Dozens killed in Lebanon as Israel intensifies strikes
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British Launch Heavy Attack On Damascus, Defending French Form New Lines South of Beirut
BY the Associated Press. DAMASCUS, Syria, June 11. British forces closing in on this ancient capital launched heavy attack against French defenders in the last hour of daylight to- night just east of Kessoue, which lies only 10 miles south of here. French forces resisting the drive of a second British-Free French column formed new lines in the direction of Beirut after the invaders had forced them back in a continued advance. Reports to editors from Syria tonight said De-Gaullist British column had pushed to within 11 miles of Damascus before be- ing halted by violent fighting by the capital's French defenders. This advance, directed upon Bei- rut as an immediate goal, was sup- ported strongly by the British Medi- terranean fleet operating offshore. French Planes Active. Overhead French aviation was in- creasingly active, bombing enemy formations and centers at various points. In London Reuters, British news agency, said the Turkish radio reported that the British armored column advancing from Abu Kamal into Syria had oc- cupied the important airfield at Der ez Zor, 70 miles northwest of Abu Kamal, on the Euphrates River. The French communique said a column of British ar- mored units had made contact with the French at Abu Kamal on the Iraq frontier. Today's late British onslaughts came after French resistance had stiffened sharply, supported by new aerial aid offered by bombers that yesterday raided the British oil port of Haifa, Palestine. In Vichy, the French acknowl- edge
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Battle of Damascus (1941)
The Battle of Damascus (18–21 June 1941) was the final action of the Allied advance on Damascus in Syria during the Syria–Lebanon campaign in World War II. British and Australian reinforcements were brought up and throughout 19–20 June, the Indian troops holding Mezzeh continued to hold out despite running low of ammunition.
Wikipedia →Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre
The Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre (also known as the Convention of Acre) concluded the Syria-Lebanon Campaign of World War II. The Armistice, signed on 14 July 1941, was between Allied forces in the Middle East under the command of British General Henry Maitland Wilson, and Vichy France forces in Syria and Lebanon, under the command of General Henri Dentz. Having lost control of the Northern Desert and the Euphrates Province and being threatened with the imminent loss of Beirut, General Dentz decided to ask for an armistice.
Wikipedia →Syrian Declaration of Independence (1941)
The Syrian Declaration of Independence refers to the unilateral proclamation of Syrian independence on 27 September 1941 by General Georges Catroux, representing Free France, following the Allied campaign against Vichy French forces in the Levant during World War II. On 27 September 1941, General Catroux proclaimed the independence of Syria on behalf of Free France, stating that Syria was to exercise at once all rights and prerogatives of an independent and sovereign state, limited only by the exigencies of the war and the security of its territory.
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