Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-04
British Occupy Iroq Oil Center
And Strengthen Syria Position;
Beirut Tanks Reported Bombed
London Says Boghdod
Has Martial Law
After Rioting

eDAAO - ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
War has SWept into Near East
IN tuH force as result OF German
conquest OF Greece, British sub
juqdtion OF IraQi reUolt and Arts
successes in North Africa. Ger
mans Uere reported several days
ago to hare landed mechanical
forces in Syria. but reports hare
not been confirmed.
BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, June 4.-Britain
claimed today to have strength
ened her hand for the great
battle shaping up in the Near
East by two steps aimed at
thwarting German strategy, but
her position in Iraq apparently
still was delicate.
These preliminaries for what may
be portentous struggle for the
Near East's oil and control of the
Suez Canal were announced by the
British as successfully completed:
l. Reoccupation of Mosul, the oil
senter of Iraq, by British troops.
2. Necessary precautions in re-
gard to Syria the potential bridge
head for an Axis thrust into Iraq
and backdoor drive toward Suez.
British planes bombed the
Shell oil depot at Beirut, in
French-mandated Lebanon, this
morning. blowing up reservoirs
and setting fire to a building,
reports reaching Vichy said.
The raid apparently was made
after an unsuccessful lombard
ment by one British plane late
yesterday, in which one native
was killed and only a small
amount of property damage was
reported.
The second raid. these reports
said, was made by four planes
which flew over at $40 am,
dropping bombs on the company
installations, Wounding one
French officer and one French
soldier.
The British Royal Air Force
reported in Cairo, without elabo-
ration, that "a petrol dump at
Beirut, in Syria was bombed and
machine gunned by our air.
craft yesterday
Martial Law In Baghdad.
Although order was said to have
been restored, the Near East general
headquarters conceded that martial
law had been declared by the Iraq
government in Baghdad yesterday
following serious rioting."
A House of Commons inquest into
Britains Crete disaster and a
parliamentary inquiry into conduct
of the war as whole were pre-
dicted by political correspondents
One said there was widespread dis
satisfaction among members of
Commons, who regard the loss of
Crete as the price of "a grave lack
of foresight on the part of respon-
sible authorities"
An authoritative source, report
ing precautionary measures con-
corning French-mandated Syria
where German men and machines
already have been reported, said
the 1raq settlement has enabled
us to prepare for whatever may blow
up in Syria"
Not All Activity by Foes.
at would be wrong" he added,
"to assume that all activities and
preparations in that part of the
world are French and German"
The British" he said, have been
able to take necessary precautions
in regard to Syria which we were
unable to do while the Iraq business
still was unsettled"
He said he was unable to confirm
or deny reports that German sea-
borne troops had landed in Syria.
A Vichy report that Gen. Maxine
Weygand had been charged with
defense of the French Empire might
be only big talk" by the French
government, he asserted, "as it is
unlikely that such defense would
remain single-handed very long
any more than the Italian defense
OF Libya remained single handed"
Sharing the spotlight with
French inundated Syria were
Vichy's other strongholds, where,
the News Chronicle declared. the
Nazis have been given the right to
use six key naval bases along the
tSee NEAR EAST, Page A-6D