Throughout the 20th century Homs held high political importance in the country and was home to several heads of state and other high-ranking government officials. In October 1918, it was captured by the 5th Cavalry Division of the Allied forces. During the French mandate, Homs was part of the State of Damascus. It was considered for some time to become the capital of the Syrian Federation. In Autumn 1925, the city joined Damascus and the southern Druze chieftains in a full-blown revolt against French rule. In 1932, the French moved their military academy from Damascus to Homs to be established in 1933, later known as Homs Military Academy, and it remained the only military academy in Syria until 1967. The French authorities had created a locally recruited military force designated as the Special Troops of the Levant, in which the Alawites were given privileged positions. The military academy in Homs trained the indigenous officers for these "Troupes Speciales du Levant". The Homs Military Academy played a major role in the years following Syria's independence, as many of its graduates went on to become high-ranking officers in the Syrian Army, many of them taking part in the series of coup d'états that were to follow. An important example was Hafez al-Assad who became the president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.