TURBULENT SYRIA

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 3, 3 July 1926, Page 15

TURBULENT SYRIA

SOLTAN PASHA STRIKES

DRUSES IN THE FIELD

A NOTABLE. ARAB LEADER.

(Written for "The Post" by W. O. E. Fielding-Jones, F.R.G.S.)

A few days after Soltaa Pasha el Attrache had sent his second batch of envoys down to Damascus to wait upon General. Sarrail, the French High Commissioner, with a petition from the Druaes, two French officers arrived in his village to sec him. Soltan Pasha, the chief of the Druses and commander of their armies, comes from the village of Kreyeh, high in the mountains of the. Hauran. Here he has his homo, but'it is a home which, owing to stress of circumstances, ho seldom sees. Soltan Pasha is a man about 43 years of ago, and it is a curious anomaly that, although he actually dislikes war, the greater part of his life has been spent campaigning in the desert. Beforo the Great War, it was the Turk whom he struggled against. When he was a mere boy, by a ruse the Turks got hold of his father, Dhord Thou Kan el Attrache, and hanged him. Soltan .has never forgotten this nor forgiven. Ho loathes the Turk, and all his life he has worked and intrigu«l against them. AN ALLY OF FEISAL. During the Great War, Feisal sent messengers to him with the news that the Arabs were contemplating a. rising against Turkey. Together with as many of his followers as he could muster, Soltan promptly went to the aid of the Arabs. He joined Feisal and Lawrence, and he served right through their campaign as they swept Arabia from South to North. As usual, he showed himself to be the brilliant warrior of whose exploits legends are told

in all the bazaars of. the Near East, and he had the honour of being mentioned in' Allenby's dispatches. Soltan is a rich man, as Arabs go, and throughout this campaign ho handed over all his own wheat, flocks, camels, and horses to Feisal's forces. He handed these over purely as a gift, and he was one of the few desert chieftains who refused to accept a single sovereign, of Lawrence's British gold in roturn for his aid and ■ services. Soltan felt that he was striking a blow against the Turks—and he was content with that for his reward. Furthermore, hundreds and hundreds of Turkish deserters were sheltered at Kreyeh, Soltan *s village in the Jebel. There they were fed at his expense, supplied with camels and equipment, and then sent on with an t escort of Druses to join the army of Feisal and Lawrence, operating against the Turk in Arabia. I SOLTAN POLITICALLY UNAMBITIOUS. ""*" The, French authorities claim that Soltan is swayed by political ambition, and that he wishes to become King of Syria. They maintain that it is for tliis reason he has given himself heart and soul to the present rebellion. This is incorrect. The essential quality in Soltan's -nature is simplicity. All he desires is to be left alone and allowed to live a peaceable existence against his people. From the political aspect

THE FIGHT BEGUN.

he is distinctly unambitious. By inheritance he and hi 3 family are already ! 1 chiefs of the Druses, and Soltan wishes I for no more than that. Furthermore, ' Soltan did his utmost in the present outbreak to prevent bloodshed. Tho incident which took place when tho two French officers came to see him in Kreyeh—although, certainly, it led to the actual opening of hostilities—amply bears this out. These two officers announced that they had come in order to see if they could not persuade him to journey to Damascus, there to discuss with Serrail their mutual difficulties. They said that they felt sure that the entire position had arisen largely through misunderstanding, and if he ■ would consent to meet Serrail, even now all might be straightened out. Now although at that timo Soltan had not yet heard the French exiling the Druse ambassadors to Palrnyre, ho distrusted tho offer of tho two officers. Ho felt that once they had him in their hands they would not let him go again. Accordingly he refused to take tho trip to Damascus. This apparently was only what the two French officers had expected, for they wasted no more words on the matter. Instead, they asked him if ho would consent to visit tho neighbouring villages, assuring the inhabitants that he did not wish for war, and had no immediate intention of fighting France. Soltan promptly agreed to do this, and promised that he would set out early tho following morning. This apparently seemed to satisfy the two officers, who loft shortly afterwards, with many assurances of goodwill. TRENCH PLAN TO CAPTURE SOLTAN. s The French officers proceeded directly to their headquarters and arranged for a French column to be sent out, which, would cut him off. Soltan, however, when he departed on his mission tho next morning, took with him a strong bodyguard, and altered the route which he had intended following. Ho had reached Salkhad, a village not far from the Trans-Jordanian border, when a messenger from Souweda arrived, informing him of the fato which had befallen the fifteen envoys to Damascus. Soltan was furious, and his wrath knew no bounds when, hard on the heels of

the first messenger, another arrived, warning him against the French column which had been sent out to intercept him. It was the last straw! The French had a small garrison at Salkhad —an oflicer and a detachment of men. Accordingly, partly by nature of' reprisal, and partly as hostages, Soltan took them prisoner. At the same time, even yet ho tried to avert hostilities by sending a messenger to Captain Maillet, the commander of the French column, warning him. to turn back. Maillet laughed at his words, and announced that ho would turn back only when he had taken Soltan prisoner. Once more Soltan sent him warning, this time by his own brother. He said that he aid not wish to fight France, but that unless the column retired he would be forced to do so. Captain Maillet's reply was that he had pacified the Sehouf and collected their arms, and that ho would do the same to the Jebel Druses.

At this Soltan gave the order for the attack. A great cry of joy welled from the bearded lips of his followers. They fired off their rifles in the air, and tho sun flashed on their gleaming swords poised on high. That night they made a forced march to the valley where' the French column was encamped. In the morning, after a short rest

to recuperate from the exertion of the march; they made their preparations. All encumbrances were cashed upon the hill-side. A final glance was given to rifles; a last whetting of swords; the girths of tho daucing Arab ponies taken up to the last inch. And then, with a blood-curdling cry which roverbrated back and forth across the valley, they started down that steep mountain side at tho full gallop, and fell upon the waiting column.

Old Hamsi Delwish was there, galloping out in front with Soltan! Hamsi Delwish, whose exploits in the field are recounted from one end of Arabia to tho other. -Six times have the French announced his death, but always he bobs up again. He was killed last month by a bomb from a French aeroplane, but he reappeared last week with sufficient strength left to wipe out a French detachment at Kisoue. With fierce cries and the thunder of hoofs, the Druse band swept down that mountain side. Of what avail against men such as these are a few puny machineguns? The quick-fire of rifles! A few fell, yes—Ibut the others achieved their object. They got to grips—close quarters, where they could use their swords. Nine men, and nine alone, escaped that day with their lives out of a French strength ef 250 men. The others were killed, hewn to pieces by Damascene steel. Captain Maillet was killed—literally cut in half by one blow from tho sword of old Hamsi Delwish. Soltan and his force paused only long enough to collect the French ammunition and stores before heading for Souweda. From throughout the Hauran the Druses flocked to the standard of their leader. The French had had their warnings, and they had chosen to disregard them. Now warnings were a thing of the past. The war was onl Damascus, 19th April, 1926.