Syria’s Struggle Against the French Occupation in A New Book by Ihssan Hindi

The last stage of the French occupation of Syria, which lasted for nearly a quarter of a century, was the bloodiest, as this colonialist thought that committing more crimes against the Syrian people would make them give up their demand for independence.

Historian Dr. Ihssan Hindi presents, in a new book he reviewed and commented on, entitled “France’s aggression against Syria, May-June 1945, by the Unknown Soldier”, examples of the  occupation’s terrorist attacks against unarmed Syrian civilians since March 1945, as the crimes of the occupation were confined to remote villages and public roads before they included cities, to reach its climax in the aggression of May 29 of the same year.

Hindi shows that the policy of the French occupation was based on committing a crime and  waiting for the reaction, and if the public impact against it was slight, then it moved to commit more violent crimes.

The book, which was issued by the Syrian General Authority for books, also listed the events that occurred in Syria as a result of the terrorist aggression of the French occupation in a period that did not exceed five weeks between the 6th  of May  and the 15th of June, 1945,  which was full of incidents of the kind that  transforms the history of a nation as a whole from phase to phase.

The book, through its 232 pages of medium cut, did not mention all the incidents that took place during this period, nor did it list all the acts of assault, looting, abuse and torture committed by the occupation forces, as they are many and require volumes to be counted, not just a small folder.

The book also allocates chapters reviewing the Syrians’ dialogue with the occupation authorities supported by official documents from the beginning until they were stopped in May 19, 1945, the Syrian demand to form a national army and Lebanon’s support for   the Syrians in their struggle against their enemy,  as well as  the occupation attacks that targeted the governorates of Hama, Aleppo, Idlib, Deir Ezzor and As-Sweida.

It is worth noting that Dr. Ihssan Hindi was born in Hama in 1931. He holds a BA in the History and Literature of the French and a State Doctorate in Public International Law. He worked as head of the press branch in the Department of Moral Guidance in the Syrian Arab Army. He was a professor of History and Law at the universities of Syria, Algeria, Morocco and the Emirates, and he is a member of the Research and Studies Association of the Arab Writers Union.

Amal Farhat