NAZIS IN SYRIA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 144, 20 May 1941, Page 6

NAZIS IN SYRIA

INTIMIDATION CAMPAIGN

(United Press Association-Copyright) (Rec. 2.30 p.m.) LONDON, -'lay 19. Britons, Americans, andI*Palestinians 1 *Palestinians are leaving Syria and [Lebanon on the advice of tneir Consuls, states the independent French Agency’s Jerusalem correspondent. It adds that the road between Beirut and Northern Palestine is reported to be mined. German agents at Beirut are energetically attempting to unnerve the local population f>v opreadmg all kinds of lying rumours. No uniformed Germans have so far been seen in Syria.

A message from Bagdad received in Vichy states that the mobilisation of Rashid Ali’s army has been completed. It is reported from Nicosia (Cyprus) that Brit.ah Intelligence officers in the Middle East had tor some time been fully aware that German planes use Syrian air bases and counter-measures had been prepared. It is so iar not clear how the Syrians react to Vichy’s handing over their territory to the Germans. The French High Commissioner (M. Dentz) has recently had a difficult tiriie with tread riots and desertions to de Gaulle, also the growth of the Pan-Arabic movement in the by-ways of Damascus.

In Cairo the Premier (Sirry Pasha) has revealed that General Aziz el Masri, former Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Army, and two Egyptian Air Force pilots as companions escaped in the Western Desert after the air control authorities forced the plane to land. He said the party would not get far without a conveyance. General Masri has been charged with a crime against the security ol the State.