- 3 - At the same time Mohammed bin Abdullah al Salmi, a former Sultanate Qadhi and supporter of the Imam, who had fled with Salih, appeared quite openly on the Batinah coast and wrote to the Sultan saying that he had come to collect his family before going to stay in Kuwait. As soon as he reached the Sharqiyah, however, it became apparent that he had brought funds and a few men to help Ibrahim, who was already with his tribe. Shaikh Ahmed appealed to the Sultan for the return of the regular troops which had recently been withdrawn, but received the chilling reply that he had ample means fordealing with the situation himself and if he was fit to beShaikh he now had the opportunity to prove it.5. During this period, Cairo Radio increased the wildnessof its stories about British repression in Oman, and broadcast fantastic stories of airborne Egyptian and Saudi invasions and of armoured columns crossing the Rub' al Khali. These stories fortunately rebounded on the Egyptians' own heads, because they were either obviously ridiculous, or were rapidly exposed as false. Consequently, when they reported further incidents in Oman which had a foundation of truth, they were not believed.6. When eventually the Sultan was satisfied that Ibrahimhad gathered a force at the village of Dahir in the easternSharqiyah and that there was no trouble elsewhere, heordered a strong company of his regular forces, with artillery and mortar support, to move into the area, and instructed Shaikh Ahmed to assemble a tribal force. In the course of discovering Ibrahim's intentions and location, Shaikh Ahmed's car was fired on by the dissidents. This was the first overt defiance of the Sultan's authority. 7. The Sultan asked for the assistance of the Royal Air Force; Sir Bernard Burrows informed you of this in his /telegram
