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137later CENTO. British Forces withdrew and the RAF Levies (Iraq) disbanded in May 1955. The RAF Levies (Iraq) were unique among the Associated Forces in not seeing active service whilst under RAF Regiment command, so there are neither operational awards nor operational photographs from the period. Thus, the residual image of the Force tends to be one of a sybaritic post8war life for British Officers, jackal8hunting, and playing polo. In fact the Force trained as hard as it played. The RAF Levies (Iraq), under its British Officers, were trusted by the Iraqis far more than their own military; with good cause as we have all seen since. Indeed, during both the recent Iraq wars, several RAF Regiment Officers and men reported being greeted by old and young Iraqis claiming proudly, often with evidence, to have been an Iraq Levy or the son or grandson of one. %u000b%u0006%u0004%u0018%u0010%u0006fi%u0001%u0009%u0001%u0004%u0006%u0005%u001a%u0007%u000c%u0006fl%u0006%u0016*%u0017%u0006%u0004fi%u0005%u0006 In 1839 Aden became the first new territory to be added to Queen Victoria%u2019s domains. It was ceded by the Sultan of Lahej to the East India Company%u2019s Bombay Presidency through negotiation, for its natural harbour and remained a dependency of Bombay until 1937, when it became a British Crown Colony. However, in 1873 the Sultan sought protection from Ottoman invasion and Lahej became the first %u2018British Protected Territory%u2019 in South Arabia. A series of Protection Treaties followed with twenty8four of the other twenty8five autonomous tribal states lying to the south of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, stretching from west to east almost 1,000 miles to the Oman. By 1879 this constituted the Aden Protectorate under local tribal rule within the region, but under the overall aegis of the Governor of Aden. The single exception was the Upper Yafai who, in their inaccessible fastness in the north of the Protectorate, had never been conquered by, nor allied to, anyone. Only on the formation of the ill8starred Federation in the mid81960s did they lose their independence %u2013 an interesting slant on so8called liberation from %u2018Imperialism%u2019! The new Protectorate was divided into the Western and Eastern Protectorates; (WAP and EAP respectively). The twenty8one small states, mostly in the harsh 7,000 ft mountains lying between the Colony and Yemen comprised the WAP. Isolated, insular in outlook and warlike, with a tradition of perpetual inter8tribal conflict and