three guns. On May 17 Arab
regulars, supported by aeroplanes and two armoured cars, again
attacked and temporarily gained a foothold in the station, but
they were heavily counter-attacked with machine guns and
bombs, and were compelled to withdraw on tlm arrival of an
armoured relief train from Kalaat el-Aneizah, losing thirty-five
killed and about fifty wounded. They took fourteen prisoners,
and the enemy’s other losses are believed to have been heavier
than theirs. .
British aeroplanes are active in bombing and dispersing
enemy working parties on the railway north of Maan.
The gendarmerie occupying Kerak (see p. 161) have now
been increased to twenty mounted and forty dismounted men
under the command of a Major Osman Bey. Sheikh Rifaifan
has been made Mutessarif of Kerak and received a Turkish
decoration. Sherif Feisal, however, has received a letter from
Sheikh Kerayim el-Mujali offering to arrange a combination of
the pro-Sheri £ elements of the Mujali against Sheikhs Rifaifan
and Husein el-Tarawnah. Sherif Abdullah ibn Hamza (see
p. 153) who is under the orders of Sherif Nasir, Feisal’s principal
commander in this region, has been instructed to advance, if
possible, to the Kerak plateau to support Kerayim.
Sheikh Metgal, of the Faiz section of the Beni Sakhr, has
been collecting recruits for the Turks, and is believed to have
raised some 300 tribesmen.
Inhabitants of Hebron going to Kerak and Tafila, and
refugees going to Hebron from those places, complain of ill-
treatment by Bedouin between Bir Saba and the Ghor. Cases
of highway robbery and murder have occurred, the victims being
in some cases volunteers going from Hebron to join the Sherif’s
army. Many more would probably volunteer if they were not
afraid of these Bedouin.
Armenian refugees from Kerak have also been robbed by
the Bawarsha Arabs at Kefrabba, an hour’s journey south of
Kerak ; these Bedouin were instigated by Sheikh Rifaifan, who
is anxious to prevent the escape of the Armenians. Some
hundreds of them, nevertheless, have arrived at Hebron and been
sent on to Jerusalem. They complain bitterly of their treatment
by the Mujali and especially Rifaifan, who makes them work for
him as slaves.
Southern Area.
Sherif Abdullah has moved south with 400 regulars and
about 6,000 Bedouins, and had reached Bowat on May 8, Sherif
Ali having sent a force with three guns to join him there. He
has deputed a force of 500 Arabs to watch the eastern road from
Medina, and a convoy of 300 camels attempting to reach the city
has been captured by Sherif Nasir ibn Ghalib.