File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎223r] (454/834)

— £61 —
ARABIA.
North-West.
Intelligence.
Northern Area.
Desei teis report that the water reserve at Jvalaat Aneza is
exhausted, that the only supply is brought by trolley, and that
the well at Jurf ed-Derwish has all but given out. This shortage
must seriously embarrass the I urks, who are trying to repair the
line between these two stations with rails taken from the Aneza-
Jerdun sector. It may also account‘for the comparatively large
number of deserters who have come in—thirty-seven in two
days, of whom twenty-two were Turks.
An explosion was heard from the direction of liutrani on
duty 14. At first, owing to the great intervening distance,
nothing was visible, but an hour later smoke was seen.
Southern Area.
Sherif Sheraf reports that, on July 5, he damaged 500 rails
and a culvert of twenty-five arches between Khishm es-Sana and
Dar el-Hamra, and attacked a post between the latter station and
Matali, damaging 1,000 rails.
Most welcome proof of Sherifian vigilance on the Medina-
Hail road has appeared. Sherif Abdullah reports that, about
July 10, Arab forces surprised a detachment of fifty Turkish
cavalry and some infantry under the command of Abdul Hamid
Bey el-Masri, lately IVth Army delegate with Ibn Rashid, bound
from Medina to Hail. The encounter was a most successful one,
the entire party of Turks being either killed or captured. Among
the slain was Abdul Hamid el-Masri. It is reported that
important papers were captured, and we wait with impatience
details of Fakhri’s message to Ibn Rashid. The statement of the
prisoners that Fakhri is sending three taburs from Medina to
Hail lacks confirmation. r
General.
Since the position was last reviewed (see p. 245) the King
has taken action to assert his authority and recover his lost
prestige in the Khurma district. On July 15 it was reported
from Wejh that Sherif Shakir had been despatched from Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Ais at the head of 800 men, with four guns and six machine
guns, and on the same day Yambo reported that ammunition
and supplies for 1,000 men for one month had left that place for
Shakir at Bir Derwish by Emir Abdullah’s order. The latest
report gives Shefa as Shakir’s destination. Shefa is a desert
escarpment of uncertain size lying across the Mecca-Boreida road
some 250 to 300 miles from the former place. If the report is
to be credited, Shakir’s intention, apparently, is to intercept any
reinforcements coming from Qasim. An advance party of