Editing Arab Revolt (section)

== History ==
=== Revolt ===
{{Further|Middle Eastern theatre of World War I}}
The Ottoman Empire took part in the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I]], under the terms of the [[Ottoman–German Alliance]].  Many Arab nationalist figures in [[Damascus]] and [[Beirut]] were arrested, then tortured. The flag of the resistance was designed by Sir [[Mark Sykes]], in an effort to create a feeling of "Arab-ness", in order to fuel the revolt.<ref>William Easterly, ''The White Man's Burden'', (2006) p. 295</ref>

==== Prelude (November 1914 – October 1916) ====
[[File:HejOut.svg|thumb|Outline map of Hejaz]]
[[File:1918 British Government Map illustrating Territorial Negotiations between H.M.G. and King Hussein.png|thumb|1918 British government map: ''Map illustrating Territorial Negotiations between H.M.G. and King Hussein.'']]

When [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Herbert Kitchener]] was Consul-General in [[Sultanate of Egypt|Egypt]], contacts between [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]] and Kitchener culminated in a [[Telegraphy|telegram]] of 1 November 1914 from Kitchener, recently appointed as Secretary of War, to Hussein, wherein Britain would, in exchange for support from the Arabs of Hejaz, "guarantee the independence, rights and privileges of the [[Sharifate of Mecca|Sharifate]] against all foreign external aggression, in particular that of the Ottomans."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Turning Point of Turkish Arab Relations:A Case Study on the Hijaz Revolt|first1=Nuri|last1=Yesilyurt|journal=The Turkish Yearbook|volume=XXXVII|date=2006|pages=107–108|url=http://acikarsiv.ankara.edu.tr/browse/3940/3104.pdf|access-date=8 July 2017|archive-date=12 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012050258/http://acikarsiv.ankara.edu.tr/browse/3940/3104.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Sharif of Mecca|Sharif]] indicated that he could not break with the Ottomans immediately, and it did not happen till the following year.<ref name="auto">Murphy, p. 8.</ref>

From 14 July 1915, to 10 March 1916, [[McMahon–Hussein Correspondence|ten letters, five from each side, were exchanged between Sir Henry McMahon and Sherif Hussein]]. Hussein's letter of 18 February 1916 appealed to McMahon for £50,000 in gold, plus weapons, ammunition, and food. Faisal claimed that he was awaiting the arrival of 'not less than 100,000 people' for the planned revolt. McMahon's reply of 10 March 1916 confirmed British agreement to the requests and concluded the correspondence.<ref name="auto"/>

Hussein, who until then had officially been on the Ottoman side, was now convinced that his assistance to the [[Triple Entente]] would be rewarded by an Arab empire, encompassing the entire span between Egypt and [[Qajar Iran]], with the exception of imperial possessions and interests in [[Kuwait]], [[Aden Protectorate|Aden]], and the [[Syria]]n coast. He decided to join the [[Allies of World War I|Allied camp]] immediately, because of rumours that he would soon be deposed as Sharif of [[Mecca]] by the Ottoman government in favor of [[ʿAlī Ḥaydar Pāshā|Sharif Ali Haidar]], leader of the rival Zaʻid family.<ref name="auto"/> The much-publicized executions of the [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] leaders in [[Damascus]] led Hussein to fear for his life if he were deposed in favour of Ali Haidar.<ref name="Murphy, David page 34"/>

Hussein had about 50,000 men under arms, but fewer than 10,000 had rifles.<ref name="proceedings">Parnell, p. 75</ref> On 5 June 1916, two of Hussein's sons, the emirs [[Ali of Hejaz|ʻAli]] and [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal]], began the revolt by attacking the Ottoman garrison in [[Medina]], but were defeated by an aggressive Turkish defence, led by Fakhri Pasha.<ref>Murphy, pp. 34–35.</ref> The revolt proper began on 10 June 1916, when Hussein ordered his supporters to attack the Ottoman garrison in Mecca.<ref>Murphy, pp. 33–34.</ref> In the [[Battle of Mecca (1916)|Battle of Mecca]], there ensued over a month of bloody street fighting between the out-numbered, but far better armed Ottoman troops and Hussein's tribesmen.<ref name="Murphy, David page 34"/> Hashemite forces in Mecca were joined by Egyptian troops sent by the British, who provided much needed artillery support, and took Mecca on 9 July 1916.<ref name="Murphy, David page 34"/>

