WAR IN ARABIA

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 106, 7 May 1934, Page 9

WAR IN ARABIA

IBN SAUD AND IMAM

WAHABIS INVADE YEMEN

APPEAL FOR AID

United rresj Assoclttlon—By Electric T»li.

crsph—CopjTlsbt.

CAIRO, Mar a.

Owing io the eontmuancc of hostility between Yahya Sluhamad Hamid-ud-din, Imam of Yemen, in the southwest corner of Ai-abia, and the "King of Arabia (Ibn Saud), Britain has. responded to an appeal for assistance.

A few weeks ago Ibn Saud ordered the Crown Prince to rcoccupy townships on the hills of Tchama, which the Imam of Yemen had seized. As a result of Tbn Saud's order the Wahabis sweepingly invaded Yemen towards Hodeida, which Imam Yahya's troops evacuated, after looting the ammunition store and the' Customs shed. ;

A revolution is reported in the capital city, Sanaa, due to lack' of food. Prince Seiful Islam, heir apparent, has fled. -

Meanwhile the Imam asked' King Fuad of Egypt to intervene, and the British authorities at Aden dispatched the sloop Penzance, eight aeroplanes, and armed native police .to Hodeida. A British icruisei'1 has left ~ Mombdsa, Kenya Colony, bound for Aden.

A later message states that ■ the Pcnzanee .transferred British and Indian residents and 300 foreigners from Hodeida to Kamaran Island.

Ibu; Saud is uuiikely to-/accept, the suggested mediation of King Puad because Egypt has hitherto no.t recognised Ibn Saud's Government. Imam Yahya movingly addressed the "War Council at Sanaa, after which it was decided to defend tho capital to the last gasp. A, Rome message states that three Italian warships,have boon dispatched from the Red Sea to Hodeida to protect Italian interests.