The fall of the kingdom of the Hejaz and the Hejaz under Saudi rule

07The fall of the kingdom of the Hejaz and the Hejaz under Saudi rule

• After the Sharif's forces had succeeded in overturning Ottoman rule in Syria to proclaim the great Arab state, he faced heavy military pressure from Abdel Aziz al-Saud.
• Abdel Aziz destroyed the Sharif's forces in the first clash at Turbah (1919) and pursued his expansion, dealing the final blow to the House of Rashid and annexing Hail (1921).
• He then took Taif (1924) and the cities of the Hejaz fell one after another, until the Sharif was obliged to leave the Hejaz, which Abdel Aziz annexed and gave himself the title of King of the Hejaz and Sultan of Najd and its dependencies (January 1926).
• He next looked to settle the dispute over Asir, which was under the rule of the House of Idris (the Idrisis), while Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din worked to control it against the Al-Saud, who regarded it as part of the Saudi state.
• Attempts at a settlement between the Saudi and Yemeni sides failed, war broke out between them, and Abdel Aziz won; Asir became part of the Saudi state under the Saudi–Yemeni treaty of Taif of 1934.