1925 Scott 175 50c yellow green "View of Alexandretta" Quick History Syria, as it is known in modern times, is bordered by Lebanon, the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. 1851 Ottoman Syria Eyalet of Aleppo, Eyalet of Damascus- includes the Sanjak of Jerusalem and Gaza But the modern day Syrian lands had been part of a much larger Ottoman Syria within the Levant since 1516, and Damascus became the holy entryway for thousands of pilgrims on the hajj to Mecca. During WW I, the Ottoman Empire had sided with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, and was consequently occupied by both British and French troops. A secret agreement was in place regarding how to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire outside the Arabian peninsula ( The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement). The British were allowed control of the lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan, Jordan, southern Iraq, and the ports of Haifa and Acre. An "international administration" was to govern Palestine (We all know how that worked- or, more properly, didn't work out. ;-). France assumed control of Syria and Lebanon, south-eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq. Stamps were issued under French Occupation on November 21, 1919 overprinted T.E.O. "Territoires Ennemis Occupes". French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon More specifically, the French controlled the sanjaks of Lebanon, Alaouites (later Latakia), and Alexandretta (later Hatay), The vilayets of Damascus and Aleppo were allowed to have an Arabian Kingdom government. Stamp issues of the Arabian government were released between November, 1918, and January, 1920. But King Faisal I was deposed by French troops from Beirut in July, 1920. (Faisal was subsequently offered the crown of Iraq in 1921 under the Iraq British Mandate. He served as King of Iraq until 1933.) The Syrian territory was then occupied by the French military. French surcharged stamps now were overprinted O.M.F. "Occupation Militaire Francaise". Subsequently, the territory was mandated to France by the League of Nations in July, 1922. The States created under the French Mandate are reflected in the map illustrated. Beginning in 1923, the French Mandate era initially had French stamps overprinted "Syrie - Grand Liban", then just "Syrie". In 1934, an Autonomous Syrian Republic was established. Stamps were issued as part of the proclamation of the Republic on August 2, 1934. France and Syria negotiated a "treaty of independence" in September, 1936. But the French Legislature never ratified it. !! France ceded the province of Alexandretta, which had been part of Syria, to Turkey in 1937. (In 1939, the newly named "Hatay" became a Turkish province.) Syria was not pleased. Syria was under the hegemony of Vichy France until the British and the Free French occupied the country in July, 1941. Full emancipation was not realized until April, 1946 when French troops left Syria. The capital is Damascus, and the population was 2,800,000 in 1943. Syrian Arab Republic 2013 Presently, the Syrian Civil War ( Syrian Government forces, Kurdish forces, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, al-Nusra Front, Syrian opposition forces), which began in 2011, is fragmenting the country, and Syria, as such, has ceased to function as a state. 1937 Scott 263 10p on 100p red orange "Mosque at Damascus" Stamps of 1930 Surcharged in Black Into the Deep Blue The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Syria 1919-1943, 534 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 239 are CV