High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Battle of Magdhaba (officially known by the British as the Affair of Magdhaba) took place on 23 December 1916 south and east of Bir Lahfan in the Sinai desert, some 18–25 miles (29–40 km) inland from the Mediterranean coast and the town of El Arish. This British Empire victory against an isolated Ottoman Empire garrison, secured the town of El Arish on the Mediterranean coast during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I.