Great Syrian Revolt The Great Syrian Revolt ( ) or Great Druze Revolt ( 1925 – 1927 ) was a general uprising across Syria and Lebanon aimed at getting rid of the French , who had been in control of the region since the end of World War I . The uprising was not centrally - coordinated ; rather , it was attempted by multiple factions – among them Sunni , Druze , and Christian – with the common goal of ending French rule . The revolt was ultimately put down by French forces . Background . In 1918 , towards the end of World War I , the Ottoman Empire ' s forces withdrew from Syria after being defeated by the Allied Powers ( Great Britain and France ) and their Hashemite Arab allies from the Hejaz . The British had promised the Hashemites control over a united Arab state consisting of the bulk of Arabic - speaking lands the Ottomans withdrew from , but the Allies had made their own territorial designs over the region entailed in the 1916 Sykes - Picot Agreement . The idea of Syrian and Arab independence were not entirely new concepts . French forces entering Syria faced resistance from local actors in the north in 1919 , with the prominent Alawite sheikh Salih al - Ali launching a revolt in the coastal mountain range and Ibrahim Hananu leading the anti - French struggle in Aleppo and the surrounding countryside . The leaders of both uprisings were vocally supportive of the creation of a united Syrian state presided over by Emir Faisal , the son of Sharif Husayn . In March 1920 the Hashemites officially established the Kingdom of Syria with Faisal as king and the capital in Damascus . In the April 1920 San Remo Conference , the Allies were granted control over the Ottoman Empire ' s former Arab territories by the newly formed League of Nations , with Britain taking control of Palestine , Transjordan and Iraq and France taking control of Syria . This transfer of authority from the Ottomans to the French was generally to the consternation of Greater Syria ' s inhabitants , with the exception of some of the local Christian communities , particularly the Maronite s of Mount Lebanon . The kingdom was dissolved following the defeat of the Hashemites ' pan - Arab forces by the French in the Battle of Maysalun on 23 July . Faisal was consequently driven out of the Mandate of Syria by the French two years later in the Franco – Syrian War , most Syrian nationalists chose not to follow him to Iraq , but to remain in Syria and advocate for independence . After gaining firm control over Syria , France divided the country into several different autonomous entities ( State of Damascus , State of Aleppo , Greater Lebanon , Alawite State and Jabal Druze State . ) Causes . Alienation of the elite . One of the major reasons behind the outbreak of the Great Syrian Revolt was the French relationship with the local elites . The Ottoman Empire , especially in its final centuries , had allowed a large amount of authority to devolve to the local level , and much of the day - to - day administrative functions were carried out by local notables . Indeed , the Ottoman Empire had long institutionalized a similar concept , the millet system , whereby people of different religious affiliations were held to different legal standards ( sharia law applying to Muslims , for example , but not Jews , Catholics , or Orthodox Christians ) . The European powers , however , had little grasp of the intricacies of Ottoman government , and failed to recognize that the disappearance of national authority did not mean that administration ceased to exist on a local level . In the Mandate of Syria , the French assumed that the Syrians were incapable of practicing self - government , and so instituted a system which ostensibly served to train Syrians in that responsibility . French administrators were assigned to all levels of government , and their role was , officially , to train Syrian counterparts in that particular function . The reality of the situation was very different . Instead of teaching , the advisors performed the functions of that office . The effects were negative . Local rulers resented being treated as if they did not know how to perform the functions they had been performing for centuries , and they were opposed to the usurpation of their power . Further , authority had traditionally resided in the hands of a few families , and European administrators , having abandoned systems of caste and class , undermined their position by opening up offices to the general public . Loyalty of tribes . Outside of cities , the French were not entirely successful in winning over nomadic populations , many of whom raised the standard of revolt in 1925 . The Ottoman Empire had initiated the process of tribal sedentarization , but it was not until the French Mandate of Syria that tribes began to lose their nomadic lifestyle . After World War I , the territory that tribes would wander was divided between Turkey , the Mandate of Syria , and the Mandate of Mesopotamia , each of which were controlled by different powers , thereby limiting their freedom of movement . In Syria , the process of industrialization was swift ; roads were quickly built , and cars and buses became commonplace . The situation for nomads was also exacerbated by the influx of minorities from