User:Free Syrian 200/الثورة السورية الكبرى

Great Syrian Revolt
Statue of the Great Syrian Revolution in Majdal Shams
Date 1925-1927 Location Syria Result Defeat the Syrian resistance militarily and achieve political gains.
Belligerents
France Syria Lebanon	Syrian rebels
Commanders and leaders
Maurice Sarrail Roger Michaud Maurice Gamelin Henry de Jouvenel Charles Andréa	Sultan Pasha al-Atrash Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar [[Ayyash Al-Haj ]] Hasan al-Kharrat Ibrahim Hananu Nasib al-Bakri Fawzi al-Qawuqji

The Great Syrian Revolt (Arabic: الثورة السورية الكبرى‎) or Revolt 1925 was a general uprising across mandatory Syria and Lebanon, led by the rebels of Jabal al-Arab in southern Syria, and other multiple factions that Joined them from Sunni, Druze, Alawite, Christians and Shia with the common goal of ending French rule.

This revolution came in response to the military dictatorship policies pursued by the French authorities in tearing Syria into several states, abolishing freedoms, pursuing patriots and provoking sectarian tendencies. And fighting the culture and the Arab character of the country and trying to replace it with French culture, in addition to the refusal of the Mandate authorities to conclude an agreement with the Syrian national forces to set a timetable for the independence of Syria.

This revolution was an extension of the Syrian revolutions that began since the French colonial forces stepped on the Syrian coast in early 1920, and continued until late June 1927. One of the most prominent results of the victory of the French Mandate authorities militarily, but the Syrian resistance was able to destabilize the French policy in Syria, and convinced them that the Syrian people will not yield and must establish a national government of Syria, and forced them to reunite Syria and hold parliamentary elections as this revolution paved the final exit of the French From Syria in 1946.

The Arab region after the First World War

Map signed by Sykes and Picot.

World War I led to the collapse of four great powers: the Empire of Russia, the Empire of Austria and Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire, of which Syria was part of its legacy. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire encouraged the victorious colonial powers of England and France to share its legacy by creating a new colonial concept known as the "Mandate", conceived and put into practice by the allied and victorious powers of that time, namely France, England, the United States, and Italy.

The main idea is that the former geographic possessions of the collapsed states that disappeared at the end of the First World War (Germany and the Ottoman Empire) would be placed under the supervision of the League of Nations (the former global organization of the current UN), since Germany had lost its colonies in Africa, the Ottoman Empire should also cede all its Arab states.

Based on this reality, France is taking over Syria and Lebanon, while England is taking Iraq and Palestine, and these countries are placed under the direct guardianship of these two countries with an official mandate from the League of Nations, with the task of insuring to these new countries the necessary means to enable them to reach a sufficient degree of Political awareness and economic development qualifies them for independence and sovereignty. In implementation of these plans, negotiations were held between France and England in October 1915 on the determination of the spheres of influence of both countries in the event of the partition of the Ottoman Empire. The secret agreement on the subject was called the Sykes-Picot agreement as names of the two negotiators, Britain's Marc Sykes and Frenchman Francois Georges-Picot.

Meanwhile, correspondence has been held since 1915 between Sir Henry McMahon and Sherif Hussein in the Hijaz, and as a result of the negotiations between the two parties, The British presented a written commitment, includes the recognition of the independence of the Arabs and support them, and in exchange for this initial promise, Sharif Hussein is committed to launching the call of the Arab revolution against the Ottomans.

The Great Arab Revolution

Jamal Basha, the Ottoman minister of the navy, publicly executed Syrian nationalists who espoused and disseminated  anti-Ottoman viewpoints and agitated against the Ottoman military presence in Syria.

Currency of the Arab Kingdom of Syria

On 6 May 1916, Jamal Pasha executed fourteen Syrian notables in Beirut and Damascus and this was catalyst for Sharif Hussein to start the Arab revolt against the Ottoman, and the aim of the revolution (as stated in the Damascus charter and in the correspondence of Hussein McMahon, which was based on the Charter), was removing the obedience of the Ottoman Empire and establishment of an Arab state, or union of Arab states includes the Arabian Peninsula, Najd, Hijaz in particular and Greater Syria except Adana, which was considered within Syria in the Damascus Charter, With respect for Britain's interests in southern Iraq, a geographical area that begins in Baghdad and ends in the Gulf Coast.

