French Mandate of Syria

Categories: League of Nations Mandates | History of Syria | Middle Eastern history stubs

The French Mandate of Syria was a League of Nations Mandate created after the First World War when the Ottoman Empire was split by the Treaty of Versailles. Four mandate territories were created, with the rest of the territory placed under monarchies. The British controlled the Mandates of Palestine and Iraq, while the French controlled the Mandates of Lebanon and Syria. Syria declared its independence from Vichy France in 1944.

History

Following the San Remo conference and the defeat of King Faisal's short-lived monarchy at the Battle of Maysalun, the French under General Henri Gouraud subdivided their new mandate of Syria into five states. They were the states of Damascus, Aleppo, Alaouites, Jebel Druze, and Alexandretta (modern-day Hatay). In June, 1922, France established a loose federation between four of the states:Damascus, Aleppo, Alaouites, and Jebel Druze. On December 1, 1924, France united the states of Aleppo and Damascus into the state of Syria, adopting the federal flag (green-white-green with French canton). Jebel Druze was incorporated into the Syrian republic in 1936, and Alaouites in 1937. Alexandretta (Hatay) was handed over to Turkey by the French in 1939 after complaints by Ataturk about the alleged mistreatment of the Turkish population. Syria has not recognized the incorporation of Hatay within Turkey and the issue has been a source of some tension between the two countries.

Alaouites

Alaouites, or the Alawite State, was a French mandate in the coastal area of present-day Syria after World War I. It was renamed Latakia in 1930 and became part of Syria in 1937. Population was 278,000 in 1930, mostly belonging to the Alawite sect of Shi'a Islam.

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the war brought on a scramble to take control of various provinces of the empire. France occupied Syria in 1918, and received it as a mandate from the League of Nations on September 2, 1920. Initially it was an autonomous territory under French rule, then declared a state September 29, 1923, with the port city of Latakia as its capital.

On September 22, 1930, Alaouites became the Sanjak of Latakia.