Battle of Jabal Shada

Battle of Jabal Shada
Part of Idrisid–Mutawakillite war
Date January 1926 (three days) Location Shada mountain , East of Emirate of Asir Result Idrisid victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Yemen	Emirate of Asir
Commanders and leaders
Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din Al-Awami † Humaydah †	Al-Hasan bin Ali al-Idrisi Hussein Mustafa Effendi Suleiman bin Ghulfan
Casualties and losses
+135 killed	7 killed

Battle of Jabal Shada (Arabic: معركة جبل شدا) is one of the battles of the Idrisid-Mutawakkilian War in which the Mutawakkilian forces, who launched an attack on the eastern mountains of the Idrisid Emirate of Asir, were defeated. The Mutawakkilian forces occupied the Idrisid Jabal Shada center. Then the Idrisid forces and the tribes loyal to the Idrisids attacked the Mutawakkilian soldiers. The fighting continued for three days, at which point the Mutawakkilian forces withdrew from the mountain as a result of the strong resistance from the followers of Idris. After that, the Mutawakkilian idea of controlling the eastern part of the Idrisid Emirate was canceled.

Battle details

The Mutawakkilite attack on the eastern part of the Emirate of Asir began from the direction of the lands of Munabbih from Khawlan, led by a man called (Al-Awami), and he took control of the village of Al-Dhay’ah, and its sheikh, Suleiman bin Ghulfan, fled with his group to the lands of Al-Harith to begin the resistance from there.

The Mutawakkilite army, emboldened by this easy victory, surged westward, capturing Jabal Shada, and then advanced towards the lands of al-Harith. During this period, the Idrisid dynasty was in a state of extreme weakness.

The tribes of Bani Al-Harith gathered under the leadership of Suleiman bin Ghalfan, and contacted the tribes of Al-Masarhah who responded to the call, and formed a joint delegation from Al-Harith, Al-Dhay’ah and Al-Masarhah, and headed with it to Imam Al-Hassan Al-Idrisi to present the situation and request support in terms of ammunition and provisions.

Al-Hasan Al-Idrisi agreed to the request, praised their stance and their readiness to defend their land, and appointed a leader named Hussein Mustafa Effendi to coordinate the defense plan. He provided them with the ammunition they needed and directed the southern tribes to general mobilization. Commander Hussein Effendi took a location called Al-Salab as the command center.

First Attack

The Mutawakkilite forces attacked the mountain on the first day, at which point the tribes launched an attack on the Mutawakkilite army, resulting in the death of twenty men from the Mutawakkilite forces and seven men from the Masarha and Bani al-Harith tribes loyal to al-Idrisi.

Second attack

The Mutawakkilite forces attacked the village of Al-Khubah again, specifically the Idrisid fortress. A skirmish took place between them and the Idrisid defenders, and the Mutawakkilite forces withdrew after losing 35 killed.

Third attack

On the third day, the Bani al-Harith tribes from the Idrisid side attacked the Mutawakkilite forces. The Idrisid forces were able to defeat the Mutawakkilite forces, which led to their withdrawal from Jabal Shada and Bilad al-Harith to their base in Jabal al-Nadhir after 80 men from the Mutawakkilite army were killed, including their field commander.

A few days later, another Mutawakkilite commander named Humaydah appeared and attacked the village of Qawa. Tribes loyal to the Idrisids then attacked the Mutawakkilite force, crushing it and inflicting heavy casualties, including their commander Humaydah.