Indiscriminate Ottoman artillery fire, which did much damage to Mecca, turned out to be a potent propaganda weapon for the Hashemites, who portrayed the Ottomans as desecrating Islam's most holy city.<ref name="Murphy, David page 34"/> Also on 10 June, another of Hussein's sons, the Emir [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]], attacked [[Ta'if]], which after an initial repulse, settled down into a siege.<ref name="Murphy, David page 34"/> With the Egyptian artillery support, Abdullah took Ta'if on 22 September 1916.<ref name="Murphy, David page 34"/>

French and British naval forces cleared the [[Red Sea]] of Ottoman gunboats early in the war.<ref name="p76">Parnell, p. 76</ref> The port of [[Jeddah]] was attacked by 3,500 Arabs on 10 June 1916 with the assistance of bombardment by British warships and seaplanes.<ref name="proceedings"/> The seaplane carrier {{HMS|Ben-my-Chree||6}}, provided crucial air support to the Hashemite forces.<ref name="Murphy, David page 35">Murphy, p. 35.</ref> The Ottoman garrison surrendered on 16 June.<ref name="proceedings"/> By the end of September 1916, the Sharifian Army had taken the coastal cities of [[Rabigh]], [[Yanbu]], [[al Qunfudhah]], and 6,000 Ottoman prisoners with the assistance of the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name="proceedings"/>

The capture of the [[Red Sea]] ports allowed the British to send over a force of 700 Ottoman Arab POWs, who primarily came from what is now Iraq, who had decided to join the revolt led by [[Nuri al-Said|Nuri al-Saʻid]] and a number of Muslim troops from [[French North Africa]].<ref name="Murphy, David page 35"/> Fifteen thousand well-armed Ottoman troops remained in the Hejaz.<ref name="proceedings"/> A direct attack on Medina in October resulted in a bloody repulse of the Arab forces.

==== Arrival of T. E. Lawrence (October 1916 – January 1917) ====
[[File:Ljidda.jpg|thumb|upright|Lawrence at [[Rabegh]], north of [[Jeddah]], 1917.]]

In June 1916, the British sent out a number of officials to assist the revolt in the [[Hejaz]], most notably Colonel [[Cyril Black|Cyril Wilson]], Colonel Pierce C. Joyce, and Lt-Colonel [[S. F. Newcombe|Stewart Francis Newcombe]].<ref name="Murphy, David page 17">Murphy, p. 17.</ref> [[Herbert Garland]] was also involved. In addition, a [[French Third Republic|French]] military mission commanded by Colonel [[Édouard Brémond]] was sent out.<ref name="Murphy, David page 17"/> The French enjoyed an advantage over the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] in that they included a number of Muslim officers, such as Captain Muhammand Ould Ali Raho, Claude Prost, and Laurent Depui. The latter two converted to [[Islam]] during their time in [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]].<ref name="Murphy, David page 17"/> Captain [[Rosario Pisani]] of the [[French Army in World War I|French Army]], though not a Muslim, played a notable role in the revolt as an engineering and artillery officer with the Arab Northern Army.<ref name="Murphy, David page 17"/>

The [[Sultanate of Egypt|British government in Egypt]] sent a young officer, Captain [[T. E. Lawrence]], to work with the Hashemite forces in the Hejaz in October 1916.<ref name="p76"/> Lawrence arrived in [[Jeddah]] together with Ronald Sorrs, Secretary for the Orient at the [[Cairo]] Residency and Sir [[Henry McMahon]]'s trusted aide in the delicate negotiations with [[Sharif]] [[Hussein]]. During 1916 the rebellion hadn't gone according to the wishes of [[Sharif]] [[Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz|Hussein bin Ali]]. It had come to a standstill, which in the case of an irregular war is always the beginning of the end. Lawrence suspected that what was missing was the right leadership. The main purpose of Lawrence's visit was to find the man who could become the soul of the rebellion and lead to the goal, Lawrence had set. After traveling a long distance by camel to meet with various leaders of the rebellion, Lawrence concluded that [[Faisal I of Iraq|Feisal]], Hussein's third son, was the right candidate. The Arab rebels in Jeddah suffered from a severe shortage of weapons and lack of ammunition; no machine guns and only 2 cannons. The weapons they had were very outdated compared to the weapons of the Ottoman army. Lawrence judged that there was potential for success for the rebels in the war against the Ottomans if the British equipped them with more modern weapons, a few specialists in these weapons and cooperated with Feisal. Lawrence traveled to Cairo and submitted a long report to his superior and to General [[Reginald Wingate]].<ref>T E Lawrence: Revolt in the Dessert</ref> The British historian David Murphy wrote that though Lawrence was just one out of many British and French officers serving in Arabia, historians often write as though it was Lawrence alone who represented the [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] cause in Arabia.<ref name="Murphy, David page 17"/>

