Syria’s Story of Steadfastness
On this day 76 years ago , Syria saw the back of the last French soldier .The French occupation had occupied Syria for more than a quarter of a century and Independence only came after a hard struggle and a high price – paid for by the lives of the Syrians who fought and died for their country .
The impact of the French occupation fell heavily on Syrians, who had previously resisted the Ottoman control in order to enjoy freedom.This didn’t happen and the French arrived to continue where the Ottomans had left off. French colonialism aimed to suck the riches of Syria and was accompanied by a number of economic, political and military measures, which were characterized by extreme cruelty.
The Syrians rose up, and the first revolution began in 1922, led by Sultan Pasha al-Atrash in Jabal al-Arab.
Although the revolution stopped a year later, the occupation authorities took brutal measures, which caused the revolution to erupt again in 1925, after the occupation authorities appointed a tyrant French General ,who followed a policy of brutality against the leaders of the different cities in Syria and its national symbols.This policy of arrogance led to the revolution breaking out in Suwayda, where fierce battles raged .
In 1925, Sultan Pasha al-Atrash issued his famous pamphlet to the Syrian people, in which he announced the statement of the Great Syrian Revolution and its demands. Following this statement, the neighborhoods of al-Shaghour and al-Midan in Damascus joined the revolution, whose flames spread to the orchards of Ghouta and its gardens, and the revolution spread to all parts of Damascus, Jabal al-Arab and the rest of Syria with revolutionary leaders like Sheikh Saleh Al Ali ,Ibrahim Hanano ,Hassan Al Kharat and many others wining battles and making great strides towards the independence of Syria .
When the French found that they were losing their control in Syria, they recruited tens of thousands of people, and began using armored vehicles and warplanes, which enabled them to suppress the revolution in 1927, and forced the revolutionaries and their leaders to leave for Jordan, Palestine and Egypt.
Despite the cessation of armed revolutions, the Syrian people’s political struggle for independence continued and the Constituent Assembly was formed .It’s first session began in 1928 and was chaired by Hashem al-Atassi, where it proposed the constitution, which was drafted by a committee headed by the fighter Ibrahim Hanano. One indivisible state, and the system of government is based on a parliament.
France rejected the provisions of the constitution, and bargained for its abolition, while the Constituent Assembly refused to cancel any of them, which prompted the occupation authorities to suspend the Assembly. In 1930, France made a second attempt to reach a settlement with the Syrian national forces, by announcing a new constitution consisting of the same articles as the old constitution in addition to an article suspending any point that lessens the power of the French .
This led the Syrian people to rise up again, and demonstrations and strikes spread throughout the country.
Years later, King Faisal I (the former King of Syria), who had become king of Iraq, succeeded in concluding a treaty with Britain that granted Iraq some rights to independence.This treaty resonated positively in Syria and there was popular demand that a similar treaty be signed with Syria. After 6 months of negotiations the Syrian negotiating delegation with the French government reached the treaty known as the 1936 Treaty.
Although the treaty met with various objections, claiming that it gave legitimacy to the French mandate, following the treaty, elections were held in Syria to form a Syrian parliament. For the elected government, the economic and social conditions deteriorated, until the French authorities dissolved the elected Syrian parliament, and colonialism resumed.
The Second World War had cast a shadow on the world at the time, and the Allied forces entered into a war with the Axis forces, and Syria witnessed a conflict between the French forces that were affiliated to the Vichy government (pro-German) and the forces of General de Gaulle’s government (allied with the Allies), where the allied forces were able to take out Vichy forces from Syria in 1941, and after that (De Gaulle) published his famous statement in which he promised Syria and Lebanon independence and the right to self-determination.
Accordingly, in 1942, parliamentary elections were held in which the National Bloc won, and in 1943 Shukri al-Quwatli was elected President of the Syrian Republic, and a new government was formed headed by Saad Allah al-Jabri.
As World War II drew to a close, France attempted to restore its colonial control over Syria, and unrest erupted throughout Syria, and France faced protests with excessive force, committing massacres against civilians.
Despite the ups and downs of events, fate brought Syria into the hands of its many sons and after that, as the culmination of a long struggle full of sacrifices, the last foreign soldier left Syrian territory on April 17, 1946.
And the struggle continues today in Syria…
Reem Haddad
Editor in chief