MORE UNREST IN SYRIA

Southland Times, Issue 24237, 21 September 1940, Page 6

MORE UNREST IN SYRIA

DELICATE POSITION FOR ITALIANS YOUNG OFFICERS AND MEN RESIST « (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received September 20, 10.50 p.m.) LONDON, September 19. The Cairo correspondent of The Times says more news of unrest comes from the strongholds of France’s Syrian Army. Italian agents at three divisional headquarters were instructed to make an inventory of French Army equipment. Although this was an obvious prelude to the dismantling and seizure of guns, tanks, ammunition, lorries and planes, two senior French delegates to the Armistice Commission consented but the junior officers and men are resisting. French regulars at the chief training base are taking their rifles to their . tents at night time. Strangers have been ordered from the camp. Similar happenings occurred at a base where the Italians are trying to secure modern Glen Martin bombers. The crews of two French submarines at Beyrout are stubbornly staying aboard, grimly awaiting the moment when they will be asked to come off.

Syrian soldiers at the camp of the Camel Corps near Damascus are refusing to give up their camels and ammunition. They are reported to have buried ammunition in the mountains, setting a delicate and dangerous problem for the Italian agents who are endeavouring to rot the French Army from within. The Italians fear resistance besides sabotage. The attitude of the. French soldier can be summed up: “We have the guns. What are you going to do about it?” The Syrians say: “France is only mandatory here. She has no right to hand us over to Italy.” NORTH AFRICA TENSE Reports reaching Madrid from Morocco indicate that tense expectancy exists through French North Africa where the decision to accept the offer of British protection is expected daily. The Madrid correspondent of The Daily Express says that General Verget, the newly-appointed French Resi-dent-General in North Africa is having great difficulty in handling the situation. There have been wholesale arrests of army officers and civil servants which have apparently been carried out reluctantly in the face of popular opposition. There is widespread sympathy for General de Gaulle.

The French Charge d’Affaires at Ankara informed the Turkish newspaper Ulus that no base will be accorded the Italians in Syria. France is maintaining intact the situation created by the mandate. There is no secret armistice clause. FORMER LEADERS IN LONDON It is officially announced from the General Headquarters of the Free French Forces that the former commander of the First Zouaves at Cassablanca and the previous commander of a sub-division at Tetuan has arrived in this country and has immediately placed himself at the disposal of General de Gaulle.

M. Paul Baudouin, Foreign Minister in the Vichy Government, said Britain was notified before the six warships on September 14 left the Mediterranean for Dakar. The warships passed Gibraltar without a single gun firing at them. Not the slightest attempt was made to impede their passage The mission of the warships was to support the preservation of the French Empire against the British effort to provoke dissidence. France would employ all the force permissible under the Armistice to assure the integrity of the Colonial Empire against provocations. France would reach a military, political and economic agreement with Japan preserving French sovereignty, but giving Japan privileges. He added- that France owed a loyalty to former enemies besides a scrupulous execution of • the armistice which had been drafted honourably.