David Hogarth credited [[Gertrude Bell]] for much of the success of the Arab Revolt. She had travelled extensively in the [[Middle East]] since 1888, after graduating from [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] with a First in Modern History. Bell met Sheikh Harb of the [[Howeitat]] in January 1914 and thus was able to provide a "mass of information" which was crucial to the success of [[Battle of Aqaba|Lawrence's occupation of Aqaba]], covering the "tribal elements ranging between the [[Hejaz railway|Hejaz Railway]] and the [[An Nafud|Nefud]], particularly about the Howeitat group." It was this information, Hogarth emphasized, which "Lawrence, relying on her reports, made signal use of in the Arab campaigns of 1917 and 1918."<ref>Janet Wallach (1997) ''Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia''. London: Phoenix/Orion Books Ltd. {{ISBN|1400096197}}. pp. 25, 115–118, 202.</ref>

[[File:Lcamel.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lawrence of Arabia]] after the [[Battle of Aqaba]].]]

Lawrence obtained assistance from the [[Royal Navy]] to turn back an Ottoman attack on [[Yanbu|Yenbu]] in December 1916.<ref name="p78">Parnell, p. 78</ref>  Lawrence's major contribution to the revolt was convincing the Arab leaders, [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal]] and [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]], to co-ordinate their actions in support of British strategy. Lawrence developed a close relationship with Faisal, whose Arab Northern Army was to become the main beneficiary of British aid.<ref name="Murphy, David page 36">Murphy, p. 36.</ref> By contrast, Lawrence's relations with Abdullah were not good, so Abdullah's Arab Eastern Army received considerably less in way of British aid.<ref>Murphy, p. 13.</ref> Lawrence persuaded the Arabs not to drive the Ottomans out of [[Medina]]. Instead, the Arabs attacked the Hejaz railway on many occasions. This tied up more Ottoman troops, who were forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage.<ref name="TE">{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=T.E. |title=Seven Pillars of Wisdom |url=https://archive.org/details/sevenpillarsofwi00lawr |url-access=registration |date=1935 |publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. |location=Garden City |page=[https://archive.org/details/sevenpillarsofwi00lawr/page/216 216]}}</ref>

On 1 December 1916, Fakhri Pasha began an offensive with three brigades out of [[Medina]], with the aim of taking the port of [[Yanbu]].<ref name="Murphy, David page 36"/> At first, Fakhri's troops defeated the Hashemite forces in several engagements, and seemed set to take Yanbu.<ref name="Murphy, David page 37">Murphy, p. 37.</ref> On 11–12 December 1916, it was fire and air support from the five ships of the Royal Navy Red Sea Patrol that defeated the Ottoman attempts to take Yanbu, with heavy losses.<ref name="Murphy, David page 37"/> Fakhri then turned his forces south to take [[Rabigh|Rabegh]], but owing to the guerrilla attacks on his flanks and supply lines, air attacks from the newly established Royal Flying Corps base at Yanbu, and the over-extension of his supply lines, he was forced to turn back on 18 January 1917, to Medina.<ref name="Murphy, David page 38">Murphy, p. 38.</ref>

The coastal city of [[Al Wajh|Wejh]] was to be the base for attacks on the Hejaz railway.<ref name="p78"/> On 3 January 1917, Faisal began an advance northward along the [[Red Sea|Red Sea coast]] with 5,100 camel riders, 5,300 men on foot, four [[Krupp]] mountain guns, ten [[machine gun]]s, and 380 baggage camels.<ref name="p78"/> The Royal Navy resupplied Faisal from the sea during his march on Wejh.<ref name="p79">Parnell, p. 79</ref> While the 800-man Ottoman garrison prepared for an attack from the south, a landing party of 400 Arabs and 200 Royal Navy bluejackets [[Capture of Wejh|attacked Wejh from the north]] on 23 January 1917.<ref name="p79"/> Wejh surrendered within 36 hours, and the Ottomans abandoned their advance toward [[Mecca]] in favor of a defensive position in Medina, with small detachments scattered along the Hejaz railway.<ref name="p80">Parnell, p. 80</ref>

