CHAOS IN SYRIA.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18526, 30 October 1925, Page 11

CHAOS IN SYRIA.

jtRENCH mandate AREA. MILITARY governor UNPOPULAR. I PRESTIGE OF FRANCE IMPERILLED. - rt _pggss AggofUTios—coiraiOHT.) (" "Sex" SzavroK.) : ; (Received October 20th, S p.m.) PARIS, October 23. President Dcuinergue urgently sumd If Paiiileve r.nd drew attention. rV serious Damascus reports, inIcting M. Painleve to take instant «ps to deal with a situation linpenl- ] S j n j prance's prestige and 1 iench lives property. it is feared that, despite the civil of Damascus, military retirement will be necessary. It is' announced that 10.(XX) lcinforttiiients are eu route to Syria, some from'Maroec 0 - , He newspapers deplore General t>arjjjl's administration and regret that ie obstinately i ejected the broad hint (lut lie should return. A British refugee asserts that tho [wo bard merit killed 20J French and j6 ieral thousand Syrians. It is semi-official)}' explained in Pons fb»t when General Gameliivs column left Damascus, leaving r small French garrison, the Prunes began looting, and the garrison, fearing that it would be overwhelmed, decided lo slieli the quarter which the Druses must cross if thev attefnpted to attack the garrison. ' PARIS. October I'D. ' General Garaclin's poweiftd column, of three infantry regiments, cavalry, irtillery, and tanks, while ictreating from Mousseifra, w;\s surrounded in tho Syrian desert mid is desperately endeavouring to fight its way to »*fety. Prance Uneasy. French unecoiness regarding Damascus is sl'iov.u by ' - Le Joi-runl asking whether it is true, i s English newspapers declare, that Gcienil Sarrail, before the i.Kiiu'jaidiiiei'i omitted ..<> follow the elementary rule in the law oi the nations whereby the cor.-ular body is informed and due warning; ; iveu for the evaluation of women and children. "Le Journal" says that it ha., Uecii stated that the omission led to a protest by the consular body transmitted by its doyen, the German Consul, whose recall General Sarra.il then demanded. f HAVOC IN DAMASCUS. DUMBER OF DEAD OVERSTATED. t V1XII.") - The diplomatic correspondent of tho | ''Daily Telegraph" says that conflrmaiioQ of the gravity of the situation in Dimascus has reached London. Terrible damage was wrought by the Frcuch Garrison Artillery and air \ bombers, as well as by rioters. Tho j Consular bodj' in Damascus is claiming c damages against France. "It must i be admitted," says the correspondent, 1 "that since the arrival of General Sarrail the whole country has become : chaotic." ! • "The"Damascus correspondent of "The Tiinta" says that, while the material Ij&voc is serious enough, fantastic accounts of thousands being killed and thfc population deserting the city are merely propaganda- or the feverish imaginings of refugees. Actual inspection showed that only two foreigners were killed and ono British subject •Toundod. The casualties among the satire population arc unlikely to be TOtich greater proportionately. The outbreak was really the outcome of tho situation in Jebel Druse, but the Druses who engaged in pillaging, shooting, and incendiarism at Damascus seem not to have acted from political motives, but from a desire forplunder. It was a great mistake to display the corpus of the brigands on camels, ■ fliicji were paraded through the streets, bearing the dangling bodies, k was a revolting spectacle, which, in•te»d of over-awing tho brigands, inijriated the entire populace. One consequence was that the French found the bodies of 12 of their Circassian irdeposited outside tho city gate i mornings later, i Tito lover elements of the populv <Wif rejdily joined forces with the bri--B*nds in 'attacking tho French troops overpowering the police. MOSLEM APPEAL FOR AID. byCTSAUAK AJtD X.Z. CABLE ISJOOUTIO*.) JERUSALEM, October 28. Arab Executive Committee has j appealed to the wliolo Moslem world .jf subscribe to relievo tho distress in | The committee protests against ] .induct of the French authorities J : ,u .%ri«; ' hundred and fifty refugees ! "tai Damascus, mostly Christians, V? arrived at Alexandria. They dcthat tho- authorities are doing Utmost to prcfrent people leaving «jr«. SfiRACH OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. fotTtim!? AXD S.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received October 29tli, 7.20 p.m.) LONDON, October 29. , iae I' ar i s correspondent of the Morning Post" says that wcll-inform- ?;■ . J£W°lls admit that General Sarrail failed to respect certain , i aW 3_ n understood 'hi ' B re^'y to the-French Govern- , ljj 5 ? * en^uir y. General Sarrail states wd Sot time to respect the laws in if j lO i iac ] horno them, in • '•.."V *he catastrophe would have been ' ""heater.