Jehad

The sudden war which Abd-el-Krim, the Riff "Sultan," recently declared on the French (TIME, May 11) went badly for the Riffians. Each day brought them defeat, casualties, while the same days brought victories and no losses to the defending French troops.

After a week of this kind of thing, the truth, naked and unabashed, came out in the open: the Riffians had captured a number of blockhouses in the French zone; the French, although their losses were light, had suffered casualties. Marshal Lyautey, French Resident General in Morocco, telegraphed to Paris, asked for more troops.

The war, which Abd-el-Krim was trying to make a jehad, or holy war, of all the Muhammadans in Morocco, was thought likely to last for some months; and no counterattack by the French was anticipated until the arrival of 30,000 reinforcements from Marseilles, which would bring up the French Army to about 100,000 men.