On 10 June 1916, the Arab revolution began in Mecca and in November 1916, Sharif Hussein declared himself "King of the Arabs",  While the superpowers only recognized him as king of the Hijaz. He had 1,500 soldiers and some of armed tribesmen, Hussein's army had no guns and Britain provided him with two cannons that accelerated the fall of Jeddah and Taif.

Then he went to Aqaba, where the second phase of the revolution officially began in late 1917 supported by the British army that occupied Jerusalem on 9 September 1917 and before the end of the year all of the Sanjak Jerusalem was under British rule.

In the meantime, the army of Hussein was growing rapidly, where joined by two thousand soldiers with their weapons led by Abdul Qadir al-Husseini from Jerusalem and most of the tribesmen of those areas joined the revolution.

The Arab Army or known as the Arab Forces, was formed under the leadership of Sharif Hussein and his son Faisal and indirectly commanded by the British officer Lawrence of Arabia. it headed to Syria and clashed with the Ottoman forces in a decisive battle near Ma'an. the battle resulted in almost annihilation of the seventh army and the second Ottoman army, Ma'an was liberated on 23 September 1918, followed by Amman on 25 September and the day before 26 September, the Ottoman governor and his soldier had left Damascus to announcing the end of the Ottoman rule.

The Arab army entered Damascus on 30 September 1918 and on 8 October the English army entered Beirut then British General Edmund Allenby entered Syria and met with the Arab army in Damascus.

On 18 October, the Ottomans left Tripoli and Homs and on 26 October 1918, British and Arab army headed north until they met the last Ottoman forces under the command of Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and a fierce battle was happend near to Aleppo in an area later renamed "the English Tomb". On 30 October 1918, A Mudros armistice was concluded that all Ottoman forces surrendered and the Ottoman Empire accepted its abandonment of the Levant, Iraq, Hejaz, Asir and Yemen.

Arab Kingdom of Syria

Proclamation of Faisal I as King of Syria in 1920.

After the demise of Ottoman rule, Prince Faisal announced the establishment of an Arab government in Damascus and assigned the former Ottoman officer in Damascus, Ali reza Al-Rikabi to form and preside it as a military governor.

It included three ministers from mount Lebanon, one from Beirut, one from Damascus and Sate al-Husari from Aleppo and the defense minister from Iraq. Trying to Implies that this government represents Greater Syria and not government of local Syria. And appointed Major General Shukri al-Ayyubi military governor of Beirut and Jamil al-Madfai governor of Amman and Abdulhamid al-Shalaji as commander of Damascus and Ali Jawdat al-Ayyubi as governor of Aleppo.

Faisal with T. E. Lawrence and the Hejazi delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919.

Prince Faisal sought to build a Syrian army capable of establishing security and stability and preserving the state entity to be declared. And asked the British to arm this army but they refused, In late 1918, Prince Faisal was invited to participate in the peace conference that was held after the World War in Versailles, where he visited France and Britain who assured him of their good intentions towards Syria while they were behind his back sharing the rest of it and amending the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

Faisal proposed at the conference to establishing three Arab governments in Hijaz, Syria and Iraq, but the Americans proposed the Mandate system, and sending a referendum committee to know political wishes of people, is known as the King–Crane Commission and the French and the English reluctantly agreed.

Prince Faisal returned to Syria on 23 April 1919 in preparation for the visit of the American Commission, after he was authorized Awni Abdel Hadi for membership of the peace conference. A large popular meeting was held under the head of Mohammad Fawzi Al-Azm at the Arab Club Hall in Damascus.

Prince Faisal gave the opening speech in which he explained the purpose of the American Commission that will arrive and the nature of its mission, The Commission, which lasted for 42 days, visited 36 Arab cities and listened to 1520 delegations from different villages all of them demanded independence and unity. On 3 July 1919, the delegation of the Syrian Conference met with the American Commission and informed them of their request for the independence of Greater Syria and the establishment of a monarchy.

After the American Commission King Crane concluded its work, its recommendations stated that "the Levant rejects foreign control, and it is proposed to impose the mandate system under the tutelage of the League of the United Nations, as the Arabs are unanimously agreed that Prince Faisal should be a king on the Arab lands without fragmentation.

