Lebanon-Syria Relations - Separation Into Nation-States

Separation Into Nation-States

During World War I, Entente leaders drafted agreements over how Ottoman lands would be divided following the end of the war. The Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain guaranteed French control over the Syrian coast and indirect control within inner Syria. In 1920, following the end of World War I, the Treaty of Sevres placed Greater Syria under the control of France as a territorial mandate. France identified itself as a protector of Christians (in particular Maronites) throughout the region. To protect its power, France aimed to encourage “existing religious, ethnic, and regional differences within Syria”. Political unity would threaten France’s military and political establishment within Greater Syria. These divisions included the 1920 creation of Lebanon as a mandate separate from Syria. France ensured that the largest religious group within newly created Lebanon was the Maronite Christians. The remainder of Syria (while titled as a unified Syrian state) was further divided into separate political entities to prevent Syrian nationalist movements. While Maronites hoped to create a Christian state with French-influenced culture, Sunni Muslims within the newly formed mandate wanted to re-bind Lebanon with Syria into Greater Syria.

Following the end of the Great Syrian Revolt, France agreed to hold elections within both countries. Even though the Revolt happened in Syria, it impacted constitutions in both Lebanon and Syria. France refused to change the borders of Lebanon even though several Sunni Muslim leaders still hoped for reunification with Syria. Because Sunni Muslims supported nonsecterianism within Lebanese politics, their refusal to participate meant that it was easier for the French to set up a confessional system of politics. The use of confessional politics, which allowed Muslims to participate within the Lebanese government, reduced their desires to merge with Syria. However, Muslims still pushed for Lebanon’s identity as an Arab nation whereas Christians identified with the Mediterranean. Voices criticizing the French borders still existed; Antun Sa'adah, founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and a Lebanese Christian, criticized France for dividing Greater Syria. However, he still wrote that Syria, with its distinct regional history, should remain separate. Writers like Sati' al-Husri believed that the only reason why Arab lands remained separate was because of foreign interference. Other writers including Nabih Amin Fares, George Antonius, and Michel ‘Aflaq contended that colonial powers divided Arab land because unity would pose a threat to colonialist rule. Syrian Arab nationalists at first saw the Lebanese government as unconstitutional and unrepresentative because of the confessional system; however, they suspended these viewpoints in hopes of gaining independence through collaborating with Lebanese nationalist movements.

Because France ruled both the Syrian and Lebanese mandates, impacts on France’s sovereignty in Europe reverberated within its territories. The 1940 occupation of France led to economic downfall and the suspension of the constitution in both Syria and Lebanon. Because the mandates were vulnerable to invasion, Britain pressured France to allow both countries to hold elections. At the same time, nationalist movements aimed to “create nations” within the geographical boundaries of newly formed states including Syria and Lebanon. In Lebanon, Christians grew to recognize Lebanon’s regional Arab identity while Muslims recognized Lebanon’s sovereignty as country separate from Syria. At the same time, movements for pan-Arabism and Islamic solidarity still existed and gained traction within Lebanon, Syria, and the wider Middle East.