Arab revolt (1921)

The 1921 Arab revolt was a semi-succesfull rebellion against the Ottoman Empire by the Arabic, Druze,Assyrian and Kurdish populace.

The revolt failed in liberating all Arab lands, but was still able to conquer, and solidify it's rule over Hejaz. Thanks to the loss of the islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the Ottomans lost whatever islamic authority they had. The Arabic Liberation Front, which advocates for arabic unity, and liberation of all Arab lands, has commited multiple terror actions, and raids since.

## Background

In 1920, Persia, sensing Ottoman weakness tried to take the Shia-majority Mesopotamia away from th Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans by now, lost most of their momentum. The only thing keeping this empire together for the last few centuries wasit's strong army and Islam. But after the young Turk revolution, the Ottomans started slowly moving away from Islam, and more towards Turkic nationalism. This in turn angered the many different people in the empire, like the Arabs, Druze, Kurds, and many more. The Empire narrowly avoided most conflict up until the Persian war, which was a defensive one, ever since the start of the 20th century. This isolated them from Europe, and, albeit saved the empire, caused the Ottomans to fall more in "ranks".

In 1919 Turkish settlers were sent to populate areas, originally inhabited by minorities. This led to extreme ethnic and religious violence (as seen in Lebanon, where natives, especially Christian, were massacred after the murder of 4 Turkish settlers). The police, and military, always sided with Turkish settlers, (as commanded from above) even during massacres committed by settlers. The sudden war with Persia was the final stab to the stability of the empire. The Hashemites have been gathering up their power for a revolt ever since 1914. These events, only strengthened this power. Syrian nationalism was on the rise ever since the end of the 19th century. The Ottoman push for sedentarization of tribes, only angered them even more.

## The Conflict(s)

### The start of the Great Syrian Revolt, early successes

The Great Syrian revolt started in early 1921. It was the first revolt, and started while the Perso-Ottoman war was still ongoing. The revolt was originally not completely centralized, instead many groups (Druze, Christians, Shias, Sunnis etc) rose up consecutively to end Ottoman rule, which ever since the 1906 Young Turk revolution, has started slowly moving towards Turkish nationalism. The revolt started with the massacre of Turkish settlers in smaller villages. Sultan Al-Atrash, who originally was the one who called for a revolt, initially gained many victories against the Ottoman arm, whom in the last few years practiced heavy isolationism. The revolt gained help from a party with rising popularity-The Arab Liberation Fron (ALF) which initially argued for liberating and uniting all Arab lands under a secular state. The Ottomans, not being able to divert too much resources thanks to the war wth Persia, cared little about "the revolt of some Druze". The revolt spread like wildfire, and by mid 1921 The Syrian forces ruled all of Jabal-Al Druze, and much of the Syrian desert.

### The revolt spreads- Hejaz

The loyalty of the Hashemite king of Hejaz, was always a questionable. Ever since 1916, secretly, the Hashemites started plotting a revolt, allying many tribes, and increasing their initial forces. The war with Persia prompted a revolt, but nevertheless the Hashemites still "passed on the opportunity". The success of the Great Syrian Revolt, and the lack of Ottoman actions against it, was what truly made the Hashemites deem the revolt safe enough. In the battle of Mecca the initial Ottoman resistance was quickly put down, and the arabic forces could now advance to the North. Ottoman forces in Hejaz, quickly put up bunkers, and other means of resistance, and requested reinforcements, unlike the Syrian troops, whom, under the command of Djemal Pasha did not want to act dishonorably. The resisting forces were overwhelmed swiftly, and the Arabs were only stopped at Tabuk, by Nuri Pasha's forces.

(Hashemite troops in the desert of Hejaz, the supplier of equipment is still unknown)

### The rise of the ALF

Following the revolts, on 1921 September 11th many arabic intellectuals met in Deir-ez-Zoir to discuss the future of the Arabic populace. At the time, Deir-ez-Zoir was the biggest city which was the biggst city controlled by the Syrian rebels. By that time, a large number of arab nationalist parties formed, and the talks were mostly about possibly forming a new united party to represent all arabs. The talks were a massive success, and on September 20th, the Arabic Liberation Front was formed. The party was dominated by the reformists, whom wanted to create a democratic, secular Arabian state. Soon after the formation of the party, the ALF tried to start negotiations with the Ottomans, which subsequently failed. In October the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) formed, which started, raids, and bomb attacks against military targets throughout the middle east, the most famous being the assasination of Nuri Pasha in Ammam.

### Selim I Offensive, and Anti Insurgency

#### Preparations

Named after the Sultan who conquered Syria from the Mamluks this operation's goal was to clear Greater Syria (Syria and Palestine) from rebellions. The 35th,39th,46th,47th,,48th, 54th and 57th divisions, all freshly recruited, were originally planned to be sent to the Persian front, but thanks to the dire situation and the Syrian assault of Damascus the divisions had to be reassigned. The first major Turkish victory was at Damascus were the Syrian attack was defeated by the undersupplied Ottoman defenders. By now the Syrian revolt was still in a dire situationd, as the armies were still led by local warlords, and tribal leaders. The revolt did have official leadership but they hardly had any control over the many pockets. Nevertheless these warlords were still coordinated, as seen in the battle Aleppo, and Damascus. On 1921 October the 23rd the new 7th army comprising of about 60,000 men entered Syria.

#### First engagements

The first engagement was in Kobane were Syrian guerillas succesfully ambushed Ottoman artillery. The casualties were 23 Syrian, 17 Ottoman dead and 4 Artillery damaged beyond repair. The first major batte was in Manbij, were the Ottomans severely defeated a massive Syrian ambush led by a local warlord. The great succes was followed by the succesfull capture of Manbij.

Casualties in these early stages were the most reported. There were about 750 Syrian, and 133 Ottoman deaths.

#### The Great Battle of Aleppo.

On the start of Decmber the 35th, 48th, and 57th divisions entered Aleppo, but were quickly pushed back by Syrian resistance. Aleppo, and many of the major cities were under the complete rule of the central military command, and as such were much more coordinated than the rural territories. The 3 divisions were soon reinforced by a new armor battalion, against which the Syrians did not have weapons. The Ottomans spearheaded into the city were brutal house to house fighting started. Most major roads and streets in the city were dominated by Ottoman armor, and any push against the was futile. Even so the Ottomans were sustaining an extremely large amount of casualties thanks to the Syrian defence in much of the old city and suburbs. By February the city was completely under Ottoman control.

The heroic resistance of the 5000 Syrians which lasted 2 months against the overwhelming Ottoman army was reported even in western and eastern countries.