The Second World War in Syria and Lebanon

05The Second World War in Syria and Lebanon

• France put both Syria and Lebanon at the service of the French war machine — but she fell under the feet of the German armies: Marshal Pétain made an armistice with Germany and his government in central and southern France, showing a leaning towards Germany, became known as the Vichy government.
• General de Gaulle refused the defeat and insisted on continuing the resistance; his government was known as Free France, directed from England.
• In Syria and Lebanon the French forces declared their allegiance to the Vichy government, out of spite against England, which the French accused of having abandoned France in its ordeal.
• Rashid Ali al-Kilani's revolt broke out in Iraq against the English presence, and Nazi Germany declared its readiness to answer the call of the Iraqi revolt by landing German aircraft at the airfields of Syria and Lebanon.
• Therefore the English hurried to seize Syria and Lebanon, meeting weak resistance because of the collapsing morale among the French forces there, who found themselves facing not only the fight against the English but against their own French brothers.