Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1926-06-26
WAR RACES IN SYRIA
Continued from page u

artillery, effected entrance into the
village of Tirte and returned to
Soueida without incident. In the
region of Salkhad, column marched
upon the village of Intam, which was
occupied at 10 o'clock"
June 17-"This morning in the re-
gion of Rankus, a detachment at
tackled the village from the west
while a second detachment charged
the rebels occupying the hills to the
east. The enemy positions were cap
tured after brilliant combat. The
enemy left forty dead upon the field
of battle"
June 18.-"It was 1O7 dead that
the enemy left behind after the
storming of Rankus, instead of forty,
as given out yesterday"
A second communique of June IS.
The train from Aleppo to Beirut
was halted north of Baalbeck by rebel
bands who cut the railroad tracks,
hred upon the armored train and
burned the station and village of La
boue. Repression is being carried
out"
Druses Adopt New Methods.
Such is the situation in Syria. The
French hold the cities along the main
lines of the Aleppo-J Rail
road securely. Aleppo HONS, Hama,
Damascus, Seraand, even Soueida
and Salkhad, recently captured from
the Druses, are firmly in their pos
session without immediate prospect
of the Dissidents dislodging them.
But the French are virtually prison.
ers in the cities with the disaffected
tribesmen running wild throughout
the country. In order to GO from
one city to another, slow moving
armored trains or tank conveyed
automobiles are necessary. Even the
train from Beirut to Damascus, run
ming the greater part of the journey
through relatively pacified Labanon,
carries special armored coach with
two machine guns behind the locomo-
tive.
Stations and tracks are guarded
by soldiers. To go from Kayak to
Damascus reminds one of trip from
Nancy to Verdun during the opera
tions Of 1916, so thickly are the SOL
diers-mostly Circassian and Ar
menian decentralization the sta
tions.
The Druses have learned many
military lessons, and are now con-
Quoting warfare along different lines
from their early tactics. AS result
they have scattered in groups of 100
or 200 which harass the French troops
from the TANKS without risking a
frontalPattack.
DAMASCUS, June 22.-There is
no cessation in the daily lombard
ment of dissident Druse tribesmen's
positions in the outlying gardens by
the French, and daily there is the
same exchange of rifle and machine
gun fire that has been going on for
the last eight months.
Neutral witnesses of this guerilla
warfare on the one side and artillery
and plane bombing on the other since
October, 1925, say the property de.
stroyed amounts to about $6,000,000
Neutral business men and diplo
mats say that Damascus will be en-
tirely wrecked inside of a year shoulC
the present situation continue. One
third of the city is now in ruins, anC
the other two-thirds practically life
less. Stores and shops are closed anC
business is at standstill.
The French military rank and fiji,
who have been lodging bullets for tn,
past six months and daily riskin)
their lives resent the fact that no ade
quate picture of the situation il
Damascus has been given the outsid
world by the authorities here. The,
feel that no greater insult can b
, aimed at their courage and loyalt
than by denying their risks whereve
they have been living.
! The other evening in the officer,