The Arab force had increased to about 70,000 men, armed with 28,000 rifles and deployed in three main groups.<ref name="p80"/> Ali's force threatened Medina, Abdullah operated from Wadi Ais harassing Ottoman communications and capturing their supplies, and Faisal based his force at Wejh.<ref name="p80"/> Camel-mounted Arab raiding parties had an effective radius of 1,000 miles (1,600&nbsp;km), carrying their own food and taking water from a system of wells approximately 100 miles (160&nbsp;km) apart.<ref name="p81">Parnell, p. 81</ref>

In late 1916, the Allies started the formation of the Regular Arab Army, also known as the [[Sharifian Army]], raised from Ottoman Arab POWs.<ref name="Murphy, David page 17"/> The soldiers of the Regular Army wore British-style uniforms with the ''keffiyahs'' and, unlike the tribal guerrillas, fought full-time and in conventional battles.<ref name="Murphy, David page 23"/> Some of the more notable former Ottoman officers to fight in the Revolt were [[Nuri al-Said|Nuri as-Said]], [[Ja'far al-Askari]] and [[Aziz Ali al-Misri|'Aziz 'Ali al-Misri]].<ref>Murphy, pp. 14–15.</ref>

==== Northward expeditions (January–November 1917) ====
[[File:Ferrocarril del hiyaz EN.PNG|thumb|The [[Hejaz railway]], on the Damascus-Mecca pilgrim route, built at great expense by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. It quickly fell into disrepair after the Arab revolt of 1917.]]

The year 1917 began well for the Hashemites, when the Emir Abdullah and his Arab Eastern Army ambushed an Ottoman convoy led by Ashraf Bey in the desert, and captured £20,000 worth of gold coins that were intended to bribe the [[Bedouin]] into loyalty to the [[List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|Sultan]].<ref>Murphy, p. 38</ref> Starting in early 1917, the Hashemite guerrillas began attacking the Hejaz railway.<ref name="Murphy, David pages 39-43">Murphy, pp. 39–43.</ref> At first, guerrilla forces commanded by officers from the Regular Army such as al-Misri, and by British officers such as Newcombe, Lieutenant Hornby and Major [[Herbert Garland]] focused their efforts on blowing up unguarded sections of the Hejaz railway.<ref name="Murphy, David pages 39-43"/> Garland was the inventor of the so-called "Garland mine", which was used with much destructive force on the Hejaz railway.<ref name="Murphy, David page 43">Murphy, p. 43.</ref>

In February 1917, Garland succeeded for the first time in destroying a moving locomotive with a mine of his own design.<ref name="Murphy, David page 43"/> In February 1917, around [[Medina]], Captain Muhammad Ould Ali Raho of the French Military Mission carried out his first railway demolition attack.<ref name="Murphy, David pages 43-44">Murphy, pp. 43–44.</ref> Captain Raho emerged as one of the leading destroyers of the Hejaz railway.<ref name="Murphy, David pages 43-44"/> In March 1917, Lawrence led his first attack on the Hejaz railway.<ref name="Murphy, David page 44">Murphy, p. 44.</ref> Typical of such attacks was the one commanded by Newcombe and Joyce, who on the night of 6/7 July 1917, planted over 500 charges on the Hejaz railway, which all went off at about 2&nbsp;am.<ref name="Murphy, David page 44"/> In a raid in August 1917, Captain Raho led a force of Bedouin in destroying 5 kilometers of the Hejaz railway and four bridges.<ref>Murphy, p. 45.</ref>

In March 1917, an Ottoman force joined by tribesmen from [[Jabal Shammar]] led by [[Ibn Rashid]] carried out a sweep of the Hejaz, that did much damage to the Hashemite forces.<ref name="Murphy, David page 38"/> However, the Ottoman failure to take [[Yanbu]] in December 1916 led to the increased strengthening of the Hashemite forces, and led to the Ottoman forces to go on the defensive.<ref name="Murphy, David page 38"/> Lawrence later claimed that the failure of the offensive against Yanbu was the turning point that ensured the ultimate defeat of the Ottomans in the [[Hejaz]].<ref name="Murphy, David page 37"/>

