The tribal unrest in Mesopotamia is spreading. North
of Baghdad the Tigris railway and the Dials line, towards Persia, have been broken by small bands. Bakuba, in the Diala valley, has been reoccupied. To the south of Baghdad there has been some more sharp skirmishing near Hillah. Farther down the Euphrates, near Samawa, insurgents are gathering. On the Shatt el Hai, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, the Muntafik tribe is being incited to join in a " holy war." The insurgents are relatively few in numbers, but they impose a great strain on the small British and Indian forces which have to maintain long lines of communication, especially in the summer heat of Mesopotamia. Sir Percy Cox left England last week to assume the post of High Commissioner at Baghdad. It was officially announced that Sir Percy Cox would set up " an independent State to be governed in accordance with the wishes of the people." Colonel Lawrence, in Monday's Daily Mail, explained the disaffection as follows : " We promised Mesopotamian/ an Arab Government advised by British and we set up a British Government advised by Arabs." He
thought that if Sir Percy Cox had gone out in the spring there would have been no trouble.
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