Druse Revolt 1925-1927

In 1923 Captain Carbillet, the French, but Druze-elected, governor of Jabal ad-Duruz, introduced modern administrative and social reforms that antagonized the population. The high-handed treatment accorded Druze complaints by the high commissioner, General Maurice Sarrail, and his arrest and detainment of several Druze leaders in July 1925 resulted in a full-fledged rebellion.

In 1925 the Aleppo and Damascus provinces were joined, and in 1926 Lebanon became an independent republic under French control. The League of Nations in its session in Rome in February to March 1926 stated: "The Commission thinks it beyond doubt that these oscillations in matters so calculated to encourage the controversies inspired by the rivalries of races, clans and religions, which are so keen in this country, to arouse all kinds of ambitions and to jeopardize serious moral and material interests, have maintained a condition of instability and unrest in the mandated territory."

Devastating proof of the miscalculations of the French burst into the open with the 1925 Druze revolt. The Druzes had many complaints, but chief among them was the foreign intervention in Druze affairs. The Ottomans had never successfully subdued these mountain people; although split among themselves, they were united in their opposition to foreign rule. Led by Sultan Pasha al Atrash, Druzes attacked and captured Salkhad on July 20, 1925, and on August 2 they took the Druze capital, As Suwayda.

Druze Revolt (1925), Druze also spelled DRUSE, uprising of Druze tribes throughout Syria and in part of Lebanon directed against French mandatory officials who attempted to upset the traditions and the tribal hierarchy of Jabal ad-Duruz. Led by Sultan al-Atrash, the Druze defeated the French in August and by September were joined by Syrian nationalists from the People's Party, who entreated their countrymen to join the revolt. When the rebellion reached Damascus, the French bombed the city, but Druze discontent continued to expand into southern Lebanon. The French fought the insurgents throughout 1926, bombing Damascus once again, this time meeting with greater success, and by mid-1927 most of the trouble had died out.

News of the Druze rebellion spread throughout Syria and ignited revolts in Aleppo and Damascus among Syrian nationalists, who pleaded with Atrash to attack the Syrian capital. In October the Druzes invaded the Damascus region; nationalist leaders led their own demonstrations; and the French began systematic bombardment of the city, resulting in the death of 5,000 Syrians. The rebellion collapsed by the end of the year, and reluctant order replaced open revolt.

Jabal ad-Duruz was henceforth kept under tighter French control; high officials, such as the governor, were no longer elected but appointed and most often were French. The natural tendency of the Druze to isolationism was encouraged in order to keep them free of Arab nationalism but dependent on the French for their security.

References

How to Stop a War; Druze Revolt; Syria - A Country Study.

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