Subsections of the Bani Kaab include the Drisah, Makatim, Misaid, Miyadilah, Miyalisah, Mizahamiyin, Nawaljiyin, Salalat, Sawalim, Shwaihiyin, Yidwah and Zahairat.
Of these, the Drisah and Shwaihiyin were nomadic while the other sections had settled by the turn of the 20th century, a population of some 7,250 of whom 1,150 were Bedouin.
[3] In an area and time of shifting alliances, a century later the Bani Kaab were in alliance with the Saudis, the Sheikh of the tribe at the time, Obaid bin Jumah, confirming to the Governor of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, "Our territories are yours.
[5] In this, they were opposed to the oil companies, the imposition of the rule of the Trucial Sheikhs, the Sultan of Muscat and the British alike.
[6] When the Buraimi Dispute unfolded in the 1950s, the Bani Kaab supported the Saudi incursion under Shaikh Rashid bin Hamad of the Al Bu Shamis and were involved in fighting against the British force, the Trucial Oman Levies.