IOR/R/15/1/435

Correspondence discusses the attacks on Muscat and Mutrah by the tribes of the Omani interior. Correspondence between Robert Benn, Political Agent Muscat, the Foreign Office in London and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf discusses:

• The immediate context of the situation whereby in 1913 tribal forces from the interior attacked and occupied the coastal towns of Barka and Quaryat [Qurayyāt]. These were bombarded by H.M.S. Fox and Dartmouth.
• The context of the outbreak of World War I which emboldened the rebels as they thought no ships would be available for defence of Muscat. Reports continued to be received of the determination of Shaikh Hamyar bin Nasir, the Imam's chief Lieutenant, to harrass Matrah of the Bani Battash to attack Muscat.
• Discussions of troop deployment and development of armed forces by Sultan Taimur bin Faisal [Taymūr bin Fayṣal].
• Discussion of 'pro-German propaganda'.
• Timing of Imam's decision to attack on 11th January 1915.
• Report on the events leading up to the attack with enclosures on casualties and a letter from Shaikh Isa bin Saleh al Harithi to the Sultan of Muscat; sketch map of the attack drawn by Robert Arthur Benn, Political Agent, Muscat, to illustrate the report.

Correspondents include Robert Arthur Benn, Political Agent, Muscat; Stuart George Knox, On Special Duty for Political Resident Persian Gulf; Saiyid Hamad bin Hilal [Ḥamad bin Hilāl] ; Shaikh Isa bin Saleh al-Harithi [‘Īsá Bin-Ṣāliḥ al-Ḥārithī]; Sultan of Muscat.