Editing Damascus (section)

====20th century====
{{see also|Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon}}
[[File:4ALHinDamascus.jpg|thumb|The Turkish Hospital in Damascus on 1 October 1918, shortly after the entry of the Australian [[4th Light Horse Regiment (Australia)|4th Light Horse Regiment]]]]
In the early years of the 20th century, nationalist sentiment in Damascus, initially cultural in its interest, began to take a political coloring, largely in reaction to the [[turkicisation]] program of the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] government established in Istanbul in 1908. The hanging of a number of patriotic intellectuals by [[Jamal Pasha]], governor of Damascus, in Beirut and Damascus in 1915 and 1916 further stoked nationalist feeling, and in 1918, as the forces of the [[Arab Revolt]] and the British Imperial forces approached, residents fired on the retreating Turkish troops.
[[File:Emir Faisal; Lt. Colonel T.E. Lawrence - early 1918.jpg|thumb|[[Faisal I of Iraq|King Faisal of Syria]] and [[T. E. Lawrence]] on [[HMS Orion]] during [[World War I]], 1918.|left]]

On 1 October 1918, [[T. E. Lawrence]] [[Capture of Damascus (1918)|entered Damascus]], the third arrival of the day, the first being the Australian [[3rd Light Horse Brigade]], led by Major [[Arthur Charles Olden|A.C.N. 'Harry' Olden]].<ref>Barker, A. (1998) "The Allies Enter Damascus", ''History Today'', Volume 48</ref> Two days later, 3 October 1918, [[Sharifian Army|the forces of the Arab revolt led by]] [[Faisal I of Iraq|Prince Faisal]] also entered Damascus.<ref>Roberts, P.M., ''World War I, a Student Encyclopedia'', 2006, ABC-CLIO, p. 657</ref> A military government under [[Shukri Pasha Al-Ayyubi|Shukri Pasha]] was named and Faisal ibn Hussein was proclaimed [[Arab Kingdom of Syria|king of Syria]]. Political tension arose in November 1917, when the new [[Bolshevik]] government in Russia revealed the [[Sykes-Picot Agreement]] whereby Britain and France had arranged to partition the Arab East between them. A new Franco-British proclamation on 17 November promised the "complete and definitive freeing of the peoples so long oppressed by the Turks." The [[Syrian National Congress]] in March adopted a democratic constitution. However, the [[Versailles Conference]] had granted France a [[League of Nations mandate|mandate]] over Syria, and in 1920 a French army commanded by the General [[Mariano Goybet]] crossed the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, defeated a small Syrian defensive expedition at the [[Battle of Maysalun]] and [[Capture of Damascus (1920)|entered Damascus]]. The French made Damascus the capital of their [[League of Nations]] [[French Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon|Mandate for Syria]].

When in 1925 the [[Great Syrian Revolt]] in the [[Hauran]] spread to Damascus, the French suppressed it with heavy weaponry, bombing and shelling the city on 9 May 1926. As a result, the area of the old city between [[Al-Hamidiyah Souq]] and [[Medhat Pasha Souq]] was burned to the ground, with many deaths, and has since then been known as ''[[al-Hariqa]]'' ("the fire"). The old city was surrounded with barbed wire to prevent rebels from infiltrating the [[Ghouta]], and a new road was built outside the northern ramparts to facilitate the movement of armored cars. Reporter [[George Seldes]] viewed 308 bodies, and suggested there might be more dead under the rubble—and that a maximum might be one thousand.  "When the Muslims, who had rebelled, threatened to kill all Christians, General Maurice Sarrail gave the civilian population time to evacuate, then ordered Fort Gouraud to fire some warning shots, then shell the rebel sector."  <ref>Seldes, George, ''Witness to a Century'', 1987, Ballantine Books, p. 232</ref>

On 21 June 1941, 3 weeks into the Allied [[Syria-Lebanon campaign]], [[Battle of Damascus (1941)|Damascus was captured]] from the [[Vichy French]] forces by a mixed British Indian and Free French force. The French agreed to withdraw in 1946, following the British intervention during the [[Levant Crisis]], thus leading to the full independence of Syria. Damascus remained the capital and has been unchanged even following the start of [[Ba'athist Syria|Ba'athist rule]] in 1963.

In 1979, the [[Old City of Damascus]], with its collection of archaeological and historical religious sites, was listed as a [[World Heritage Site]] by [[UNESCO]].