There are welcome signs of peace in Mesopotamia. Now that
the summer heat is past and the army of occupation has been reinforced, General Haldane has quickly freed the isolated poets on the Euphrates. Samawa was relieved on Thursday week, after a sharp action with 3,000 tribesmen. On the same day another column further up the river reocoupled Kefi, and on Sunday it relieved Kuf a, which is near the well-known .Arab town of Najaf. It is still more important to note that the " provisional government " set up at Kerbela, the sacred city of the Shialts and the focus of the insurrection, has made its formal submission to the British authorities. The tribal chiefs in the Dials Valley, north-east of Baghdad, have also agreed to recognize a govern- ment established under the British mandate. These are good omens for the success of .Sir Percy Cox in setting up an Arab -administration -at an.-early date, inasmuchh-as the submission of Kerbela will have a great moral influence .on meat of the -tribes.
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