500.C 001/1508: Telegram
The Consul General at Beirut (Engert) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:10 a.m.]
122. Official withdrawal of the French Government from the League of Nations has been given no publicity beyond the bare announcement of the decision. Informal local reactions are to the effect that legally it may have far-reaching results for the Levant States under French mandate but that practically the situation is not materially altered because the League really ceased to function when the war broke out. The French are trying to minimize the importance of the step while the natives are inclined to emphasize its significance in order to weaken France’s standing still further. See also numbered paragraph 4 of my 89, March 28.
One of the Syrian leaders, Sheik Taj-ed-Din, whom the French recently brought back from France by plane, has told friends that [Page 699] Hitler forced the Vichy Government to withdraw from the League in order to be able to offer Syria to the Turks in return for their benevolent neutrality. He also said France was no longer interested in Syria and would let the Axis and Turkey do with it what they liked.
It would be very helpful to me to learn what Vichy’s attitude with regard to Syria has been during the past 3 or 4 months in order to be able to interpret present local feeling more intelligently.
Repeated to Vichy.