Syria SYRIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
A war memorial in a cemetery near As Suwayda
Unavailable
Figure 14. Disengagement Lines and Israeli Settlements on the Golan
Heights, 1985
Historical Background
For more than 4,000 years the area known as Syria has been
populated by successive waves of Semitic peoples, including
nomadic tribes. It has also been a battleground for myriad
conquerors, including Akkadians, Assyrians, Hittites,
Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Macedonian Greeks, Romans,
Byzantines, Arabs, European Crusaders, Kurds, Ottomans, and the
French. Countless dynasties, whether local or foreign, have ruled
the area
(see Introduction
, ch. 1). From the time of the Arab
conquest in the seventh century A.D. until it became part of the
Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century, the region was
repeatedly invaded, occupied, merged, and fragmented. Syrian
armed units were formed under the Umayyad caliphate during the
eighth century A.D. and for the next 100 years played an
important role in the Arab campaign against the Byzantine Empire.
Under Ottoman rule, which lasted until the end of World War
I, Syrians were regularly conscripted into the empire's forces or
pressed into service in the armies of contending local chieftains
(see Ottoman Empire
, ch. 1). Syrians fought on one side or the
other but without a sense of national purpose. These centuries of
foreign subjugation, combined with political and social
fragmentation, provided scant grounds for the development of a
national military tradition; new generations learned regional
consciousness or gave their allegiance to tribe, clan, or
village.
The Arab inhabitants of the provinces of historical Greater
Syria took part in World War I. When the Ottoman Empire allied
itself with Germany and Austria-Hungary, new opportunities opened
up for the Arabs and some came to the defense of the Ottoman
Empire. Others, as in the case of the small semisecret societies
operating in Syria, which advocated various forms of Arab
nationalism, and the Arabs from the Hijaz, opposed the Ottomans.
The Arab Revolt in the Hijaz, headed by the ruling Hashimite
family of Mecca, occurred in 1916. A number of Syrians served in
the forces advised by T.E. Lawrence and other Britons during the
revolt and also in the Eastern Legion (La Legion d'Orient), a
French-organized unit. The revolt did not lead to a major
uprising in Syria but, in 1918, when the Ottoman Empire collapsed
and Syria was conquered by the Allies, Arab troops commanded by
Amir Faysal, son of Sharif Husayn of Mecca, entered Damascus and
were greeted warmly by the local population. Amir Faysal
proclaimed himself king of Syria in 1918, but his reign was short
(1918-20). Faysal had been supported by officers of the Arab Army
from the Hijaz, former Ottoman officers, and local Syrian
nationalists. However, there were many conflicts among these
diverse groups. Following their defeat by the French (and the
intervention of Britain, who compensated the Hashimites for their
loss of Syria by giving them Transjordan and Iraq), the French
Mandate was established in Syria (and Lebanon) in April 1920, and
a volunteer Arab force was formed to maintain internal order
(see The French Mandate
, ch. 1).
Data as of April 1987
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