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Encoraged
by the British, two sons of the Sharif Husayn Ibn 'Ali of the Hijaz, Faysal and
Abdullah, rally their Hijaz tribesmen in open revolt against the Ottomans, opening
another front in the Middle East that the Ottomans are unable to defend.
Assisted
by British supplies, cash, and advisers (T E Lawrence -'Lawrence of Arabia' being
one) Faysal's army then moves northward to Syria/Palestine, protecting the right
flank of the British army of Allenby.
Faysal enters Damascus in 1 October 1918, he formed a shortlived Arab government
of Syria until the French elbow him out in 1920. Faysal pops up 12 months later
as the British puppet king of Iraq. With
the Ikhwan in 1919, Ibn Saud strikes against the forces of Sharif Husayn. At Turabah
they destroy Husayn's army, but instead of marching on Mecca, Ibn Saud is pressured
by the British to keep out of Hijaz and to march on Hail instead. This infuriates
the Ikhwan who for many years had harboured hatred of the Husayn family, and Hail
for them had no religious significance. Between a rock and a hard place, Saud
aquiesed to the British and turned his army northward taking Hail from the Rashidi
Family in 1921. Ibn
Saud and the Ikhwan finally marched into Hijaz in 1924, captures At Ta'if, and
occupied Mecca with no opposition, they then laid siege to both Jeddah and Medina.
Both surrender by the end of 1925, and Hasayn -aided by the British, flees. By
1927 the British had recognised Ibn Saud as a sovereign independant ruler, and
several agreements later, Saudi Arabia's borders with the British mandates of
Transjordan and Iraq are defined. On
the southern border, the Idrisi Sayyids of Asir had risen to power in 1910. Saud
concludes treaties with them in 1926 and 1930, making Asir a virtual dependancy.
By the Treaty of At Ta'if in 1934, Asir is absorbed into Saudi Arabia. |