The Commission delivered its report to US President Woodrow Wilson on 28 August 1919, who was ill, and the report was ignored after Wilson changed his position because of opposition from senior US politicians in the Senate (Congress), for violating the isolationist policy followed by America since 1833, which requires non-intervention in the affairs of Europe and the non-interference of Europe with the affairs of America.

Under pressure, Prince Faisal accepted an agreement with France represented by its Prime Minister George Clemenceau, known as the Faisal Clemenceau Agreement. among the most prominent of its items:

• The French Mandate for Syria, while the country retains its internal independence, and Syria's cooperation with France in relation to foreign and financial relations, and that Syrian ambassadors abroad reside within the French embassies.

• Recognition of Lebanon's independence under full French tutelage, and the borders to be set by allies without Beirut.

• Organization of the Druze of Houran and Golan in a federation within the Syrian state.

In late June 1919, Prince Faisal convened the Syrian National Congress, That was considered as a parliament of the Levant and was composed of 85 members, but France prevented some deputies from coming to Damascus, and the conference opened with the presence of 69 deputies and among the most prominent of its member:

1. Taj al-Din al-Hasani and Fawzi al-Azm are representatives of Damascus.
2. Ibrahim Hanano representing Harem district.
3. Saadallah Al-Jabri, Reza Al-Rifai, Mari Pasha Al-Mallah and Dr. Abdul Rahman Kayali are representatives of Aleppo.
4. Fadel Al-Aboud representing Deir Ezzor and the Euphrates Valley area.
5. Hikmat al-Haraki representing al-Maarra.
6. Abdul Qader Kilani and Khalid Barazi representatives of Hama.
7. Amin Husseini and Arif Dajani representatives of Jerusalem.
8. Salim Ali Salam, Aref Al Nomani and Jamil Beyhoum are representatives of Beirut.
9. Rachid Rida and Tawfiq El Bissar Representatives of Tripoli.
10. Said Taliea and Ibrahim Khatib are representatives of Mount Lebanon.

Hashem al-Atassi was elected president of the National Congress, and Mari Pasha Al-Mallah and Yusuf al-Hakim were vice-presidents and the National Congress decided to reject the Faisal Clemenceau agreement, demanding the unity and independence of Syria, accepting the mandate of America and Britain and rejecting the French mandate, but that the concept of the mandate is limited on technical assistance only.

The relationship between Faisal and Guru was strained, following Faisal's retreat from his agreement with the French and his bias to the people. The Syrian government has requested 30,000 military suits to organize the army. On the other hand, the Clemenceau government fell in France and replaced by the extreme right-wing government of Alexandre Millerand. Later, France actually disavowed the agreement and In mid-November 1919, British forces began withdrawing from Syria after a one-year presence.

On 8 March 1920, the Syrian National Congress was held in Damascus under the Head of Hashem al-Atassi and in the presence of Prince Faisal and members of the government. The congress for two days with the participation of 120 members. The congress came up with the following decisions:

1. The independence of the Syrian country with its natural borders.
2. His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein was unanimously elected constitutional monarch over the country.
3. The political system of the state is a civil, parliamentary, royal.
4. Appointment of a civil property government, where Ali Reza Al-Rikabi was appointed as the commander-in-Chief of the Government and Yusuf al-Azma as a Syrian Minister of Defense, and the conversion of the official language from Turkish to Arabic in all government institutions and civil and military official departments and schools, and the abolition of dealing in the Turkish currency and replaced with the Egyptian pound and then became dealing in the Syrian dinar.
5. Rejecting the Zionist Balfour Declaration to make Palestine a national home for Jews.
6. Reject British and French tutelage over Arabs.

The Allies refused to recognize the new state and decided in April 1920 at the San Remo conference in Italy to divide the country into four areas under which Syria and Lebanon would be subject to the French Mandate, Jordan and Palestine to the British Mandate. although Lebanon and Syrian coast as well as Palestine was not under the military rule of Arab Kingdom of Syria, Since the Allied armies had been there since the end of World War I.

The government and Syrian National Congress rejected the decisions of the San Remo conference and informed the Allied States its decision between 13 -21 May 1920, and the voices were rising in Syria for an alliance with Kemal Ataturk in Turkey or the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, meetings were held in Aleppo between the Minister of War Yusuf al-Azmeh and Kamal Ataturk for supporting the Syrians in their struggle against France.

