RASHID ALI

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 May 1941, Page 6

RASHID ALI

SAID TO HAVE FLED NORTH cl SEEKING GREATER GERMAN . HELP. 1. h STORIES OF COUNTER-REVOLT. I- ANKARA, May 25. The capital is buzzing with unl. confirmed rumours that the Iraqui rebel leader, Rashid Ali, has fled from Bagdad to Mosul, northern Iraq, and that he is establishing a new Government and seeking greater German help. It is also rumoured that several of Rashid All’s generals have begun a counter-revolution. The British are believed to have gained control of ah the dykes on the upper Euphrates, whereby they could flood the low-lying land in the lower Euphrates. The German intervention appears to . have slackened, but it may be a temporary diversion due to the invasion of Crete. r j FLIGHT ADMITTED t ; BEFORE BRITISH MOTORISED UNITS. REBEL COMMUNIQUE ISSUED ’ TN DAMASCUS. (Received This Day, 10*35 a.m.) ’ LONDON. May 25. ( According to a British United Press Ankara message. Rashid Ali and Naji Shawkat (Iraq Minister of Defence) ’ have applied for permission to cross ’ Turkey. Rashid's communique, issued in ’ Damascus, says the Iraquis encounter- ( ed motorised units coming from Trans- ' Jordan. He claims that the motorised ' units forced the Iraquis to flee after a ’ tough fight. The Berlin radio stated that Samascus. son of the Emir Abdullah of TransJordan. has loft his father anc* is now organising volunteers to assist Rashid ' Ali.

Some weeks ago it was reported that I the Emir Abdullah had been shot and wounded by his son.ln a quarrel.