The Colonial Settlements of Britain and France dishonored some of their wartime promises of independence to people in the former Turkish colonies. In 1920 the two powers implemented a previous secret agreement. The states of the Arabian peninsula were permitted to become independent, but Palestine, Iraq and the newly-created kingdom of Transjordan came under British control. Syria and Lebanon were taken by France. These colonies were not taken over unconditionally. They were given as 'mandates' of the League of Nations, so that the work of the administering governments would be supervised by a special commission of the League.

The Arab Republic of Syria on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea on the southwestern fringe of the Asian continent. An area of approx 71,500 square miles. It is bounded by Turkey to the north, by Iraq to the east and southeast, by Jordan to the south, and by Lebanon and Israel to the southwest. The capital is Damascus, on the Barada River, situated in an oasis at the foot of Jabal. The present territory does not coincide with ancient Syria, which was the strip of fertile land lying between the eastern Mediterranean coast and the desert of northern Arabia.

After Syria gained its independence in 1946, political life in the country was highly unstable, owing in large measure to intense friction between the country's social, religious, and political groups. Since 1970 Syria has been under the authoritarian rule of Gen. Hafiz al-Assad, whose formost goals included achieving dominance in the eastern Arab world and recovering the Syrian territory lost to Israel in 1967. Assad Bashar committed his country to an enormous arms buildup, which put severe strains on the national budget, leaving little for development.

http://www.kerryhay.spiderweb.com.au