Saudi conquest of Hejaz

Saudi conquest of Hejaz
Part of Unification of Saudi Arabia
Date 1924-December 1925 Location Kingdom of Hejaz Result Sultanate of Nejd Victory
Belligerents
Sultanate of Nejd Ikhwan tribesmen	Kingdom of Hejaz
Commanders and leaders
Abdulaziz Ibn Saud Sultan bin Bajad	Hussien bin Ali Nawras Pasha
Strength
5,000 men	500 men[1] 8 Aircraft[2]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown number of deaths 5 armored vehicles destroyed 1 airplane shot down
Total: 450 dead

Saudi conquest of Hejaz Ta'if Mecca Medina Jeddah

Unification of Saudi Arabia Riyadh (1902) Dilam Qassim (1903-1907) Jarrab Kanzaan Hajla Hurmula Ha'il (1921) Kuwait (1921) Transjordan 2nd Hejaz Ikhwan Revolt

The Saudi conquest of Hejaz, or the Second Saudi-Hashemite War was a campaign, engaged by Saudi Sultan Abdulaziz Ibn Saud to take over the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz in 1924-1925, ending with conquest and incorporation of Hejaz into the Saudi domain.

Contents 1 Background 2 Saudi campaign 3 Aftermath 4 See also 5 Notes and references

Background

The 1924 campaign came within the scope of the historic conflict between the Hashemites of Hejaz and the Saudis of Ryadh (Nejd), which had already sparked the First Saudi-Hashemite War in 1919.

Saudi campaign

The pretext for renewed hostilities between Nejd and Hejaz came when the pilgrims from Nejd were denied access to the holy places in Hejaz.^[3] On August 29, 1924, Ibn-Saoud began his military campaign against Hejaz by advancing towards Taif, which surrendered without a major struggle.^[3] Following the fall of Taif, the Saudi forces and the allied Ikhwan tribesmen moved on Mecca. Sharif Hussein’s request for British assistance was denied to him on the pretext of non-intervention in religious disputes.^[3] King Hussein bin Ali had meanwhile fled from Mecca to Jeddah, after the assistance request from King Abdullah of Transjordan was denied as well.^[3] The city of Mecca fell without struggle on October 13th 1924.^[3] The Islamic Conference, held in Riyadh on the 29th October 1924, brought a wide Islamic recognition of Ibn-Saud’s jurisdiction over Mecca.

With the advancement of the Saudi forces and blockade imposed on Jeddah, Hejazi army began disintegrating.^[3] The city of Medina surrendered on December 12 1925, and Yanbu fell 12 days later.^[3] Jeddah fell to Saudi forces on December 1925, with the Saudi forces entering its gates on January 8th, 1926, after capitulation and safe passage was negotiated betweeen King bin Ali and the British Counsul.

Aftermath

Following the successful takeover over the Kingdom of Hejaz, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud was declared as King of Hejaz. The Kingdom was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz, with Ibn Saud being the king of both in political union.

King Hussien o Hejaz fled to Cyprus, declaring his son Ali bin Hussien as the King of Hejaz, but effectively with the fall of the Kingdom the dynasty ended up in an exile. Hashemites however remained to rule the emirate of Transjordan and the Kingdom of Iraq.

See also

• History of Saudi Arabia

Notes and references

• Al-Harbi, Dalal: King Abdulaziz and his Strategies to deal with events : Events of Jeddah. 2003, King Abdulaziz national library. ISBN 9-960624-88-9 .