“INDEFENSIBLE SLAUGHTER”

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24581, 1 June 1945, Page 5

“INDEFENSIBLE SLAUGHTER”

Damascus Swept By Gunfire LEGATIONS HIT (N.Z. Frets Association-Copyright) (Bee. 1.15 a.m.) LONDON. May 31. “Damascus is a battlefield between the French and Syrians,” gays an Associated Press correspondent in a delayed dispatch lodged at Beirut yesterday. “The outbreak of violence is one of the most inexplicable on record.” The correspondent adds that his dispatch was carried to Beirut and (filed there because the 300 yards between his hotel in Damascus and the telegraph office was incessantly swept by machinegun, mortar, and artillery fire, which the French were pouring into the city, and by answering fire from Syrians. Mortar fire killed a British officer at the British Consulate. ‘ “The British and American authorities in Lebanon and Syria have told the French Commander-in-Chief (General Humbolt) that the absolutely indefensible slaughter for which the French were responsible began from nothing,” says the correspondent. . "A state of high tension existed for several days over the movement of French troops and over French insistence on the signature by the Lebanon and Syria of a treaty giving the French special rights. Crowds gathered daily, but on each occasion the local gendarmie took charge and dispersed them. Almost exactly the same thing happened when the outbreak of fighting came. On this occasion, although the gendarmes immediately began to disperse the crowds, the entire area surrounding the Serail (Government House) erupted into a din of firing from all sides. “The French were apparently in positions surrounding the Serail, awaiting the signal to open fire. “That is the only explanation given by anyone in Damascus knowing the facts, except by the French, who claim that Syrians fired on them first. “Damascus is now at boiling point. It is a hell of unbelievably indiscriminate fire which bids well to cost hundreds of lives unless the British and Americans stop the slaughter. “The local gendarmerie, in the circumstances, held the population well in check. "Latest reports from Hama state that the. situation there is equally bad. The British military authorities are receiving what are described as piteous appeals to stop the massacre.”

The correspondent adds that he is able to vouch only tor the conditions in Damascus, where both i the British and American Legations have been shot up by machine-gun and rifle Are from French-commanded Bengalese troops, and possibly by answering Syrian fire. The British Minister’s wife (Mrs Terence Shone) was cut on the face by glass when a bullet was fired through the window of the Legation residence. Reuter’s correspondent reports that Beirut is still quiet. The shops remain closed and trams are not running. Earlier Accounts “Heavy fighting is going on in Damascus, where the French are using mortars, aeroplanes, and field guns against the Syrians,” reported the correspondent of the British United Press in Beirut yesterday. “French troops early this morning (Wednesday) blasted their way into the Syrian House of Parliament after smashing the gate with a shell from a seventy-five. # “It is also reported that French aircraft dropped several bombs on Damascus and machine-gunned sections of a ctrppf<s “The United States Consul was forced to ride in a British armoured car to the Syrian Presidency. “Telephone communications between Damascus and Beirut are cut off. “The Syrian President (Ali Kuwaiti) appealed to the British and American Ministers for immediate intercession. The French controlled radio m Beirut says that the battle for Damascus began when armed civilians and Syrian gendarmes attacked the French Legation and other French posts. Describing the fighting in Damascus which continued all Tuesday evening and was still going on this morning. Reuter’s correspondent in Damsacus said: “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 —rifles, tommy-guns, and machine-guns. - “Flares lit up the city and showed French aeroplanes flying over. “One report said that 150 wounded civilians were in hospital. Six are reported to have been killed when French troops directed mortar fire against the CitadelT Incendiary bullets which hit a petrol dump near the Government printing works, opposite the British Officers’ Club, caused a fairly large fire. French “Show of Force” “The trouble started soon after the French made a show of force in armoured cars in the vicinity of Parliament House. The Acting-Prime Minister of Syria (Jamil Mardam Bey) had received a message from Mr Churchill which he intended to read in Parliament, but there was no quorum. Consequently he returned to the Serail, which is the Syrian administrative building, where he-summoned several prominent deputies to hear the message, but it was again not possible to read it. Pandemonium broke out round the building, and Jamil Bey had to devote himself to giving orders to deal with the situation. “The shooting began after Jamil Bey had reached the Serail. It apparently originated in the escape of a Syrian deserter from the French Army, who ran into a crowd of Syrian civilians. They tried to protect the deserter, and French troops who saw the incident, fire'’ Their shots were returned and the crowd scrambled for safety. “The shooting spread, and Jamil Bey ordered 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 repqrted to have been