Page 229 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

HARUN YAHYA (ADNAN OKTAR)
227

occupation was the be- TURKEY
ginning of a time of dis- CYPRUS
order and violence for
SYRIA
the Syrian people. The LEBANON
French tore Syria from
Lebanon, which the lat- ISRAEL IRAQ
ter had historically been JORDAN
a part of, and made it SAUDI ARABIA
into a separate state.
The 26-year policy
of oppression that lasted
until independence in
1946 was similar to
those inflicted by the French government in Algeria, Tunisia and many
other Muslim countries. The Syrian people began an important cam-
paign of resistance in the wake of occupation. The French savagely
killed tens of thousands of people and bombed large cities. The upris-
ing was put down violently, but France realized that its days in Syria
were numbered.
The French had to withdraw from Syria after World War II, and
they accepted Syrian independence in 1946. The Syria that they left be-
hind them, however, was a most unstable one, wide open to conflict.
The French mandate imposed on Syria after the end of World War I
benefited the Nusayris more than any other group. The French admin-
istration placed minority Nusayris in key state posts, creating great un-
ease among the majority Sunni Muslims and planting the seeds of an
artificial enmity between the two communities. Many experts on the
Middle East believe that the Nusayris' climb to the country's highest po-
litical and military levels actually began with Syria's declaration of in-
dependence in 1946. Following independence, the most important
event was the Nusayris' taking over the country's administration, dis-
placing the long-established Sunni families who were in the forefront of
the political and economic spheres. Artificial conflicts such as this
dragged the newly independent Syria into.