the new country of Turkey , namely Armenians and Kurds , who settled in the Mandate ’ s northern regions . To pacify , or at least control , the tribes , the French instituted several restrictive measures ; for example , tribes could not carry arms in settled areas , and had to pay lump taxes on livestock . Additionally , the French attempted to bribe tribal leaders , but while this worked in some cases , it caused resentment in others , and when the Great Syrian Revolt broke out in 1925 , thousands of tribesmen were eager to fight against the French . Nationalist sentiment . Syrian nationalism was fostered in Faisal ’ s short - lived Iraqi - Syrian union , but after French forces ejected him from Syria , Syrian nationalists affiliated with his government fled the country to avoid death sentences , arrest , and harassment by the French . Some went to Amman , where they found Amir Abdullah sympathetic to their cause , but under increasing pressure from the British , the young Abdullah drove them from Transjordan , where they rejoined other Syrian nationalists at Cairo In 1921 , the Syrian - Palestinian Congress was founded . In 1925 , high commissioner General Maurice Sarrail , in preparation for upcoming elections , allowed the organization of political parties , and the Syrian factions of the Syrian - Palestinian Congress , which had proved itself an ineffectual body , returned to Syria . There , they founded the People ’ s Party in Damascus , which was characterized by an intelligentsia leadership that was antagonistic toward local elites , with no social or economic programs , with support organized around individuals . Though unprepared for and not expecting an uprising , the nationalist elements in Damascus were eager to participate when one arose . Mistreatment of the Druze population . The spark that ignited the Great Syrian Revolt was the treatment of French officials of the Druze population . In 1923 , the leaders of Jabal al - Druze , a region in the southeast of the Mandate of Syria , had come to an agreement with French authorities , hoping for the same degree of autonomy they had enjoyed under the Ottoman Empire . Druze society was governed by a council of notables , the majlis , who selected one of their number to a limited executive position . Traditionally , this role had been dominated by the al - Atrash family since the defeat of the Lebanese Druze in 1860 , but in 1923 , shortly after the agreement made with the French , Selim al - Atrash resigned . Seizing upon the disunity of the al - Atrash family in selecting a successor , the majlis struck at their power by choosing a French officer of the Service des Renseignements , Captain Carbillet . Though he was initially only appointed for three months , his term was later extended indefinitely . Captain Carbillet embarked upon a series of successful modernization reforms , but in the process , he collected Druze taxes in full , disarmed the population , and used the forced labor of prisoners and peasants , upsetting a significant minority . In the meantime , Sultan al - Atrash , the most ambitious member of the al - Atrash family , sent a delegation to Beirut to inform the French High Commissioner , General Maurice Sarrail , that Captain Carbillet ’ s actions were antagonizing most of the Druze population . Instead of hearing the delegates , Sarrail imprisoned them without cause , and upon hearing of this , the Druze returned their support to the al - Atrash family , which by this point was backing Sultan al - Atrash , and rebelled against the French , and indirectly against the majlis who had elevated them to power . Revolution . On August 23 , 1925 Sultan Pasha al - Atrash officially declared revolution against France . Calling upon Syria ' s various ethnic and religious communities to oppose the foreign domination of their land , al - Atrash managed to enlist the aid of large sections of the population in a revolt that now spread throughout Syria , led by such notable figures as Hassan al - Kharrat , Nasib al - Bakri , Abd al - Rahman Shahbandar and Fawzi al - Qawuqji . Fighting began with the Battle of al - Kafr on July 21 , 1925 , the Battle of al - Mazra ' a on August 2 – 3 , 1925 , and the subsequent battles of Salkhad , al - Musayfirah and Suwayda . After initial rebel victories against the French , France sent thousands of troops to Syria and Lebanon from Morocco and Senegal , equipped with modern weapons , compared to the meager supplies of the rebels . This dramatically altered the results and allowed the French to regain many cities , although fierce resistance lasted until the spring of 1927 . The French sentenced Sultan al - Atrash and other national leaders to death , but al - Atrash escaped with the rebels to Transjordan and was eventually pardoned . In 1937 , after the signing of the Franco - Syrian Treaty , he returned to Syria where he was met with a huge public reception . The Course of the war . Initially , the French were ill - equipped to respond to the outbreak of violence . In 1925 , the amount of French troops in the Mandate of Syria was at its lowest ever , numbering only 14 , 397 men and officers , with an additional 5 , 902 Syrian auxiliaries , down from 70 , 000 in 1920 . In 1924 , the French representative reporting