Battle of Al Wajbah

Battle of Al Wajbah
Date March 1893 Location Al Wajbah Fort Result Qatari Victory Relinquishment of Qatari captives Eventual independence of Qatar from the Ottoman Empire
Belligerents
Qatar	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani	Mehmed Hafiz Pasha Yusuf Effendi
Strength
Between 3,000 and 4,000[1]	Between 200[1] and 300[2]
Casualties and losses
400 killed (including civilians)[3]	Between 11[3] and 117[4] killed

The Battle of Al Wajbah was an armed conflict that took place in March 1893 in Qatar, a province of the Ottoman Empire's Najd sanjak at that time. The conflict was initiated after Ottoman officials imprisoned 16 Qatari tribal leaders and ordered a column of troops to march toward the Al Thani stronghold in the village of Al Wajbah in response to kaymakam Jassim Al Thani's refusal to submit to Ottoman authority.^[5]

The main battle took place in Al Wajbah Fort. After the Ottomans' unsuccessful attempt at seizing the fort, they retreated first to Shebaka Fort, and then to their fort in Al Bidda. Shortly after, Al Thani's troop besieged the fortress and cut off the water supply of the neighborhood, resulting in the concession of defeat by the Ottomans. An agreement followed to relinquish the Qatari captives in return for the safe passage of Mehmed Pasha's cavalry to Hofuf by land.^[3]

Although Qatar did not gain full independence from the Ottoman Empire, the result of the battle is seen by Qatar as a defining moment in the establishment of Qatar as a modern state.^[6]