740.0011 European War 1939/11765: Telegram
The Minister in Egypt (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 9—6:30 a.m.]
678. The following is the text of a proclamation to be made by General Catroux on entering Syria this morning accompanied by a supporting declaration by the British Ambassador91 here in behalf of the British Government:
“Inhabitants of Syria and the Lebanon:
At the moment when the forces of Free France united to the forces of the British Empire, her ally, are entering your territory I declare that I assume the powers, the responsibilities and the duties of the representative of ‘La France du Levant’. This in the name of the Free France which identifies itself with the traditional and real France and in the name of her Chief, General de Gaulle.
In this capacity I come to put an end to the regime of the mandate and to proclaim you free and independent.
You will therefore be from henceforward sovereign and independent peoples and you will be able either to form yourselves into separate states or to unite into a single state. In either event your statute of independence and sovereignty will be guaranteed by a treaty in which our mutual relations will be defined. This treaty will be negotiated as soon as possible between your representatives and myself. Fending its conclusion our mutual situation will be that of allies closely united in the pursuit of a common ideal and aims.
[Page 727]Inhabitants of Syria and the Lebanon, you will see from this declaration that if the Free French and the British forces are crossing your frontiers it is to ensure it. It is to drive out of Syria the forces of Hitler. It is to prevent the Levant from becoming against the British and against ourselves an offensive base of the enemy.
We cannot allow, we who are fighting for the liberty of peoples, that the enemy should submerge your country step by step, obtain control of your persons and your belongings, and turn you into slaves. We cannot allow that populations which France has promised to defend should be thrown into the hands of the most pitiless master that history has known. We cannot allow that the age-long interests of France in the Levant should be handed to the enemy.
Inhabitants of Syria and the Lebanon, if in answer to our appeal you rally to us, you should know that the British Government in agreement with Free France has promised to grant you all the advantages enjoyed by free countries who are associated with them. Thus the blockade will be lifted and you will enter into immediate relations with the sterling bloc which will open the widest possibilities for your imports and exports. You will be able to buy and sell freely with all free countries.
Inhabitants of Syria and the Lebanon, France declares you independent by the voice of her sons who are fighting for her life and for the liberty of the world.”
- See British Cmd. 6600, Syria No. 1 (1945): Statements of Policy by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom in Respect of Syria and the Lebanon, 8th June–9th September, 1941.↩