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Syria THE FRENCH MANDATE
French-British rivalry in the Middle East continued after the
two countries had divided the area into spheres of influence at
San Remo. In their mandate, the French sought to increase their
strength by supporting and separating religious minorities and
thereby weakening the Arab nationalist movement. France
originally planned to establish three sectarian states: an Alawi
state in the north, a Sunni Muslim state at the center, and a
Druze state in the south. The three were eventually to be
incorporated into a federal Syria. France did create a Christian
state in the area of Mount Lebanon. The Sunni Muslim state never
materialized. Instead, in 1926 the French, working with Maronite
leaders, expanded the original boundaries of the Christian state
to create Lebanon. To the east the valley of the Biqa,
predominantly populated by Muslims, was added; to the west the
Christian state was expanded to the coast and incorporated the
cities of Tripoli, Beirut, Sidon, and Tyre.
The rest of Syria was divided into five semiautonomous areas-
-the Jabal Druze, Aleppo, Latakia, Damascus, and Alexandretta
(modern Iskenderun)--which accentuated religious differences and
cultivated regional, as opposed to national pan-Arab, sentiment
(see Religious Life
, ch. 2). The Druzes were given administration
of the Jabal Druze, the area of their greatest concentration. The
northern coastal region and the Jabal an Nusayriyah (where there
was a concentration of Alawis, Syria's largest religious
minority) were united in the state of Latakia (present-day Al
Ladhiqiyah Province). North of Latakia, the district of
Alexandretta (the present-day Turkish province of Hatay), home of
some Turks, had a separate government. In the area to the south,
in Palestine, European Jews were promised a Jewish homeland.
Opposition by nationalistic Arabs to the many divisions proved
fruitless, and Arab nationalists became isolated in Damascus.
French rule was oppressive. The franc became the base of the
economy, and currency management was in the hands of French
bankers concerned with French, rather than Syrian, shareholders
and interests. The French language became compulsory in schools,
and pupils were required to sing the "Marseillaise." Colonial
administrators attempted to apply techniques of administration
learned in North Africa to the more sophisticated Arabs of Syria.
Nearly every feature of Syrian life came under French control.
The Syrians were an embittered, disillusioned people whose
leaders kept them in ferment. Shaykh Salih ibn Ali led the Alawis
in intermittent revolt, Shaykh Ismail Harir rebelled in the
Hawran, and in the Jabal Druze, Sultan Pasha al Atrash, kinsman
of the paramount chief of the Druzes, led continual resistance,
most notably in 1925, as did Mulhim Qasim in the mountains around
Baalbek. The revolts, however, were not necessarily expressions
of desire for unified Syrian independence. They were uprisings by
individual groups--Alawis, Druzes, and beduins--against foreign
interference, comparable to those earlier fomented against the
Ottomans.
In Damascus Arab nationalism was led by educated, wealthy
Muslims who had earlier supported Faysal. Their grievances
against the French were many, but chief among them were French
suppression of newspapers, political activity, and civil rights
and the division of Greater Syria into several political units.
They also objected to French reluctance to frame a constitution
for Syria that would provide for the eventual sovereignty that
the League of Nations mandate had ordered. When the Iraqis gained
an elected assembly from the British in March 1924, Syrian Arabs
became even more distressed. On February 9, 1925, as a placating
move, the French permitted the nationalists to form the People's
Party. Led by Faris al Khuri, they demanded French recognition of
eventual Syrian independence, unity of the country, more stress
on education, and the granting of civil liberties.
The most immediate issue was Syrian unity, since France had
divided the country into six parts. In 1925 the Aleppo and
Damascus provinces were joined, and in 1926 Lebanon became an
independent republic under French control. The League of Nations
in its session in Rome in February to March 1926 stated: "The
Commission thinks it beyond doubt that these oscillations in
matters so calculated to encourage the controversies inspired by
the rivalries of races, clans and religions, which are so keen in
this country, to arouse all kinds of ambitions and to jeopardize
serious moral and material interests, have maintained a condition
of instability and unrest in the mandated territory."
Devastating proof of the miscalculations of the French burst
into the open with the 1925 Druze revolt. The Druzes had many
complaints, but chief among them was the foreign intervention in
Druze affairs. The Ottomans had never successfully subdued these
mountain people; although split among themselves, they were
united in their opposition to foreign rule. Led by Sultan Pasha
al Atrash, Druzes attacked and captured Salkhad on July 20, 1925,
and on August 2 they took the Druze capital, As Suwayda.