However, these meetings did not lead to a result because Ataturk was using the Syrians to improve the terms of his negotiations with the French, he turned his back to the Syrians and concluded an agreement with France known as the Treaty of Ankara in 1921, which included a waiver of the French occupation authority from the northern Syrian territories and withdrawal of the French army of them, and hand them over to the authority of Turkish.

Syria under the French Mandate

General Henri Gouraud

The proclamation of the establishment of the Arab Kingdom of Syria had internal implications, where tensions were running high in Syria and Lebanon through occurring some clashes, where some Muslims attacked Christian villages in the Bekaa, In reply to the insistence of the Maronite Patriarch Elias Al-Howeik and the Board of Directors of Mount Lebanon on the independence of Lebanon.

On 5 July 1920, Faisal dispatched his advisor Nouri al-Said to meet with French General Henri Gouraud in Beirut. Al-Said returned to Damascus on 14 July 1920 with an ultimatum known as the "Gouraud ultimatum " and was set four days to accept it. ultimatum included five points:

1. Acceptance of the French Mandate.
2. Dealing with paper money issued by the Bank of Syria and Lebanon in Paris.
3. Approval of the French occupation of railway stations in Rayak, Homs, Aleppo and Hama.
4. Dissolve the Syrian army and stop forced recruitment and attempts to arm.
5. Punish all who involved in hostilities against France.

King Faisal gathered his ministers to discuss the matter among them, many of them were tend to undergo to Gouraud terms and accept the ultimatum, Here, the manly position of the Minister of War Yusuf al-Azma emerged strongly opposed to accepting the ultimatum, and tried by all means to discourage King Faisal from responding to the French threat to dissolve the Syrian Arab Army.

Despite the Syrian government's acceptance of the ultimatum and abandon the idea of resistance and accepting the demands of General Gouraud, and the demobilization of the Syrian army and the withdrawal of soldiers from the mounds of the village of Majdal Anjar, in violation of the decision of the Syrian national congress and the opinion of the people represented by the loud demonstrations condemning the ultimatum and whoever accepts it, and sending King Faisal a letter to Gouraud to accept the terms and dissolve the army.

French troops began to march led by General Goabiah (by order of General Gouraud) towards Damascus on 24 July 1920, while the Syrian army stationed on the border was retreating and dissolving, and when General Gouraud was asked about this, replied that Faisal's letter for approving the ultimatum terms reached him after the deadline.

There was only one choice for patriots, is resistance until death, and this opinion was headed by Minister of War Yusuf al-'Azma, who worked to bring together the rest of the army with hundreds of volunteers who chose this resolution and headed to resist the invading French forces that marching towards Damascus.

Al - Azma wanted to preserve the prestige and dignity of Syria's military history, was afraid to record in the history books that the Syrian army stayed away from fighting and the occupier entered his capital without resistance, he also wanted to inform Syrian people that their army carried the banner of resistance against the French occupation from the first moment, and that would be a beacon for the Syrian people in their resistance against the occupier.

General Goabiah forces consisted of the following:

Infantry brigade (415).

The Second Algerian Shooters brigade.

Senegalese brigade of African archers.

Brigade of Sabahi Moroccan .

The French forces totaled nine thousand soldiers, supported by many ِaircrafts, tanks and machine guns, while the Syrian army has not exceeded 3,000 soldiers most of them volunteers.

On 24 July 1920, the battle began, when the French artillery began to overcome the Syrian artillery, French tanks began advancing towards the front line of the defending forces, and then French Senegalese soldiers began attacking the left side of the Syrian army, which is composed mostly of volunteers, and some of traitors attacked the Syrian army from behind and killed many soldiers and robbed their weapons. despite all, Al-'Azma did not care about the greatness of these calamities, and remained steadfast and determined.

Al-'Azma had planted mines on the heads of the valley of "Alqarn", a corridor of the French army in the hope that when the tanks attack into, the mines explode. However, the traitors had already cut off the mine wires and some of them were caught carrying out their betrayal, but it was too late. When the tanks approached, ِAl-'Azma ordered to explode of the mines but they did not explode, he examined and saw most of them completely disabled and their wires cut off. Then he heard an uproar from behind and when he turned, saw many of his army and volunteers had fled after a bomb fell from one of the aircraft. So he grabbed his rifle and fired at the enemy until he was killed on Wednesday, 24 July 1920.

