"تقرير عسكري عن العراق. المنطقة ٢ (أعلى الفرات)" [ظ‎‎٣‎٩] (١٤٠/٨٣)

70
200 tribesmen of the Zoba’, murdered Lieutenant-Colonel
Magniac, commanding the 27th Punjabis, whilst returning to
Fallujah from Mufraz Post.
On the fall of Ramadi that portion of the tribe within our
lines behaved satisfactorily ; Nijris ibn Qaud, the notorious
chief of the Albu Nimr section, elected to remain with the
Turks as his territory was still under Turkish occupation, and
he did not make submission until the capture of Anah in
October, 1918.
Nijris ibn Qaud attained notoriety in pre-war days as a
man of wild character, never at peace for long with any form
of established government, and the leader of numerous daring
raids ; he was always a thorn in the side of the Turkish authori
ties. Since our occupation he has maintained this reputa
tion, although for a brief spell after his submission he displayed
signs of wishing to atone for his past misdeeds. His naturally
lawless inclinations were, however, apparently too strong for
him, and after actively participating in the disturbances
on the Upper Euphrates in the spring of 1920 and subsequent
misbehaviour he remained an outlaw until June, 1920, when
he again made submission and voluntarily resigned the Shaikh-
ship of his section in favour of his son Ma’ajil. He was per
mitted to live on his garden at Hit under a guarantee of
Rs. 10,000.
Generally, the political attitude of the Dulaim has remained
satisfactory, with the exception of one or two sections which
took part in the disturbances in early 1920. The Albu Mahal
section under Aftan al Sharqi, portions of the Albu Nimr under
Nijris ibn Qaud, and the Jaghaifah threw in their lot with the
Aqaidat when they sided with the Syrian Government. Hie
activity of the hostile Dulaim sections took the form of raids
on our lines of communication and attacks on detached
garrisons. Hostile elements from these sections were again
active against us in the insurrection of the summer of 1920.
In August of that year they attacked Anah, which was occupied
by a British Assistant Political Officer supported by Ali
Sulaiman and a tribal following of friendly Dulaim. Together
with the townsmen of Rawah they forced the Assistant Political
Officer and Ali Sulaiman to retire downstream from Anah.
Aftan al Sharqi, of the Albu Mahal section, eventually came in
and made submission in January, 1921.
After the 1920 insurrection had been finally subdued and
Shaikh Dhari ibn Dhahir of the Zoba’ tribe, who was respon
sible for the murder of Lieutenant-Colonel Leachman, had
fled, many sections of that tribe agreed to acknowledge Ah
Sulaiman as their paramount chief and become part of the
Dulaim. These Zoba’ sections each paid a fine of rifles and