Najd Sanjak an autonomous separate country within the empire. The sultan recognized Abdullah II Al-Sabah as the kaymakam of Kuwait as a subprovince of al-Ahsa, formally acknowledging that Kuwait was a part of the Ottoman Empire and that it was ruled by the Sabah family. In 1913 Ibn Saud launched an attack on Hofuf, where 1,200 Turkish troops had been stationed since the province's annexation in 1870. The Ottoman garrison was expelled from Hasa, and the territory fell to the Al Saud. Even after the conquest of Hasa, Britain considered Ibn Saud to be an Ottoman vassal, and the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of
Bahrain administrative reforms of the 1920s in "prosecution of war, piracy and slavery at sea" and Britain was to provide maritime protection. The treaty also recognized the Al Khalifa ruler as an "independent ruler". Six years later, in 1867–8, the British navy intervened after a Bahraini attack on Qatar. After two years, in 1869, they intervened again to end an internal struggle over power, and appointed Shaikh Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa, then aged 21 as ruler of Bahrain. In subsequent years, the British exercised increasing control over Shaikh Isa's communications with foreign powers, especially the Ottomans, who had claims over Bahrain and Qatar. The increasing