Page 92 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

RECENT HIS' "»RY AND PRESENT POLITICS 141

nnd marriage, Seyyid Mohammed returned to Sabia, deter-
.,t Arg° 1 render Asir independent of the Turks and to aggrandize
j • >i•(I to
" Hf at their expense. By 1910 he had driven them back to
11 11 resent holding ; but he failed to take Ibha against oppo-
I Im’U 1 .____] u-rr -(-Uq TTwii-n r\t Manno and onrmliprl
,iiir.n orga nized by the Emir of Mecca. Subsidized and supplied
Italians during the Tripolitan War he consolidated himself
l.v the
iii the south, and though the Emir seduced much of his tribal
f,,| lowing after the Peace of Ouchy, he recovered himself during

the Balkan War. Failing in 1914 to secure recognition from the
Vouno- Turks as more thah Kaimmakam of Sabia and Abu ‘Arish,
he declared definitely against them on their entry into the present
struggle, signed a treaty with our Resident at Aden in May 1915,
•mdlook the field in June with a following of some 12,000 men
i
frmn Abu ‘Arish and certain tribes of the ‘Aqabah and Tihamah !
(Beni Marwan, Beni Aslam, Beni Hasan, Beni ‘Abs, &c.), and the
■.
Qahtan. However, he has not succeeded in taking Loheia, though
he has" overrun much of the northern Tihamah of Yemen, and raised
part of the Zaranik and other Tihamah tribes against the Turks. His 1
power rests largely on his personality, but to some extent also on
hereditary sanctity and on the wealth and influence of his connexions,
notably those with the Senussi. His most implacable foe, after the ..
:
Turks, is the Imam of Yemen, and the only potentate really friendly
to him in Arabia is Ibn Sa‘ud. The Emir of Mecca, however, is now
disposed to keep on terms and is anxious to reconcile the differences
between him and the Imam Yahya. I
Idrisi’s standing army consists of about 500 Sudanese re­

cruited from the villages round his capital, Sabia, and chiefly
used for police work or as his personal guard in normal times. In
tunes of war he depends entirely on the tribes for support. His
i
system is simple. He has about 10 Muqaddams or generals, almost
i
‘uvariably chosen from the leading families of Sadah (Seyyids) or \
Ashraf (Sherifs), each of whom is entrusted with a district or a group
^tribes with which he is required to keep in touch at all times. \
' hen troops are required, each general is ordered to produce
a ■sPecified number of men, and he in turn makes the tribal Sheikhs
icsponsible for carrying out the order. Exemption is purchased
"ti 6 Payment of 24 riyals.

u . army thus formed is a conglomeration of small bands, skilled
nbal warfare but untrained and undisciplined according to
tiib°Pean stanc*ards, and generally divided against itself by petty
>
ancr ^Uarre^s and jealousies. Each tribal unit brings its own food
K
as man.Y rifles as it can, and Idrlsi is responsible for making
llP the t
Humber and for supplying ammunition. In addition he has
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