The Caliph of Djazlah - His Faction and His Forces

Flag of the Caliph of Al-Mhazdi, Protector of the Faithful and Servant of God

Al-Mhazdi is the puppet ruler of the French dominated colony. His main job is to keep the populace pacified and the French mines unmolested either by the remains of the Emir's forces, or the thick-necked Sahadi from the highlands.

The Caliph governs some 60% of the population, from the capital of Eamman Aljadida or New Amman. Most of his people live within 100km of the capital, where most of the arable land is, but some have established communities at the foothills of the highlands, and those communities have become bloody battlegrounds against the Sahadi insurgency.

The Caliph himself is a venal, corrupt man, given to flights of fancy, and a nasty appetite for silencing witnesses to his corrupt excesses. The French support his regime because he is easy to control through these pressure points, and he generally leaves the populace to their own devices, save when they are caught in the crossfire of the war.

Most of the government is underfunded, and many civil servants take the cue of their boss, and take whatever bribes are offered, mainly because it's a means to supplement their paltry salaries. In some cases, this motivates organizations like the police to shake down anyone they can get away with shaking down simply to further supplement their salaries. It's this practice that gets the Sahadi a lot of recruits to their cause.

He has the following forces at his disposal:

The Caliphs Guard Brigade (Elite Hover Mech brigade of 4 battalions, one is on duty at the Caliph's palace at all times on a rotating basis, with the other three battalions rotating between the starport, the Caliph's summer palace and their barracks on the north end of the capital).

3 Armored Cav Regiments, named the Abd-El-Krim Regiment, the Ahmed Belbachir Haskouri Regiment, and the Saladin Regiment (3 squadrons of battalion size each) (Regulars) (Scattered in penny packets as QRFs to back up the scattered infantry garrisons along the lowlands and foothills bordering the highlands. Equipment is imported light tracked armor and APCs.

1 4 Battalion Motorized Infantry Brigade, 1st "Host of the Caliph" Brigade (Regulars) (Equipment is imported wheeled APCs from French surplus) (Unit is often deployed as part of the QRFs in concert with the Armored Cav Regiments)

3 Infantry Brigades of 5 battalions each, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Brigades (Regulars), the units are newly raised by the French and are equipped by them wholly, units are moved by impressed civilian trucks.

2 "Soldiers of the Holy" Reserve Divisions and a Motorized Brigade of reservists. These units have never been called up and their performance if they actually would probably be dubious at best.