File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎76r] (149/450)

1 rinted for the Committee of Imperial Defence.
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ARABIAN REPORT.
N.S. No. XVII. November 8, 1916 (night).
PART 1.
The Sherif of Mecca.
Rabegh and the Situation in General.
The War Committee’s Proposal.
Nuri Sha’alan.
The Coronation.
Idrisi of Asir.
Ibn Saud.
Maskat.
Contents.
PART i.— (Continued.)
Koweyt and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .
Bahrein.
PART II.
Political Events in the Fields of Operations.
Mesopotamia.
PART III.
Syria.
TAUT I.
THE SHERIF OF MECCA.
Rabegh and the Situation in General.
On the 3rd November Sir H. McMahon transmitted [No. 964] a message from
Sir R. Wingate TNo. 629J for the Foreign Office saying that he had asked the Admiral
C.-in-C. to send one or two monitors to Rabegh, and the G.O.C. Egypt to hold [? a
brigade], if immediately available, in readiness to proceed to that place. He also
enquired in regard to the French contingents whether he had the authority of their
Government to order them to proceed to Rabegh.
On the same date Sir H. McMahon [No. 965] transmitted a telegram [No. 632]
from Sir R. Wingate asking that a previous telegram [No. 627] might be transmitted,
which was done. In this the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. stated :—
1 . That he hoped the aeroplanes would reach Rabegh at the end of this week
(ending on the 11 th November), and that as Sir A. Murray could not spare
an escort of Moslem troops, he (the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. ) was sending two companies of
Egyptian infantry with two British officers;
2 . That he could not send another man or another gun, but had urgently requested
Sir A. Murray to send a battery of field guns and several howitzers, without
personnel, to Rabegh ;
3. That one machine-gun company of the French contingent had reached Suez, the
remainder being expected to reach that place about the 15th November;
4. That Colonel Bremond maintained his opinion that this contingent should not
proceed to Rabegh unless it be decided to send there four field batteries,
two mountain batteries, and an Anglo-French force of a minimum strength
of six battalions; but he had urged his Government to present to the
Sherif several batteries without personnel, and had represented to it the
necessity of sending infantry supports if the French contingent he landed at
Rabegh ;
[898—16]
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