In 1917, Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces under [[Auda Abu Tayi]], until then, in the employ of the Ottomans, against the port city of [[Aqaba]]. This is now known as the [[Battle of Aqaba]]. Aqaba was the only remaining Ottoman port on the [[Red Sea]] and threatened the right flank of [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]]'s [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]] defending [[Sultanate of Egypt|Egypt]], and preparing to advance into [[Sanjak]] Maan of the [[Syria Vilayet]].<ref name="p81"/>  Capture of Aqaba would aid transfer of British supplies to the Arab revolt.<ref name="p82">Parnell, p. 82</ref> Lawrence and Auda left Wedj on 9 May 1917 with a party of 40 men, to recruit a mobile force from the [[Howeitat]], a tribe located in the area. On 6 July, after an overland attack, [[Battle of Aqaba|Aqaba fell to those Arab forces]] with only a handful of casualties.<ref name="p82"/>

Lawrence then rode 150 miles to [[Suez]] to arrange Royal Navy delivery of food and supplies for the 2,500 Arabs and 700 Ottoman prisoners in Aqaba. Soon the city was co-occupied by a large Anglo-French flotilla, including warships and sea planes, which helped the Arabs secure their hold on Aqaba.<ref name="p82"/> Even as the Hashemite armies advanced, they still encountered sometimes fierce opposition from local residents. In July 1917, residents of the town of Karak fought against the Hashemite forces and turned them back. Later in 1917, British intelligence reports suggested that most of the tribes in the region east of the [[Jordan River]] were "firmly in the Ottoman camp."<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Arabs: A History|last = Rogan|first = Eugene|publisher = Penguin|year = 2011|pages = 152}}</ref> The tribes feared repressions and losing the money they had received from the Ottomans for their loyalty.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMAbXGQDmDYC&pg=PA233|title=Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850–1921|access-date=1 June 2017|date=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=233|author=Rogan Eugene|isbn=9780521892230}}</ref>

Later in 1917, the Hashemite warriors made a series of small raids on Ottoman positions in support of [[Edmund Allenby|British General Allenby]]'s winter attack on the [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]]–[[Beersheba|Bersheeba]] defensive line, which led to the [[Battle of Beersheba (1917)|Battle of Beersheba]].<ref name="p83">Parnell, p. 83</ref> Typical of such raids was one led by Lawrence in September 1917, that saw Lawrence destroy a Turkish rail convoy by blowing up the bridge it was crossing at [[Mudawwara]] and then ambushing the Turkish repair party.<ref>Murphy, pp. 56–57.</ref> In November 1917, as aid to Allenby's offensive, Lawrence launched a deep-raiding party into the [[Yarmouk River]] valley, which failed to destroy the railway bridge at [[Tell Shihab|Tel ash-Shehab]], but succeeded in ambushing and destroying the train of General Mehmed Cemal Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman VII Corps.<ref>Murphy, pp. 57–59.</ref> Allenby's victories led directly to the British capture of [[Jerusalem]] just before Christmas 1917.

==== Increased Allied assistance and the end of fighting (November 1917– October 1918) ====
[[File:Arab fighters akaba.png|thumb|Arab fighters in Aqaba on 28 February 1918. [[Autochrome]] colour photograph.]]
By the time of [[Aqaba]]'s capture, many other officers joined Faisal's campaign. A large number of British officers and advisors, led by Lt. Col.s [[S.F. Newcombe|Stewart F. Newcombe]] and Cyril E. Wilson, arrived to provide the Arabs rifles, explosives, mortars, and machine guns.<ref name="Murphy, David page 59">Murphy, p. 59.</ref> Artillery was only sporadically supplied due to a general shortage, though Faisal would have several batteries of mountain guns under French Captain Pisani and his Algerians for the Megiddo Campaign.<ref name="Murphy, David page 59"/> Egyptian and Indian troops also served with the Revolt, primarily as machine gunners and specialist troops, a number of [[Rolls-Royce Armoured Car|armoured cars]] were allocated for use.<ref name="Murphy, David page 59"/><ref>Rolls S.C. (1937). ''Steel Chariots in the Desert''. Leonaur Books.</ref> The [[Royal Flying Corps]] often supported the Arab operations, and the [[Imperial Camel Corps]] served with the Arabs for a time.<ref>Murphy, pp. 59–60.</ref>

