Victory in Syria
General Dentz's formal application for an armistiCe in Syria, announced by the Prime Minister on Wednesday, seems likely to bring to a successful conclusion a campaign which it ought never to have been necessary for us to fight. It was already evident that the operations were nearing a victorious end. With Damascus in our hands and forces fighting over difficult country from the south and the east towards Beirut, a further column marching north to meet the armoured units which had pressed quickly on from Palmyra to within 15 miles of Homs, and yet another force moving up the Euphrates in the direction of Aleppo, it was clear that the key portions of the country were about to fall into British hands, and that the main Vichy army was almost encircled. Its stores were probably becoming reduced by use and by incessant bombardment, and in Beirut there was trouble from the Syrian authorities and population, resentful of bombardment in a war none of their making. A little time ago Germans, enjoying the hospitality of the Vichy French Government, were beginning to turn Syria's airfields into bases for use against the British. The Government of the France that was recently our ally elected to fight us in the interests of Germany. We have watched the spectacle of Free French- men marching by our side against the French forces of Vichy. Now those same Free Frenchmen are called upon to take over the Syrian mandate. A grave danger to our control of the Middle East is eliminated. Treachery in Syria as in Iraq has been stamped out. The success will benefit British prestige in Turkey and among all the Arab communities.