• Syrian soldiers in the battle of Maysaloun
  Syrian soldiers in the battle of Maysaloun
• موكب الجنرال هنري غورو في حلب، بعيد الاحتلال في أيلول عام 1920.
  موكب الجنرال هنري غورو في حلب، بعيد الاحتلال في أيلول عام 1920.
• هنري غورو يستعرض قواته قبيل معركة ميسلون.
  هنري غورو يستعرض قواته قبيل معركة ميسلون.
• النقيب يوسف العظمة بعيد انتهاء الحرب العالمية الأولى.
  النقيب يوسف العظمة بعيد انتهاء الحرب العالمية الأولى.
• الملازم ثاني يوسف العظمة.
  الملازم ثاني يوسف العظمة.
• وزير الحربية يوسف العظمة.
  وزير الحربية يوسف العظمة.

Policy of the French Mandate in Syria

After its control over the entire Syrian territory, France resorted to the fragmentation of Syria into several independent states or entities:

• State of Damascus (1920).
• State of Aleppo (1920).
• Alawite State (1920).
• The State of Greater Lebanon (1920).
• Jabal Druze State (1921).
• Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921).

The northern Syria territory were given to Turkey during the treaty of Ankara on 20 October 1921, and the demarcation of the border between the colonial power and Turkey.

In order to tear the national unity of the country and weaken the national resistance of the French Mandate, General Gouraud resorted to the policy pursued by General Hubert Lyautey in Morocco. It is a policy of isolating cohesive religious and ethnic minorities from the mainstream in the country, under the pretext of defending their rights and equity, and incite the rural and Bedouin against urban.

The causes of the revolution

The outbreak of the revolution had many reasons, the most important of which are:

• The Syrians rejected the French occupation of their country and their seek for full independence.
• Tearing Syria into several small states (Aleppo, Druze, Alawites, Damascus).
• The great economic damage caused to the Syrian merchants as a result of the policy adopted by the French in Syria, where the French dominated the economic aspects and linked Syrian and Lebanese currency to the French franc.
• The military dictatorship practiced by the French generals during their mandate. Fighting the Arab culture of the country and trying to replace it with the French culture and appointed French in the top positions.
• The abolition of freedoms in Syria and the pursuit of nationalists and provoke sectarianism, which led to the discontent of the Syrians. The meeting between the leaders of Mount Druze and the French High Commissioner in Syria failed, where the Druze leaders expressed their displeasure with the policy of French General Gabriel Carbillet and demanded that he be replaced by another governor, However, the High Commissioner insulted them and threatened them with harsh punishment if they stick to their position. As a result, Sultan al-Atrash declared that a revolution was necessary to achieve independence.

In the opinion of Dr. Abdul Rahman Shahbandar, the above reasons are the distant causes of the revolution, and the immediate reasons are anti-French General Carbillet to Atrash family and attempt to crush their influence, where he became jail everyone who deals with them, so this prompted Sultan al-Atrash to declare a revolution.

The demands of the revolution

1. Unity of the Syrian country with its coast and inside, and the recognition of one Syrian Arab state fully independent.
2. The establishment of a popular government that gather Syrian National congress to draw up a basic law on the principle of absolute sovereignty of the nation.
3. Withdrawal of the occupying forces from the Syrian country, and the formation of a national army to maintain security.
4. Upholding the principles of the French Revolution and human rights in freedom, equality and fraternity.

The course and events of the revolution

Colonel Catro, who was dispatched by GeneralGouraud to Jabal al-Arab, sought to isolate the Druze from the Syrian national movement, he signed on 4 March 1921 a treaty with the Druze tribes, which stipulated that Jabal al-Arab would form a special administrative unit independent of the State of Damascus with a local governor and an elected representative council. In exchange for the Druze's recognition of the French mandate, the result of the treaty appointed Salim al-Atrash as the first ruler of the Druze mountain.

The mountain inhabitants were not comfortable with the new French administration, and the first clash with it occurred in July 1922 with the arrest of Mujahid Adham Khanjar, who was coming to Sultan al-Atrash carrying a letter to him, the French arrested him for his involvement in the attack on General Gouraud in Huran, Sultan al-Atrash asked the French commander in As-Suwayda to hand him over Adham Khanjar and he replied him that Khanjar was on his way to Damascus. so Al-Atrash commissioned a group of his supporters to attack the armed convoy accompanying the detainee, but the French managed to transfer him to Lebanon and on 30 May 1923 executed in Beirut.