The French military mission of 1,100 officers under Brémond established good relations with Hussein and especially with his sons, the Emirs [[Ali of Hejaz|Ali]] and [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]], and for this reason, most of the French effort went into assisting the Arab Southern Army commanded by the Emir Ali that was laying [[Siege of Medina|siege to Medina]] and the Eastern Army commanded by Abdullah that had the responsibility of protecting Ali's eastern flank from Ibn Rashid.<ref name="Murphy, David page 17"/> Medina was never taken by the Hashemite forces, and the Ottoman commander, Fakhri Pasha, only surrendered [[Medina]] when ordered to by the [[Government of Turkey|Turkish government]] on 9 January 1919.<ref name="Murphy, David page 81">Murphy, p. 81.</ref> The total number of Ottoman troops bottled up in Medina by the time of the surrender were 456 officers and 9,364 soldiers.<ref name="Murphy, David page 81"/>

Under the direction of Lawrence, Wilson, and other officers, the Arabs launched a highly successful campaign against the Hejaz railway, capturing military supplies, destroying trains and tracks, and tying down thousands of Ottoman troops.<ref>Murphy, pp. 39–46.</ref> Though the attacks were mixed in success, they achieved their primary goal of tying down Ottoman troops and cutting off Medina. In January 1918, in one of the largest set-piece battles of the Revolt, Arab forces, including Lawrence, defeated a large Ottoman force at the Battle of Tafilah, inflicting over 1,000 Ottoman casualties for the loss of a mere forty men.<ref>Murphy, pp. 64–68.</ref>

In March 1918 the Arab Northern Army consisted of
:Arab Regular Army commanded by Ja'far Pasha el Askeri
::brigade of infantry
::one battalion Camel Corps
::one battalion mule-mounted infantry
::about eight guns
:British Section commanded by Lieutenant Colonel P. C. Joyce
::Hejaz Armoured Car Battery of Rolls-Royce light armoured cars with machine guns and two 10-pdr guns on Talbot lorries
::one Flight of aircraft
::one Company Egyptian Camel Corps
::[[Egyptian Camel Transport Corps]]
::Egyptian Labour Corps
::Wireless Station at 'Aqaba
:French Detachment commanded by Captain Pisani
::two mountain guns
::four machine guns and 10 automatic rifles<ref>Falls, p. 405</ref>

In April 1918, [[Ja'far al-Askari]] and [[Nuri al-Said|Nuri as-Said]] led the Arab Regular Army in a frontal attack on the well-defended Ottoman railway station at [[Ma'an]], which after some initial successes was fought off with heavy losses to both sides.<ref>Murphy, pp. 68–73.</ref> However, the Sharifian Army succeeded in cutting off and thus neutralizing the Ottoman position at Ma'an, who held out until late September 1918.<ref name="Murphy, David page 73">Murphy, p. 73.</ref> The British refused several requests from al-Askari to use mustard gas on the Ottoman garrison at Ma'an.<ref name="Murphy, David page 73"/>

In the spring of 1918, Operation Hedgehog, a concerted attempt to sever and destroy the Hejaz railway, was launched.<ref>Murphy, pp. 73–74.</ref> In May 1918, Hedgehog led to the destruction of 25 bridges of the Hejaz railway.<ref>Murphy, p. 74</ref> On 11 May Arab regulars captured Jerdun and 140 prisoners. Five weeks later, on 24 July Nos. 5 and 7 Companies of the [[Imperial Camel Corps Brigade]] commanded by Major [[Robert Vere Buxton|R. V. Buxton]], marched from the [[Suez Canal]] to arrive at Aqaba on 30 July, to attack the [[Mudawwara]] Station.<ref name="Falls408">Falls, p. 408</ref>

A particularly notable attack of Hedgehog was the storming on 8 August 1918, by the [[Imperial Camel Corps]], closely supported by the [[Royal Air Force]], of the well-defended Hejaz railway station at Mudawwara.<ref>Murphy, pp. 70–72, 75.</ref> They captured 120 prisoners and two guns, suffering 17 casualties in the operation. Buxton's two companies of Imperial Camel Corps Brigade continued on towards [[Amman]], where they hoped to destroy the main bridge. {{convert|20|mi|km}} from the city they were attacked by aircraft, forcing them to withdraw eventually back to [[Beersheba]] where they arrived on 6 September; a march of {{convert|700|mi|km}} in 44 days.<ref name="Falls408"/>

