Evening star., 1941-06-19
Attack on Damascus
Reported Under Way
As U|timdtum Expires
British-De GouIIist Forces
Threaten City on 3 Sides;
One Column 31z Miles OFF
By the Associated Pres..

By the Associated Prest.
LONDON, June 19.-An authorita-
tive source said today the French
defenders of Damascus apparently
had rejected a British demand for
surrender and expressed belief that
Allied forces already had launched
a direct attack on the city.
A British Middle East communique
in Cairo claimed capture Of i'm
portant positions" just south of
Damascus and said British-Free
French forces had retaken Kuneitra
and surrounded strong Vichy forces
in Merdjayoun, both on the South
ern Syrian front.
Reuters british news agency
earlier had reported that Gen. Sir
Henry Maitland Wilson, British
cOmmandant for Palestine and
Tarns-Jordan, had broadcast from
Jerusalem an ultimatum calling on
the French to surrender by $50
am. u0:30 pm. E. S. T. last night
At noon today there was no indi-
cation here that the ultimatum had
been complied with.
Dispatches from the Middle East
previously had indicated that Da-
mascus was threatened from three
sides by British-De Gaullist forces
who pushed across the Syrian from
tier II days ago and that the at
tack had begun.
Good Deal Of Opposition.
A military spokesman at Jerusalem
reported "a good deal of opposition"
by defenders of the city as British.
Free French and Indian troops
closed in from the west, south and
southeast.
Closest to the city last night was
a column which occupied Mezze, a
western suburb ga miles from
Damascus.
Continuous pressure also was be-
ing exerted along the front southeast
of the capital at Jebel Ell Kelb CHill
of the Dog, the spokesman said.
Reuters, British news agency,
quoted Columbia Broadcasting
System correspondent in Ankara as
reporting the British ultimatum.
Failure to capitulate meant a Brit
ish attack on the capital at dawn,
it said
Wavell May Direct an Offensive.
Other reports from Ankara said a
major British offensive probably
would be launched today under the
direct command of British Middle
East Generalissimo Sir Archibald P.
Wavell and that heavy British re-
Inducements had been sent into
Syria and Iraq.
French forces holding Merdjay-
oun, in the central sector about 40
miles southeast Of Damascus, were
reported under heavy counter
attacks and the Jerusalem spokes-
man said the Allies were meeting
with some successes" but there was
no news of the recapture of the
important road junction.
Communications on the railroad
line from the Trans-Jordan border
to Kissoue, just south of Damascus,
were reopened with the recapture
Tuesday of EZraa, the spokesman
said, and raiding French parties
were driven out of Kuneitra, point
we'll behind the general Allied
front, that night.
Australians Advance.
On the coastal sector advance
Australian shock troops were re-
ported in Jerusalem to have reached
the village of Damour. 13 miles
south of Beirut, capital of Lebanon.
A parallel column supporting the
Australian flank in the hills to the
east has captured several tanks and
many French infantrymen, a
spokesman in Jerusalem added.
Hakki Ell Ann, former Syrian
Prime Minister, was reported to have
appealed from Cairo to Gen. Henri
Dentz, French high commissioner in
the Levant states, to give up the
struggle, avoid bloodshed and de-
struction" and protect the interests
of the people"