FIGHTING IN STRIA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 195, 31 May 1945, Page 5

FIGHTING IN STRIA

FRENCH AGGRESSION.

AIRCRAFT DROP BOMBS. BATTLE THROUGHOUT NIGHT. BRITAIN SEEKING SETTLEMENT. (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 30. Heavy fighting is going on in Damascus, where the French are using mortars planes and field guns against the Syrians, says the Beirut correspondent of the British United Press. •t French troops e(irly this morning blasted their way into the Syrian Parliament House after smashing the gate with a shell from a 7omm. gun. It is also reported that French aircraft dropped several bombs on Damascus and machine-gunned sections of the streets. The United States Consul was forced to ride in a British armoured car to the Syrian. Presidency. Telephone communications between Damascus and Beirut have been cut pff. The Syrian President, Ali Kuwaiti, has appealed to the British and AmenCj*n Ministers for immediate intercession. The French-controlled radio in. Beirut states .that the battle for Damascus began when armed civilians and Syrian gendarmes attacked the French Legation and other French posts. Describing the fighting, which continued in Damascus all yesterday evening and which is still going on .this morning, Reuter’s Damascus correspondent says: “The battle started about 7 p.m., and after continuing fiercely for two hours, was fought at varying intensity throughout the night. All kinds of arms were used, including rifles, tommy-guns and ma-chine-guns. Flares lit up the city and showed French planes flying over. One report said that 150 wounded civilians are in hospital and six are reported to have been killed when French troops directed mortar lire against the Citadel. Incendiary bullets hit a petrol pump near the Government printing works, opposite the British Officers’ Club, and caused a fairly large fire,”

The trouble started soon after the French made a show of force in armoured cars in the vicinity of Parliament.

The Acting-Prime Minister of Syria, Jamil Mardam Bey, had received a message from Mr Churchill which he intended to read in Parliament, but as there was no quorum he returned to the Serail, which is the Syrian administrative building, where lie summoned several prominent Deputies to hear the message, but it again was not read. Pandemonium broke out around the building and Mardam Bey had to devote himself to giving orders to deal with the situation. Shooting began after Mardam Bey reached the Serail. It apparently originated in the escape of a Syrian deserter from the French Army, who ran into a crowd of Svrian civilians. They tried to protect the deserter and French Hoops, who saw the incident, fired. Their shots were returned, and the crowd scrambled for safety. The shooting spread, and Mardam Bey ordered the gendarmes outside the administrative building not to shoot unless the building was attacked. He had a dinner appointment with Mr Terence Shone, the British Minister, but it was not kept. _ Mr Shone is reported to have been slightly injured in the face by flying glass. * Mr Churchill, in a message to Mardam Bey, counselled the Syrians to be tolerant and calm until the situation was more settled. Effort to Ease Situation. The British Government has taken a certain initiative in attempting to improve the situation in Syria and Lebanon, said Mr Anthony Eden in the House of Commons. Mr Eden added that he would like to see the result before saying more. A London diplomatic correspondent reports that consultations between Britain, France and the United States upon the situation in Syria and Lebanon, where tension is not relieved, are continuing. It is hoped that if tranquillity could be restored it might be possible to create an atmosphere in which the more serious and •complicated problems' might be examined. The situation is being watched with anxiety and deep interest by all the Arab States now associated in the Arab Union, the secretary-general of which has addressed a note to the British Government giving their viewpoint upon the dispute. Representatives of all States in the Arab Union are meeting soon to consider tne situation. .Meanwhile the preoccupation of the British and United States’Governments is the preservation of a calm restraint 1o permit the creation of an atmosphere in which it would be possible for negotiations to begin.