DESERT RAIDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19924, 18 April 1928, Page 10

DESERT RAIDERS.

The Arab tribesmen who have been reported at intervals during recent months as menacing the frontiers of Irak are now Baid to have returned to their summer grazing grounds, and the situation in consequence is believed to have cleared up satisfactorily. Thero has obviously been a great deal of misconception, not to say exaggeration, about these' forays and incursions into Irak territory. The chain of argument which sought to give them international significance seemed logical. The tribesmen were of the Nejd, part of the territory controlled by Ibn Saud, who rules the Iledjaz, and can rightly be classed as the greatest Arab potentate of modern times. His rule is so absolute, it was contended, that the raids could not be made without his knowledge and secret approval. Therefore Ibn Saud and his Wahabis were planning a great assault on Irak and possibly all the other mandated territories of the region. On behalf of Ibn Saud a semi-official statement was issued recently in which it was complained that if a chief of the Nejd broke the peace and any attempt was made to punish him, he merely fled across the border into Irak, and was given asylum there. It was remarked, somewhat caustically, that if the Government of Irak wanted peace "let it prevent raids by its own people across the frontier, and, above all, let it not welcome with open arms those who are guilty of raiding into its territory." Deflated a little, the position seems to be that great though Ibn Saud's authority may be it cannot always prevent tho desert tribesmen from indulging in their traditional pastime of making forays. The unrest on the border is disturbing to Irak, but it appears more a matter for policing than for finding international complications in the situation. The true significance of the whole affair was perhaps expressed by an authority on the Near East, who predicted a cessation of the disturbances because "the. raiding season is nearly over." That cynical estimate seems confirmed by the report that tranquillity has come by the raiders returning to their summer grazing grounds. The season is over.