ملف ٧٠٥/١٩١٦ الجزء ٢ "انتفاضة عربية: التقارير العربية؛ تقارير السير م. سايكس" [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٠] (٤٥٠/٢٥٨)

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Central Arabian affairs, or whether the proximity of Ibn Saoud to the sea would
ultimately have drawn us, as the Turks feared and as he wished, into direct relations
with him need not now be determined. The outbreak of war brought our consideration
for the Turks to an end, and as soon as he was assured of our friendship Ibn Saoud cast
away all shadow of allegiance to the Sultan. ^
The occupation of Busreh must inevitably bring us into touch with Ibn Rashid and
the Shammar ; for though the building of the Medina Railway has made it possible to
travel from Hail to Damascus in less than a week, the commercial intercourse of Ibn
Rashid’s oasis is all with the markets on the Euphrates. Every spring the Amir’s
caravans, 500 or 600 camels strong, make the fortnight’s march from Hail to the Irak to
replenish the stores of corn and oil, tea, coffee, and sugar which the unlimited hospitality
of his palace demand, as well as to purchase the garments with which every tribesman
who pays his respects to Ibn Rashid must be presented, in accordance with his rank
and importance. By camel caravan the merchants of Najef furnish their partners
settled in Hail with the stock-in-trade of the bazaars. Of the markets frequented bj
the Shammar two are already in our hands. The little towns of Zubair and Khamisiyeh,
outposts in the desert, depending respectively upon the metropolitan Busreh and the
provincial Souk-el-Shuyoukh, the “market of Sheikhs” on the Euphrates, are in the
occupied territories. The seaport of Koweit is administered by our firm ally. Ibn
Rashid, therefore, unless he be willing to keep the peace with us, will be reduced to
seek his supplies higher up the Euphrates, and even there he is beginning to find access
difficult. By sea and land we hold the eastern neck of the Arabian bottle.
The Shammar have suffered since the death of Mohammed Ibn Rashid from
inefficient and imprudent leading and from family jealousies, resulting in bloody
upheavals in the ruling house. The present Amir is a boy of 18, untrained in
statecraft, ungoverned in temper, and lacking in wise advisers. He clings blindly to
the old policy, -which has hitherto proved very profitable, of close.adherence to Turkey,
and shows no leanings towards the pan-Arab sentiment, with which from time to time
the Sheikh of Koweit and the ruler of Nejd have coquetted—for reasons not strictly
connected with an Arabian patriotic revival. Under the Amir’s feeble rule the tribe is,
as might be expected, divided against itself, but the Shammar are a proud and valiant
people, possessors of their full share of desert virtues, and obedient to their old ideals
and desert conduct. They must always be a factor in Arabian politics, and a turn of
the wheel might restore to them much of their former supremacy.
One other great tribal group touches the Euphrates. The Anazah, most powerful
of all purely nomad confederations, roam the Syrian desert from the borders of
Mesopotamia to the eastern frontiers of Syria. They wander north almost to Aleppo,
and in those northern regions cross the Euphrates and occupy the rich pastures of the
Khabur. Over this wide area more than one Sheikh bears sway. The tribe is divided
into four main sections, of whom the Amarat come up to the confines of the Irak.
Their paramount chief, Fahad Beg Ibn Hadhdhal, is nominally the ultimate lord of all
Anazah, though, in fact, his western neighbour, Ibn Shaalan, who commands the Syrian
side of the desert, is a more notable personage. Unlike the Amir of Jebel Shammar
and the ruler of Nejd, Fahad Beg has no fixed abiding place. He lives with his tribe,
true people of the Camel, who follow where their grazing herds lead them. Yet the
strong castles of Ibn Saoud and Ibn Rashid are not more impressive to the imagination
than lahads encampment. In spring you may find him in the grassy steppes of the
Syrian desert, with a couple ol hundred tents around him, widely scattered in
complete security from attack, and during many hours before you reach him you ride
through his camel herds, for the Anazah are the greatest of all breeders. The old
Sheikh, seated on fine carpets in his guest tent, with his hawk and his greyhound
behind him, offers a picture of tribal dignity which the walled cities and lofty halls of
the Central Arabian Princes and their troops of armed slaves cannot rival.
I he Amarat scarcely come as far down south as Samawah, on the Euphrates, their
market towns being Kerbela and Najef and smaller settlements higher up the rivers.
A certain amount ol Syrian merchandise—wearing apparel and cotton goods—reaches
them also through the enterprise of Damascene traders, but for provisions they are
dependent on Northern Irak, and, therefore, on those who rule it. Fahad Beg himself
owns some valuable palm gardens which are watered from the Euphrates, and whoever
controls the river has some grip on the sources of his private fortune.
The Ottoman Government, save for its constant regard for Ibn Rashid’s friendship
a relic of Abdul Hamid’s statecraft—followed no consistent policy in its dealings with
semi-independent Sheikhs. The Pasha had no sympathy with nomad Arabs, and the
half-educated townsman of Constantinople or Salonica, who misguided the fortunes of