The
campaign in South Arabia during World War I was a minor struggle for control of the port city of
Aden, an important way station for ships on their way from Asia to the
Suez Canal. The
British Empire declared war on the
Ottoman Empire on 5 November 1914, and the Ottomans responded with their own declaration on 11 November. From the beginning, the Ottomans had planned an invasion of Britain's
Aden Protectorate in cooperation with the local
Arab tribes. The Ottomans had gathered in some strength on the
Cheikh Saïd, a peninsula which juts out into the
Red Sea towards the island of
Perim.