The French destroyed the house of Sultan Al-Atrash in Al-Qurayya in late August 1922 in response to his attack on their forces, then Al-Atrash led the Druze rebels for a year in a guerrilla war against the French forces, France brought a large forces to crush the rebels, that forced Al-Atrash to seek refuge in Jordan in the late summer of 1922. Under British pressure, Al-Atrash gave himself up to the French in April 1923 after agreeing to a truce.

Salim Al-Atrash died poisoned in Damascus in 1924, The French appointed captain Carbillet as governor of the mountain, contrary to the agreement with the Druze, Where he abused the people and exposed them to prisons, forced labor and persecution, he also worked on the implementation of a policy of divide and conquer through incite farmers against feudal lords, especially Al-Atrash family, this led the people of As-SuwaydaAs-Suwayda to go out in a mass protest against the practices of the French authorities, which accelerated the date of the outbreak of the revolution.

The Druze were fed up with the practices of captain Carbillet, which led them to send a delegation to Beirut on 6 June 1925 to submit a document requesting the High Commissioner Maurice Sarrail to appoint a Druze governor on the mountain instead of captain Carbillet because of his bad practices against the people of the mountain, and some of these practices according to memoirs of Dr. Abdul Rahman Shahbandar are:

1. Allocate a number of gendarmes to beat and humiliate people in fulfillment of the wishes of captain Carpier and his entourage.
2. Hamed Karkout, (from the village of Thebeen) was detained for five months without cause or trial, he was insulted and beaten in the morning and evening.
3. Husayn Kabul (from the village of Kafr al-Lehaf) was whipped until his skin was torn, because he neglected to greet the General Diocheil when he passed the highway.
4. Wahba al-Ashmoush was arrested in As-Suwayda and severely beaten because he refused to rent his house.
5. General Diocheil fired several shots from his pistol at Mohammed Bey al-Halabi, the director of the Justice Department, and he was not punished for his criminal work.
6. Hussein Saddiq was arrested for 15 days for not going to receive captain Carbillet, with a fine of 25 golden pounds for the village because it did not receive him luxuriously, and this fine was imposed on the village of Arman for the same reason.
7. Fahd Bey Al-Atrash was arrested and severely beaten without investigation, based on a simple tale from a spy.
8. Imposing 10 golden pounds as a fine on As-Suwayda people for the loss of a cat of the wife of a French garrison officer.

The French were mad for losing the contact with their officers, and began a big campaign included planes to search for them and when they found their bodies and inquired from the informants about the names of the revolutionaries, the sent a large military force equipped with Heavy guns and planes to attack Albu Saraya clan and blockade it.

French planes began bombing the villages of the clan, it was a horrific and devastating bombardment where the houses destroyed on the heads of children and women and killed the livestock and burned farms and crops, Some civilians were killed and among them were "Hanash Al-Mousa Al-Ani", "Ali Al-Najras", and a woman who was pregnant, and many were wounded by bullets and shrapnel from planes bombs, All of this was to pressure on the people to surrender the revolutionaries.

Revolutionaries were tried in Aleppo, where The family of Ayyash Al-Haj appointed lawyer Fathallah Al-Saqqal to defend her, The court heard (officer Bono) head of the French intelligence in Deir Ezzor, who said: If each of the criminals, who committed this terrible offense deserve dying once, the gang leader Mohammed ِAl-Ayyash is deserve hanging twice.

The French High Commissioner in Beirut, Maurice Sarrail, issued Decision No. 49S / 5 in August 1925, which ordered the exile of all members of the Ayyash Al-Haj family to the city of Jableh, Mahmoud ِAl-Ayyash and 12 of his companions were sentenced to death. The execution was carried out by firing squad on 15 September 1925 in the city of Aleppo. Mohammed ِAl-Ayyash was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on the island of Arwad in Tartous city.

