ALLIES IN SYRIA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 192, 16 July 1941, Page 7

ALLIES IN SYRIA

OCCUPATION UNDER WAY. TERMS OF ARMISTICE. LONDON, July 15. The Allied troops in Syria and Lebanon have begun to move up and it is' reported that the Allies now occupy Beirut. The terms of the armistice were announced by the War Office to-day.

These provide that the Allies shall occupy hyria and .Lebanon, starting ut midday on July .15. The Vichy lorces are to be concentrated in certain areas till the occupation is complete. Allied prisoners arc to be released, whether in Syria and Lebanon or whether they have been sent to France. Vichy prisoners are to be released once tlie country has been restored to normal and tliey may join the Free French or be repatriated to France. All ships, harbour works, and naval establishments are to bo handed over intact, and aircraft are to be handed over.

Allied 'planes are to be granted the the use of airhelds. All minefields whether at sea or on land, aro to be disclosed.

The British authorities shall not prosecute Syrian and Lebanon civilians who took part in the hostilities.

SEEK NO ADVANTAGE.

PREMIER'S REITERATION

(Rec. 9.45 a.m.) RUGBY, July 15. Speaking in the House of Commons of fc>yria, Air Churchill said the military convention, "putting an end to the period of fratricidal strife between Frenchmen and Frenchmen, also between Frenchmen and British, Australian, and Indian soldiers, all of whom drew the sword of their own free will in the defence of France," had been signed in a cordial spirit by both sides. The fact that such relations as existed with the Vichy Government had not been worsened during the campaign, when the lorces of both sides acquitted themselves with discipline, skill, and gallantry, was proof of the deep apprehension by the people of France of the true issues at stake. "It is a manifestation of that same spirit which leads them to wave encouragement to our bombing aircraft, although bombs, in the hard fortune of war, have to be cast upon French territory because it is in enemy i hands.

"We seek no British advantage in Syria. Our only object in occupying the country has been to beat the Germans and help win the war. We rejoice that, with the aid of General do Gaulle's forces, led by General Catroux and General le Gentilhomme, we have been able to bring the people of Syria .and Lebanon the restoration of their full, sovereign independence. "We have liberated them from lite thraldom exercised by the German Armistice Commission of Wiesbaden and from the dangerous German intrigues and infiltrations which were in progress. The historic interests of France in Syria and the primacy of thoso interests over the same interests of other European nations are pre-J served without prejudice to the rights and sovereignty of the Syrian races." In concluding his statement, Mr Churchill said that anyone who ■ months ago, when the British Mill- I

ister at Bagdad was taken prisoner in his own legation, and Syria and Iraq began to bo overrun bv German "tourists," had predicted that by mid-July the whole of the Levant would be cleaned up and British authority re-established there would have been considered a most

imprudent prophet. Mr Churchill added: "The heavy and intensive fighting by our Army at Solium and the stubborn defence of Crete, in which grievous losses were inflicted on tho enemy air-power, must be judged to have played their part in arriving at the general result."— Official Wireless.

PROBLEM FOR TRENCH

RETURN HOME DIFFICULT

(Rcc. 8.5 a.m.) CAIRO, July 15. A special Middle East communique recording the armistice ceremony at Acre describes tho document signed as a convention.

Tho British United Press correspondent says Australian soldiers watchfid the ceremony through a window; theirs were tho only smiling faces After the signing General Wilson and General de Verdillac, in a nearby room, drank to the heroic conclusion of the Syrian campaign and exchanged mutual expressions of confidence in the future.

Tho Exchange Telegraph Agency's correspondent at Haifa says Vichy officers have gone north from Haifa, stopping briefly at Beirut. A soldier attached to the delegation said: "I wonder what we are going to do. To return to France will be difficult, as I now know what our own poopJe think of us now wo have fought the British."

The convention contained only the signatures of General Wilson and General i\o Verdillac. It is explained that the agreement cannot technically he described as an armistice since offioialily there has not been a war in Syria.

It is reported from Damascus that trans-desert communications in Syria and Iraq, which had been interrupted since May, have already been resumed.

An Ankara report states that 14.000 Vichy soldiers are preparing to cross from Syria into Turkey within 48 hours.