For the final Allied offensive intended to knock the [[Ottoman Empire]] out of the war, Allenby asked that Emir Faisal and his Arab Northern Army launch a series of attacks on the main Turkish forces from the east, which was intended to both tie down Ottoman troops and force Turkish commanders to worry about their security of their flanks in the [[Levant]].<ref>Murphy, pp. 75–76.</ref> Supporting the Emir Faisal's army of about 450 men from the Arab Regular Army were tribal contingents from the [[Ruwallah|Rwalla]], [[Bani Sakher|Bani Sakhr]], [[Agalloch|Agyal]], and Howeitat tribes.<ref>Murphy, p. 75.</ref> In addition, Faisal had a group of [[Gurkha]] troops, several British armored car squadrons, the Egyptian Camel Corps, a group of Algerian artillery men commanded by Captain Pisani and air support from the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] to assist him.<ref>Murphy, p. 76.</ref>

[[File:FeisalPartyAtVersaillesCopy.jpg|thumb|Feisal party at [[Versailles Conference]]. Left to right: [[Rustum Haidar]], [[Nuri as-Said]], Prince Faisal (front), [[Rosario Pisani|Captain Rosario Pisani (rear)]], T. E. Lawrence, Faisal's slave (name unknown), Captain Hassan Khadri.]]
In 1918, the Arab cavalry gained in strength, as it seemed victory was at hand, and they were able to provide Allenby's army with intelligence on Ottoman army positions. They harassed Ottoman supply columns, attacked small garrisons, and destroyed railway tracks. A major victory occurred on 27 September when an entire brigade of Ottoman, Austrian and German troops, retreating from [[Muzayrib|Mezerib]], was virtually wiped out in a battle with Arab forces near the village of [[Tafas]], which the Turks had plundered during their retreat.<ref name="Murphy, David pages 76-77">Murphy, pp. 76–77.</ref>

This led to the so-called [[Tafas massacre]], in which Lawrence claimed in a letter to his brother to have issued a "no-prisoners" order, maintaining after the war that massacre was in retaliation for the earlier Ottoman massacre of the village of Tafas, and that he had at least 250 German and Austrian POWs together with an uncounted number of Turks lined up to be summarily shot.<ref name="Murphy, David pages 76-77"/> Lawrence later wrote in ''[[Seven Pillars of Wisdom]]'' that "In a madness born of the horror of Tafas we killed and killed, even blowing in the heads of the fallen and of the animals; as though their death and running blood could slake our agony."<ref>Murphy, p. 77.</ref> In part due to these attacks, Allenby's last offensive, the [[Battle of Megiddo (1918)|Battle of Megiddo]], was a stunning success.<ref>Murphy, pp. 77–79.</ref>

By late September and October 1918, an increasingly demoralized Ottoman Army began to retreat and surrender whenever possible to British troops.<ref>Murphy, p. 79.</ref> "Sherifial irregulars" accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel T. E. Lawrence captured [[Daraa|Deraa]] on 27 September 1918.<ref>Falls, pp. 582–3</ref> The Ottoman army was routed in less than 10 days of battle. Allenby praised Faisal for his role in the victory: "I send your Highness my greetings and my most cordial congratulations upon the great achievement of your gallant troops&nbsp;... Thanks to our combined efforts, the Ottoman army is everywhere in full retreat."<ref>Jeremy Wilson (1989) ''[[Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T. E. Lawrence]]''. William Heinemann. {{ISBN|978-0-434-87235-0}}. p. 548</ref>

{{main|Battle of Aleppo (1918)}}
The first Arab Revolt forces to reach [[Damascus]] were Sharif Naser's Hashemite camel cavalry and the cavalry of the Ruwallah tribe, led by [[Nuri bin Hazaa Al Shalaan|Nuri Sha'lan]], on 30 September 1918. The bulk of these troops remained outside of the city with the intention of awaiting the arrival of Sharif Faisal. A small contingent from the group was sent within the walls of the city, where they found the Arab Revolt flag already raised by surviving Arab nationalists among the citizenry. Later that day [[Australian Light Horse#World War 1|Australian Light Horse]] troops marched into Damascus. Auda Abu Ta'yi, T. E. Lawrence and Arab troops rode into Damascus the next day, 1 October. At the end of the war, the [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]] had seized [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]], [[Lebanon]], large parts of the [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabian peninsula]] and [[southern Syria]]. Medina, cut off from the rest of the Ottoman Empire, surrendered in January 1919.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Antonius |first1=George |title=The Arab Awakening: The Story of the Arab National Movement |date=1939 |publisher=Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott |page=238 |url=https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_isl_arab-awakening_DS636A461939-16015 |access-date=29 November 2023}}</ref>