News of the Druze rebellion spread throughout Syria and
ignited revolts in Aleppo and Damascus among Syrian nationalists,
who pleaded with Atrash to attack the Syrian capital. In October
the Druzes invaded the Damascus region; nationalist leaders led
their own demonstrations; and the French began systematic
bombardment of the city, resulting in the death of 5,000 Syrians.
The rebellion collapsed by the end of the year, and reluctant
order replaced open revolt.
The return of order gave the French military government an
opportunity to assist Syrians in self-government, an obligation
demanded of France by the League of Nations. In 1928 the French
allowed the formation of the National Bloc (Al Kutlah al
Wataniyah), composed of various nationalist groups centered in
Damascus. The nationalist alliance was headed by Ibrahim Hannanu
and Hashim al Atassi and included leading members of large
landowning families. One of the most extreme groups in the
National Bloc was the Istiqlal (Independence) Party, a descendant
of the old Al Fatat secret society of which Shukri al Quwatly was
a leading member. Elections of that year for a constituent
assembly put the National Bloc in power, and Hannanu set out to
write a constitution. It provided for the reunification of Syria
and ignored the authority of the French. In 1930 the French
imposed the constitution minus articles that would have given
Syria unified self-government.
Syrian nationalists continued to assert that they at least
should have a treaty with France setting forth French aims, since
Britain and Iraq had signed such a treaty in 1922. Unrest after
the death of the nationalist leader Hannanu at the end of 1935,
followed by a general strike in 1936, brought new negotiations
for such a treaty. Under Leon Blum's liberal-socialist government
in France, the two countries worked out the Syrian-French Treaty
of Alliance in 1936. The French parliament never ratified the
treaty, yet a feeling of optimism prevailed in Syria as the first
nationalist government came to power with Hashim al Atassi as
president.
During 1937 Syria's drive for independence seemed to be
advancing under National Bloc leadership. France allowed the
return of Jabal Druze and Latakia to the Syrian state and turned
over many local government functions to the Syrian government.
French administration during the previous years had given some
advantages to the Syrians. It had built modern cities in Damascus
and Aleppo and roads and schools throughout much of the country;
and it had partially trained some Syrians as minor bureaucrats.
French cultural influence spread in the schools, in the press,
and even in the style of dress; social and economic conditions
slowly improved.
Under the French, Syria became a refuge for persecuted groups
from neighboring countries. Most of the Kurdish population
arrived between 1924 and 1938, fleeing Kemalist rule in Turkey.
The major immigration of Armenians occurred between 1925 and 1945
as a result of similar persecution. Assyrians, under attack in
Iraq in 1933, settled in eastern Syria
(see Kurds;
Armenians;
Others
, ch. 2).
Although the country appeared to be on the verge of peace,
true calm evaded Syria. Claims by Turkey to Alexandretta, Arab
revolts in Palestine, an economic crisis caused by depreciation
of the French franc, and lack of unity among Syrians served to
undermine the stability of the Syrian government. The National
Bloc was split by rivalries. Abdul Rahman Shahabandar, a leading
nationalist, formed a rival organization in 1939 to compete for
Syrian political leadership, but he was assassinated a year
later. Separatist movements in the Jabal Druze found French
support and antagonized the nationalists.
During the course of the Syrian-French treaty discussions in
1936, Turkey had asked for reconsideration of the situation in
Hatay--at that time the Syrian province of Alexandretta--which
had a large Turkish minority and already had been given a special
administrative system under the Franco-Turkish Agreement of
Ankara (sometimes called the Franklin-Bouillon Agreement) in
1921. The case was submitted to the League of Nations, which in
1937 decided that Alexandretta should be a separate, self-
governing political state. Direct negotiations between Turkey and
France ended on July 13, 1939, with France agreeing to absorption
of Alexandretta by Turkey. Disturbances broke out in Syria
against France and the Syrian government, which Syrian
nationalist leaders felt had not adequately defended their
interests. Syrian President Atassi resigned, parliamentary
institutions were abolished, and France governed an unruly Syria
through the Council of Directors. Latakia and the Jabal Druze
were again set up as separate units. The French government
officially declared it would not submit the Syrian-French treaty
to the French Chamber of Deputies for ratification.
Data as of April 1987
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