Maysalun

Maysalun (Arabic: ميسلون‎) is a Syrian town located 12 kilometers West of Damascus Governorate, in the Rif Dimashq Governorate and has an altitude of about 1090 meters.

Maysalun is enshrined in Syrian history as the site where the Syrian minister of war, Yusuf al-Azma refused to give in to the French and English Colonial designs by putting up a fight^[1]. King Faisal of Syria decided not to fight the French and fled to Switzerland. Azma decided otherwise and went ahead to fight the French even with the knowledge that his forces would be outnumbered and outgunned. The French entered Syria to impose their colonial ambitions and the artificial borders agreed upon by the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1917^[2]. The battle was a decisive French victory, which enabled them to march to Damascus and start dividing and colonizing Syria.

References

1. ^ A history of the Modern Middle East,Third Edition, Cleveland, Page 166
2. ^ A history of the Modern Middle East,Third Edition, Cleveland, Page 167

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