[8] Melilla began to suffer from this, to which the instability brought by revolts against Muley Abdel Aziz in the hinterland also added,[9] although after 1905 Sultan pretender El Rogui Bou Hmara carried out a policy of defusing hostilities in the area which favoured Spain.

[12] After the 12 March 1908 Spanish occupation of Ras Kebdana, which caused further potential intervention in the Moulouya basin, foreign mining companies began to enter the area.

[15] Without support in hostile territory, General José Marina Vega, military commander of Melilla, asked the government of Spain for reinforcements to protect the mines, but none were sent.

On 9 July 1909, a new attack occurred and a number of Spanish railway workers were killed by tribesmen,[16] prompting a retaliatory offensive ordered by Marina Vega during which several positions near Melilla were occupied.

[citation needed] The impressment in mainland Spain that followed the beginning of the conflict brought about insurrection by the popular classes (the system provided the wealthy with facilities to avoid impressment), spilling over into the Tragic Week events,[18] that took place from late July to early August 1909, most acrimoniously in Barcelona, where protests intertwined with outbursts of anticlerical violence, forcing the Maura government to suspend Constitutional guarantees in the whole country after 28 July.

On 27 July the Spanish suffered a second defeat at Wolf Ravine The day before Marina had determined to send forces to protect the Segunda Caseta and also ordered General Pintos to keep guard in the vicinity of the Mount Gurugu at the helm of a brigade of jägers.