French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
In 1987, Syria was home to approximately 100,000 Circassians, about half of whom lived in Hauran province, and many of the Circassians used to live in the Golan Heights. During the time of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (1920–1946), Circassians served with the French troops in the "escadron tcherkesse" (Cherkess squadron), earning them enduring distrust from the Syrian Sunni Arabs.