NO AID FOR IRAQ REBEL CHIEF

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 111, 14 May 1941, Page 5

NO AID FOR IRAQ REBEL CHIEF

FORCES ARE BREAKING UP BRITISH ENCOUNTER LISTLESS RESISTANCE (Reed. 8.20 p.m.) London, May 12. The Daily Telegraph's special correspondent in Iraq says it is increasingly evident that there is no German aid for Rashid Ali, whose following is beginning to break up. Iraqi conscripts southward of A! Qurna —the traditional site of the Garden of Eden—are deserting in a wholesale manner rather than continue to serve Rashid Ail. Iraqi forces in the Ilabbaniyah area have apparently lost heart for fighting. They are now 11 miles from the defence perimeter of the R.A.F. cantonment. and show no signs of doing anything except stay there, unless thev arc pushed out even further. British troops who encountered Iraqis declare they have no real determination in their resistance. This lack of spirit tends to confirm an impression that Rashid All’s anti-British activities are not receiving the approval of the Iraq nation, particularly the army as a whole.—U.P.A. MORE STABILISED Rugby, May 12. A Royal Air Force (Middle East) communique states: — ‘The situation in Iraq is more stabilised. Our aircraft have been engaged on punitive operations against the rebels in most districts where they have been observed.—B.O.W. MOSLEM HOLY WAR London, May 12. The official German news agency says that a dispatch from Beirut declared that the exiled Mohammedan Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has issued a proclamation to the Arab people demanding a Mohammedan holy war against Britain. —U.P.A,