najrān joined the newly announced kingdom of saudi arabia in 1934 as a result of the efforts and struggles of sheikhs sultan bin muneef and jābir abū sāq, the leaders of two large clans of the yam tribe. starting in 1924, the forces of the former yemeni king launched several unsuccessful raids to annex najrān to the yemeni kingdom. the king of yemen performed some new maneuvers to strengthen his tie with some of the najrān tribal leaders to counter the strong relations of the people of najrān with bin saʻūd. then in 1932 the forces of imam yaḥyá of yemen attacked najrān with more than 50,000 troops, with all kinds of new weapons. yām, as the dominant tribe in najrān, along with some other loyalist najranis, started strong resistance against the occupation forces. however, a strong segment of the tribal leaders in najrān sided with the occupying power and some became passive, waiting to take a side at the end of the crisis. sheikhs sultan bin muneef and jābir abū sāq, the head of two clans of yām at the time, managed to get quick support from king ʻabd al-ʻazīz bin saʻūd and was able to lead the yām tribe and all of the najrānī resistance fighting the yemeni forces in all parts of najrān and bilād yām. later, in the spring of 1934, the army of bin saʻud under the command of prince saʻūd son of ʻabd al-ʻazīz carried out a massive campaign, surrounding najrān from the north and northwest, and defeated the yemeni army. najrān became part of saudi arabia. in short, najran has always been independent and ruled by its people (yam) but they choose to be annexed to new kingdom. indeed, there was a strong treaty between king ʻabd al-ʻazīz and the people from najrān indicating conditions to be respected by both sides.