The Jehad

Heavy fighting in Morocco was last week reported by the French in the Jehad (holy war) declared by Abdel-el-Krim, "Sultan" of the Riffians (TIME, May 11, 18).

The Riffians had advanced along a hundred mile front to the River Vergha on the east. Concentrations at either end, which apparently were preparing for a converging offensive with Fez as their objective, were detected.

This evidently decided General Comte de Chambrum to send General Colombat forward to storm the heights of Bibane, midway along the front. The attack was launched with a suddenness that surprised the Riffians; and, in a magnificent action supported by the troops of Colonel Freydenberg, the heights were captured! For the time being, this strategy destroyed the enemy plans for flank offensives and the Riffians began to concentrate in the centre for a counter offensive.

The fighting is complicated (from the French point of view) by two factors. In the first place, the country is mountainous and extremely difficult to fight over; and, despite the fact that the French have had much experience of this type of warfare the advantage is with the Riffian who are natural mountain fighters.

More serious is the problem raised by the Spanish protectorate over a strip of northern Morocco. According to the Treaty of Madrid (1912; France recognized the right of Spain to administer a zone 200 mi. long and about 60 deep, running from the sea nearby to the Algerian border. In the present war, therefore, the French cannot advance, and airplanes must not fly over the Spanish zone. This, in turn, has meant that Abd-el-Krim's troops could attack at will, but, inside their own territory, could not be attacked. Naturally, such a situation placed the French at a great disadvantage.

To Madrid, however, Premier Paul Painleve sent Deputy Louis Malvy, onetime Minister of the Interior, banished from France for a species of malfeasance labeled as gross negligence in the performance of his official duties. While in exile, M. Malvy lived in Spain, where he made many friends. He was thus thought the most suitable person to undertake a mission to General Primo Rivera, head of the Spanish Military Directory, for the purpose of obtaining Spanish consent for, or cooperation in, a French advance into the Riff country with the object of subduing their mutual enemy, Abd-el-Krim.