Battle of Sabilla

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Battle of Sabilla
Part of the Ikhwan Revolt
Date29–31 March 1929
Location
Sabilla
Result Saudi victory
Belligerents
Ikhwan Hejaz and Nejd
Commanders and leaders
Sultan bin Bajad
Faisal Al Dawish		 Abdulaziz Al Saud
Strength
10,000[1] 30,000[1]
Casualties and losses
500[1] 200[1]

The Battle of Sabilla (29 March 1929)[2] was the main battle of the Ikhwan Revolt in northern Arabia between the rebellious Ikhwan forces and the army of Abdulaziz Al Saud. It is the last tribal uprising in Saudi Arabia.[3] It was also the last major battle in which one side rode camels,[4] as the Ikhwan emphasized radical conservatism and shunned technological modernization.

The rebellious, but technologically mediocre, Ikhwan were decisively defeated by the Saudi forces, which included machine-guns and cavalry. The battle occurred in Sabilla, located twenty miles east of Al Zulfi.[5] The Saudi forces were also supported by the British Royal Air Force which bombed the Ikhwan forces near Jordan and Kuwait.[6]

Faisal al-Dawish, one of the three leaders of the rebellious Ikhwan tribes, was wounded in the battle. According to Ibn Saud Information Resource, his injury was "serious". Another leader, Sultan bin Bajad, allegedly fled the battle scene.[4] There are also reports stating that both Ikhwan leaders were arrested, but not executed.[7] They remained in jail until the end of their life.[7] Of them Sultan died in 1932 in prison.[8]

In the eyes of Ibn Saud's supporters, the battle was necessary for the ability to continue Saudi conquest of the peninsula. The Ikhwan regarded it as a massacre and a betrayal.[9] Abdulaziz Al Saud, a pious Muslim but also a forward-thinking pragmatist, began to modernize his new empire. This infuriated the Ikhwan, who saw it as a betrayal. Then the Ikhwan began to attack neighboring British-held territory, which they hoped to "liberate." Abdulaziz Al Saud had forbidden this, wishing to remain friendly with the powerful British Empire. The al-Saud clan and Ikhwan fell into open warfare, which ended when Al Saud used modern machine guns to defeat the camel-riding Ikhwan at the 1929 Battle of Sabilla.[10]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d University of Central Arkansas, Middle East/North Africa/Persian Gulf Region[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Ibn Sa'ud's defeat of the Ikhwan". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  3. ^ Sebastian Maisel (2014). "The New Rise of Tribalism in Saudi Arabia". Nomadic Peoples. 18 (2): 100–122. doi:10.3197/np.2014.180207. JSTOR 43123948.
  4. ^ a b "Battle of Sibilla". King Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud) Information Resource. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  5. ^ Ali Ahmed Al Sultan (1988). Class structure in Saudi Arabia (PhD thesis). Michigan State University. p. 10. ProQuest 303682959. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  6. ^ "FDR and Ibn Saud, 1744 to 1953" (PDF). Ibn Saud. Brookings Institution. 2017.
  7. ^ a b Abdullah F. Alrebh (September 2015). "Covering the Building of a Kingdom: The Saudi Arabian Authority in The London Times and The New York Times, 1901–1932". DOMES: Digest of Middle East Studies. 24 (2): 187–212. doi:10.1111/dome.12073.
  8. ^ Khalid Abdullah Krairi (October 2016). John Philby and his political roles in the Arabian Peninsula, 1917-1953 (PDF) (PhD Thesis thesis). University of Birmingham. p. 322. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  9. ^ Robert Lacey (15 October 2009). Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia. Penguin Group US. p. 16. ISBN 9781101140734.
  10. ^ Max Fisher (26 January 2015). "9 questions about Saudi Arabia you were too embarrassed to ask". Vox. Retrieved 21 February 2021.

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