to the Permanent Mandates Commission in 1924 wrote that “ the little state of Djebel - Druze [ is ] of small importance and [ has ] only about 50 , 000 inhabitants . ” Consequently , the Druze , when they revolted in September 1925 met with great success , and after a series of victories , including the annihilation of a French relief column , captured the fort at al - Suwayda . Instead of engaging the Druze in the winter , the French decided to temporarily withdraw , a decision noted by the new high commissioner , Henry de Jouvenel , to be a tactical error , as it underrepresented French military strength and encouraged a regional rebellion to achieve national dimensions . Indeed , the weak immediate response of the French invited the intervention of disaffected local elite , tribesmen , and loosely - connected nationalists based in Damascus . First to seize upon the opportunity presented by the revolt were the nomadic tribes , which used the absence of French authority – troops had been drawn away to concentrate on the rebelling region – to prey upon farmers and merchants , thereby creating an atmosphere of sympathy for the rebellious Druze . The nationalists seized upon the Druze revolt in relatively short order , forging an alliance with Sultan al - Atrash within six weeks of the uprising ’ s commencement , and establishing a National Provisional Government in Jabal - Druze with al - Atrash as President and Dr . Abd al - Rahman Shahbandar , leader of the People ’ s Party , as Vice President . In response to the outbreak of violence , Jouvenal declared free and popular elections for every area that had not been affected by the rebellion in the beginning of 1926 . Most elections were held peacefully . However , in two cities , Homs and Hama , the local elites refused to allow elections to be held . A two - day uprising led by Fawzi al - Qawuqji and largely supported by the local population occurred in Hama on 4 – 5 October 1925 . This was followed in September 1926 by a full - fledged insurrection . French forces rushed to put down the new threat , which gave the rebellion added life elsewhere . At the time , the lack of troops meant that for the French to focus on Homs and Hama , they had to neglect other regions , allowing the revolt to spread . Within two months the Homs - Hama region fell , but the conflict there bought rebels elsewhere much - needed breathing room , and taught the rebels in Damascus a valuable lesson about troop placement . Despite the revolts in Homs and Hama , the turn - out for the elections suggested to the French that the Syrian people had a desire for peace ; in the rural areas around Homs and Hama , where no violence was reported , voter turn - out was 95 % . Further , it revealed that the many of the belligerents were local elites , and when full amnesty was again offered in February 1926 , the entire country , with the exception of Jebal - Druze and Damascus , was pacified . The lessons the rebels learned from Homs and Hama were many , and were what sustained the rebellion for a further year and a half . Homs and Hama were lost because the rebels concentrated their forces in the face of overwhelming French firepower , because they fortified their position and waited for the French to arrive , and because they made no attempt to sever French lines of communication . In Damascus , the rebels were dispersed , so that no random artillery fire would defeat them . Further , when the Druze attacked Damascus , they did so from multiple directions . Both groups repeatedly cut French lines of communication , and while the French suffered few difficulties in restoring them , the psychological effect the destruction had on them was significant . Despite the breadth of the rebellion and the initial rebel successes , the dedication of the French made its defeat inevitable . By early 1926 , they had increased their troop numbers to 50 , 000 , roughly the size of the total Druze population . By the spring , much of Damascus had been destroyed by artillery fire , and the nationalist leadership had been forced into exile . In the spring of the following year , the Druze were decisively defeated , and Sultan al - Atrash went into exile in Transjordan to escape the death penalty . Results . The Great Syrian Revolt , while a loss for the rebels , did result in changes in the French attitude toward imperialism . Direct rule was believed to be too costly , and in Syria , the threat of military intervention was replaced with diplomatic negotiation . A softer approach to Syrian rule was taken , and in March 1928 , just a year after the rebellion was put down , a general amnesty was announced for Syrian rebels . A small addendum was attached , decreeing that the rebellion ’ s leadership , including Sultan al - Atrash and Dr . Shahbandar , would not be allowed to return . The impact on Syria itself was profoundly negative . At least 6 , 000 rebels were killed , and over 100 , 000 people were left homeless , a fifth of whom made their way to Damascus . After two years of war , the city was ill - equipped to deal with the influx of displaced Syrians , and Hama was similarly devastated . Across Syria , towns and farms had suffered significant damage , and agriculture and commerce temporarily ceased .