- 17 - Baghdad, which was around 24,000. As to Basra, Karim Khan decided to withdraw the troops from there since its occupation had rendered no benefits. It was also clear that he would order its destruction.(7) Let’s at this point leave the Ottomans and the Persians to their plans and wars, and go to the entrance of the Gulf, to follow on what was happening there. Sheikh Abdullah al-Ma‘ini departed from Hurmuz in early July 1777, with four armed Jalboats and other smaller ones, to intercept the ships coming from Muscat. At the time, those ships belonged to Bushehr. This forced Sheikh Saadun bin Madhkour, the deputy of Sheikh Nasser of Bushehr, to head with two Bushehr ships and two others belonging to Banda Rig, to the entrance of the Gulf to provide protection to the Bushehr ships coming from Muscat on their way back to Bushehr. Sheikh Saadun’s ships and those of Banda Rig did not encounter the ships of Sheikh Abdullah al-Ma‘ini. However, they managed to free a number of boats that had been seized at a port near Ras al-Khaimah. They
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