When the French convinced that the bombing did not work, they resorted to a despicable means where they threatened to arrest the women of the revolutionaries, their mothers and sisters until the revolutionaries surrender themselves to the French, when the news arrived to the revolutionaries, they emerged from their hideouts and surrendered themselves to avoid arresting their women. [[ملف:Ayash_Alhaj_1.jpg|link=https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%84%D9%81:Ayash_Alhaj_1.jpg%7Calt=%7Cthumb%7C254x254px%7CLeader Ayyash Al-Haj]]

Syrian cities participating in the revolution

Ayyash Al-Haj family was subjected to the brutality of the French military authorities after accusing them of preparing for the revolution of the Euphrates Valley in conjunction with the outbreak of the Great Syrian Revolution. The struggle of the family began with the meeting of Mohammed ِAl-Ayyash, the eldest son of leader Ayyash Al-Haj, with Dr. Abdul Rahman Shahbandar, leader of the People's Party in Damascus and they agreed to extend the revolution to the Euphrates region and open a new front against the French to disperse their forces and ease the pressure on the rebels of Ghouta and Jabal al-Arab.

Deir Ezzor, (Ayash Al-Haj family)

After returned Al-Ayyash from Damascus he started to arouse the enthusiasm of the people of Deir Ezzor and invite them to fight, and agreed with his brother Mahmoud to go to the villages of the Albu Saraya clan that living west of Deir ez-Zor and which have a strong friendship with his father Ayyash Al-Haj, to form revolutionary groups with them to strike the French forces. Al-Ayyash managed to form a revolutionary group of thirteen armed men who were ready to take any military action against the French forces. and some people was working with the French at translation centers and others, but they were at the service of the revolutionaries which They were bringing news to Mohammed ِAl-Ayyash about the situation and movements of the French and their activities and the timing of their military operations and Al-Ayyash guides the revolutionaries to strike the French forces.

The revolutionaries managed to carry out painful strikes to the French forces, the last attack was on a car carrying French officers and their driver in Ain Albu Gomaa area on the road between Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, where the revolutionaries attacked and arrested the officers and took them with their car after they took their weapons to a desert called "Al-Aksiyya", and threw them with their driver in one of the abandoned wells where they died.

Shortly after Ayyash Al-Haj family's living in Jableh, The French authorities assassinated Ayyash Al-Haj in a café outside the city by poisoning his coffee, and prevented the transfer of his body to Deir Ezzor city for reasons of public security, He was buried in Jableh in the cemetery of Sultan Ibrahim ibn Adham Mosque where the absent prayers held for the spirit of this martyr mujahid in all the Syrian cities.

Martyrs of the Great Syrian Revolution

The death toll of the Great Syrian Revolution reached 4213 persons distributed in the following Syrian governorates:

• 315 Dead in Aleppo and Idlib.
• 331 Dead in Lattakia, Tartous and the coast.
• 731 Dead in Damascus and Ghouta.
• 150 Dead in Hama.
• 250 Dead in Homs, Nabek and Qalamoun.
• 71 Dead in Deir Ezzor and Al Jazeera.
• 34 Dead in Daraa.
• 2064 Dead in Jabal al-Druze.
• 267 Dead in the Al-Balan region, Rashaya, Majdal Shams and the villages around.

See also

• Sultan al-Atrash
• Ayyash Al-Haj
• Abd Al-Rahman Shahbandar

• Ibrahim Hananu
• Hasan al-Kharrat
• Fawzi al-Qawuqji

• Syria
• Yusuf al-'Azma
• Adham Khanjar

• Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
• Henri Gouraud
• Saleh al-Ali

• 
  Fawzi al-Qawuqji
• 
  Abd Al-Rahman Shahbandar
• 
  Ayyash Al-Haj
• 
  Sultan al-Atrash
• 
  Ibrahim Hananu
• 
  Hasan al-Kharrat

External links

• الثورة السورية الكبرى، قناة الجزيرة، ج1.
• الثورة السورية الكبرى، قناة الجزيرة، ج2.
• الثورة السورية الكبرى، قناة الجزيرة، ج3.

• الشرف الرفيع، قصة البطل يوسف العظمة، قناة الجزيرة، ج1.
• الشرف الرفيع، قصة البطل يوسف العظمة، قناة الجزيرة، ج2.
• الشرف الرفيع، قصة البطل يوسف العظمة، قناة الجزيرة، ج3.

• الشرف الرفيع، قصة البطل يوسف العظمة، قناة الجزيرة، ج4.
• الشرف الرفيع، قصة البطل يوسف العظمة، قناة الجزيرة، ج5.
• الشرف الرفيع، قصة البطل يوسف العظمة، قناة الجزيرة، ج6.

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