Battle of Hadia

Battle of Hadia
Date March 16, 1910 Location Jraibiyat Al-Tuwal  [ ar ] Result Iraqi victory [1] Withdrawal of Kuwaiti and Saudi
Belligerents
Muntafiq Emirate Al-Dhafeer Tribe	Emirate of Riyadh Emirate of Kuwait
Saadoun Pasha Hamoud bin Suwaitl  [ ar ] [2] Dahir Aba Dhraa [2]	Mubarak I Ibn Saud Jaber Al-Sabah Quraynis bin Ka'ami
Strength
Unknown 500 horsemen	7,000 men among them 150 horsemen
Casualties and losses
19 killed and an unspecified number of wounded, [2]	338 killed and an unspecified number of wounded. [2]

The Battle of Hadiyah, also known as the Battle of Jraibiyat, was a conflict that took place at dawn on Wednesday, March 16 , 1910, between the Kuwaitis and the supporters of Saadoun bin Mansour Pasha, one of the sheikhs of the Muntafiq tribe, in the Jraibiyat al-Tuwal area located in Tuwal al-Dhafeer, south of the Muntafiq District in Iraq and west of the Emirate of Kuwait. ^[3] Saadoun Pasha achieved an easy victory in this battle over the forces of Mubarak Al-Sabah, causing Mubarak's army to retreat.

Background

The reason for the conflict was that a group of Saadoun's followers had attacked a caravan belonging to a Kuwaiti merchant. Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah became enraged by this assault and rushed to defend his fellow Kuwaiti. However, the Kuwaitis were defeated in the battle, abandoning everything they had and escaping with their lives.

One of the Kuwaitis reportedly said, “We left our belongings as a gift to Ibn Saadoun,” and thus the battle came to be known as the Battle of Hadiyah (The Gift). It was also called the Battle of Al-Tuwal, as it took place in an area known as Jraibiyat Al-Tuwal .

Rabah Mubarak Al-Rashidi mentioned in his book The Rashaidah Tribe:

“It is called Hadiyah, a flooded area with sidr (lotus) trees. To its south lies ‘Akhḍar Al-Maa,’ to the north ‘Shuaib Al-Luwaiḥiẓ’ and ‘Al-Hijrah,’ and to the west ‘Al-Hunayyah.’” ^[4]

Humaid Al-Saadoun stated in his book “The Emirate of Al-Muntafiq and Its Influence on the History of Iraq” that after the Ruwala tribes defeated Saadoun Pasha’s army, “Saadoun returned to his homeland defeated and broken, only to find the envoy of the Sheikh of Kuwait (Mutlaq Abu Hadidah) waiting for him with warnings and threats — that Mubarak Al-Sabah would march into the land of Al-Muntafiq with a large army. This was because news of Saadoun’s defeat at the hands of the Ruwala tribes had reached him, and Ibn Al-Sabah saw the opportunity as favorable to defeat Al-Muntafiq at that time, given its weakened condition.” ^[5]

After that, Mubarak Al-Sabah sought revenge against Al-Muntafiq, so he sent Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah as the commander of the Kuwaiti army. He managed to raid the camels of the Al-Dhafir tribe, which had little to no protection at the time, and they seized many of them without a battle.

The battle

After news arrived of Saadoun Pasha's defeat at the hands of the Ruwala tribe, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah sent his envoy, Mutlaq Abu Hadidah, to deliver a warning and a threat that Mubarak Al-Sabah would march his army into the land of Al-Muntafiq. ^[6] He found the opportunity suitable to defeat his enemy given its difficult circumstances. Therefore, he assembled an army consisting of residents of Kuwait City and Bedouin tribes, appointing his son Jaber as its commander. Ibn Saud also participated in this campaign with some of his forces. ^[7] As for Saadoun Pasha, he regrouped his army and quickly advanced to confront his enemy before they could reach his home. The two forces met at Jraibiyat Al-Tuwal .

It is mentioned that Abdulaziz Al Saud, who participated in the Battle of Hadiyah on the Kuwaiti side, happened to be in the area on other business, accompanied by only a small number of his troops. He tried to dissuade Mubarak from engaging in battle with Saadoun, saying:

“There is no real dispute between you and the man that justifies war. I believe it would be better to make peace; the issue is minor, and I can mediate between you.”

