In response to the October, 1925 killing of thousands by French bombs in Damascus during the Great Syrian Revolt against France’s mandatory rule, the workers of Palestine strike in solidarity.

‘Palestinian Arab Workers Strike as Protest Against Massacre of Natives by French in Syria’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 2 No. 253. November 5, 1925.

PALESTINE, Nov. 8. The Arab workers of Palestine have declared a strike as a protest against the massacre of Arab workmen in the French bombardment of Damascus.

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Revolt Spreads.

DAMASCUS, Syria. Nov. 3. The bombardment of Damascus by the French in which thousands of men, women and children were killed, has united many of the divergent groups in Syria to a realization that French rule must go. Revolutionary activities against the French have started in the northern parts of Syria where bands of natives have armed themselves and are preparing to raid the French lines.

The outbreaks of the natives in the Aleppo, Hama and Homs districts has the French worried. General Sarrail has again sent an urgent demand for more troops. General Sarrail, who engineered the attack on the city of Damascus, is now being called to Paris as a gesture to appease the anger of the capitalists and missionaries–of other powers who had French shells burst over their heads, due to the “carelessness” of General Sarrail who forgot to let the citizens of other nations know that a bombardment was to take place and give them the same chance that he gave French subjects to escape the shells that destroyed parts of the City.

French Plunder Village.

Following the French bombardment of the city, French officers and soldiers and their Senegalese troops raided the city, plundering the shops and homes, stealing whatever took their fancy. A number of women that had not fled the city, but had hid in corners were dragged out and outraged by drunken soldiers.

The estimates as to property losses, not counting the plunder of French soldiers, range from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Turkish gold pounds or $4,374,000 to $8,748,000.

Recall Sarrail.

PARIS, Nov. 3. The anger aroused in the French press for the blunder caused by General Sarrail In the bombarding of Damascus, before giving proper notice to citizens of other lands to permit them to escape the bombardment and which has raised a storm of protest against the French methods in the Syrian war. has caused the Painleve cabinet to consider the establishing of a civil governor in place of a military governor. General Sarrail Is being recalled to Paris to answer many charges as to the “incompetent” way in which he handled the Syrian war and General DuPont is to wage the campaign until matters are settled in Paris as to what steps the French government will take in the future in the Syrian war.

To Send Socialist.

France is sending 10,000 more soldiers into Syria. Most of these 10,000 soldiers will arrive from the Moroccan front equipped with tanks, airplanes. artillery, etc., to use every method known to modern warfare to crush the independence movement in Syria.

Rumors are current in Paris that the socialist deputy, Paul Boncour, who has supported the government policy of holding Syria as a French mandate, may be appointed as the civil governor of Syria.

League of Nations Makes Demand.

LONDON, Nov. 3.—The permanent mandates commission has demanded that France make a report on her mandate to cover the period from the time that she took over the league of nations mandate for Syria until the last day of October, 1925. The previous request by the league commission had called for a report up to October, 1924, but since the “blunders” made by General Sarrail, the league wants the report up-to-date. This request was decided upon by a secret session of the mandates commission.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n253-NYE-nov-05-1925-DW-LOC.pdf