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VI.— TRIBAL SITUATION

Throughout the year, the tribes of this area.
were remarkably quiet. This fortunate state of affairs
may be attributed to the presence of the Allied
occupation troops, and to the employment 'they afforded
the local inhabitants. It is difficult to predict to
what degree security will be affected when these
restraining and palliative influences are removed.

The year was only barely uneventful however, for
on January 10th this year, Shaikh Abdullah, the fourth
and slightly demented son of the late Shaikh Khazal Khan
(formerly Shaikh of Mohommerah) ilegally entered Khorram-
shahr from Iraq with a following of armed retainers, and
established himself in one of his father's old palaces
at Failiyeh, after evicting the four gendarmes who were
stationed there. However, on receiving no rally from the
local tribes, and finding the Persian force, which the
General Officer Commanding, Khuzistan Army Division, had
sent against him with commendable promptitude, to be too
strong for him, Abdullah withdrew the same night. His
precipitate retreat was probably also caused by receipt
of the news that Iraqi troops were taking up positions
along the frontier to effect his arrest should he try to
re-enter Iraq. Abdullah therefore sought sanctuary in
Kuwait.
The attack was not altogether a surprise, for
reports were received in December that Abdullah was
agitating among the Iraq tribes on the border for action
which would effect the restoration of the Khazal Family's
fortunes in Khuzistan. It was considered however that
Abdullah had no real following, and that his was only a
hare-brained scheme which would, at most, prove only of
nuisance value if it was carried out. Nevertheless, all
precautions were taken against such an eventuality.

His Majesty's Consul,
Khorramshahr.