Mubarak replied:

“You are my son — would a son accept seeing his father insulted?”

In the Battle of Hadiyah, 338 men from the Kuwaiti army were killed, not counting the wounded, while on the other side, five of Saadoun's men, four from the Al-Jash’am, and seven from the Al-Dhafir (including Abdulrahman bin Hilaf), two from the Al-Budur, and Layl bin Hatimi Al-Mundil from Banu Khalid were killed. Thamer bin Saadoun Pasha was also injured but later recovered. The historian Alami Al-Lami, citing Abdulaziz Abdulghani Ibrahim in his book Princes and Raiders, wrote:

“These forces gathered at Al-Jahra and set out on March 13, 1910, marching toward the lands of Al-Muntafiq. They clashed with Saadoun’s forces on March 16, between Al-Rahimiyah, Al-Wuqba, and Al-Dharibiyat, in an area called Jraibiyat Al-Tuwal.

The combined forces attacked Saadoun’s troops at dawn. Al-Muntafiq initially withdrew with minimal losses, regrouped, and suddenly raided the right flank composed of Kuwait’s ‘Arabidar’ units and the Mutair Bedouins. Jaber bin Mubarak had no choice but to retreat from the battlefield, leaving Ibn Saud and his men to skirmish with Al-Muntafiq’s striking forces.

Abdulaziz and his brothers, along with their Ajman allies, made desperate efforts to prevent a complete disaster.

According to British sources, Abdulaziz conducted an organized tactical retreat and fought bravely, but he could not turn defeat into victory, as the Kuwaiti troops and other Bedouin groups fled.

Saadoun’s forces, however, were not weak — all of Al-Muntafiq stood behind him, joined by Al-Dhafir, and 500 Shammar horsemen supported him in the heat of battle. Many other southern Iraqi tribes and clans also took part, including Zaid, Sumaid, Al-Safa, Al-Majarid, Banu Malik, Al-Shurayfat, Banu Husayn, Al-Fudul, Al-Khaza’il, Banu Yahshim, Banu Lam, Banu Khaghan, Banu Sa’id, and many others from the tribes of Ottoman Iraq.

The British agent, quoting one of the Ajman sheikhs who fled the battle to save his life, stated that Saadoun had four thousand cavalrymen, stronger and more numerous than the horsemen of Ibn Al-Sabah and Ibn Saud.

The Ajman witness added that the Kuwaiti–Saudi campaign could have ended in total destruction and annihilation were it not for Abdulaziz’s skill in warfare, and for the leniency of the Al-Muntafiq forces toward prisoners — as Saadoun Al-Mansur Al-Saadoun ordered his men to strip the captured Saudis and Kuwaitis of their weapons and equipment, then let them go free.” ^[8] Alaa Al-Lami stated in his book “Counter Texts”:

“It is certain that the Iraqi victory in the Battle of Jraibiyat firmly established Iraq’s southern and southwestern borders in the face of British ambitions.” ^[9]

See also

• Wahhabi raids on Najaf
• List of wars involving Kuwait
• List of wars involving Saudi Arabia
• List of wars involving Iraq

References

1. EL-Azhary, M. (2012-05-23). نصوص مضادة: دفاعاً عن العراق-الشعب، الوطن والهوية. Routledge. p. 32. ISBN   978-1-136-84175-0.
2. حسين خلف الشيخ خزعل ، تاريخ الكويت السياسي، الجزء الثاني ، ص232
3. علاء, لامي، (2000). "Counter Texts: In Defense of Iraq – The People, the Homeland, and the Identity". p. 62. Archived from the original on 2 May 2025.
4. "The Rashaidah Tribe – Part Two" (PDF).
5. "The Emirate of Al-Muntiq and its impact on the history of Iraq, Paul (1546-1918)".
6. Hussein Khalaf Al-Sheikh Khaz’al, The Political History of Kuwait, Beirut, 1962.
7. معركة هدية من موقع العبيكان Archived 2017-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
8. princes and invaders. دار الساقي،. 1988. p. 229.
9. Counter-Texts: In Defense of Iraq—The People, the Nation, and the Identity. دار الكنوز الأدبية. 2000. p. 63.