Battle of al - Musayfirah The battle of al - Musayfirah was one of the major military engagements between Druze rebels and the French Army on 17 September 1925 , during the early stage of the Great Syrian Revolt , which continued on until 1927 . After initial rebel victories against French forces at al - Kafr and then al - Mazraa , an advance guard of the French Army , then under the leadership of General Maurice Gamelin , was dispatched to the village of al - Musayfirah on 15 September . After clearing the village of its inhabitants , they set up fortifications in preparation for an assault on al - Suwayda . The battle commenced on 16 September when Druze rebels launched an early morning attack against French positions . Unable to significantly breach French lines , the rebels experienced heavy casualties after sunrise when they were consistently bombarded by French aircraft for three hours . The rebels subsequently withdrew , although a number were captured by French forces prior . Several of al - Musayfirah ' s residents were also killed before and during the battle . The French victory , the first significant one during the revolt , paved the way for their capture of al - Suwayda on 24 September , although they withdrew two months later due to inhospitable conditions . Background . After the defeat of the Ottomans and their subsequent withdrawal from Syria , the country was occupied by France in 1918 , and later established the French Mandate over the area . It set up several autonomous entities ( Damascus State , Aleppo State , Greater Lebanon , Alawite State and Jabal Druze State ) . The latter comprised the predominantly Druze - inhabited Jabal al - Arab ( also known as " Jabal al - Druze " ) region in southeastern Syria , east of the Hauran . Although the Druze leadership at the time favored autonomous rule from Damascus , tensions developed when the inhabitants viewed the increasing involvement of the French authorities as overriding interference in their affairs and a way of undermining the Jabal ' s traditional leadership , particularly the al - Atrash family . From 1922 , a number of incidents involving the two sides eventually led to the Druze leader Sultan Pasha al - Atrash declaring an uprising against the French in July 1925 , which became known as the Great Syrian Revolt . The Druze won important battles at al - Kafr and al - Mazraa in mid and late July and the defeated French forces came under the new leadership of Maurice Gamelin who arrived in Damascus in mid - September to assemble his troops in preparation for a move against al - Musayfirah , located west of the Jabal , and from there al - Suwayda , the principal city of the Jabal . Al - Musayfirah ' s inhabitants had accepted the rule of the Mandate and conceded to the imposition of taxes by the French authorities , which to the latter , was enough to consider it a " submitted " village , as opposed to a rebellious one . However , during the uprising , the residents of al - Musayfirah hosted the rebels , gaining the ire of the government . The village was now seen as " treasonous " by the authorities and thus liable to the harshest punishment : execution of the majority of male residents and demolition of homes . In general , most villages along the front lines of the Hauran were in an awkward position , having to possibly face retribution from either the authorities for providing safe haven to the rebels or from the rebels themselves for not agreeing to host them . However , executions were rarely administered by the rebels as a punitive measure against uncooperative villages . The battle . On 15 September al - Musayfirah was occupied by 600 – 800 French troops , initially coming from the Foreign Legion which was divided into the 5th Battalion of the 5th Legion Cavalry Regiment ( REC ) commanded by Major Kratzert and the 4th Squadron of the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment ( REI ) commanded by Captain Landriau . These troops formed an advance force dispatched by General Gamelin . Upon their arrival , al - Musayfirah ' s residents were either expelled or killed . The French forces promptly began to establish fortifications in the village , building stone walls , digging trenches and setting up barbed wire and machine gun turrets . A few days before , the rebel leaders had convened in ' Ara to the east and , apparently with prior knowledge of the French attempt to take over al - Musayfirah , planned to attack them there . An informant from the meeting had notified the French authorities , who were now expecting an attack by Druze forces . Seeking to attack French positions before the bulk of Gamelin ' s army from Damascus arrived to the village , the rebels made a charge against al - Musayfirah on 16 September . While they were able to consistently charge against French positions for around 10 hours , but were successfully repulsed by French machine gun fire each time . The rebels launched a second major assault in the early morning of 17 September , but once more , no significant number of rebels were unable to breach the lines . However , a number of rebel infiltrators managed to ambush French legionnaires in al - Musayfirah ' s narrow streets . This part of the battle was largely marked by hand - to - hand fighting , despite the bulk of the French forces being cavalry - based . After sunrise , French aircraft bombarded rebel forces 27 times within the span of three hours . A French rescue column , consisting of a battalion of the 16th ( or the 18th ) Tirailleurs under the commanded of Colonel Charles Andréa arrived in the evening hours . By the end of the battle , several hundred Druze fighters were slain , although the sources vary about the actual figure with Michael Provence stating it was between 300 – 400 , while Jean - Denis Lepage writing it was close to 500 . Among the deceased rebels was the local chief of Rasas , Sheikh Salman Hamza as well as his four sons . On the French side , 47 soldiers were killed and 83 wounded , while all the French cavalry horses were lost , despite not being utilized . There were also about 500 wounded Druze who were captured after the battle as prisoners of war . They were ordered by Andréa to pile up the slain rebels and residents of al - Musayfirah in front of the village to serve as an example . The POWs were subsequently executed . The battle of al - Musayfirah marked the first French victory during the revolt . Aftermath . General Gamelin arrived at al - Musayfirah on 19 September via the rail station at Izra ' . On 21 September Gamelin ' s 8 , 000 troops marched to al - Suwayda . After minimal resistance , the French captured the city but returned to al - Musayfirah after two months , due to the virtual desertion by al - Suwayda ' s inhabitants , the lack of water and the surrounding rebel - dominated mountainous countryside . Although many Druze leaders surrendered to French rule after the rebels ' defeat at al - Musayfirah , these submissions did not hold once the French withdrew from al - Suwayda and the Jabal al - Arab region . The withdrawal was perceived by the rebels and their sympathizers throughout Syria as a victory over the French army . A monument was later erected in al - Musayfirah to honor the rebels ' efforts during the battle .