arab government in damascus

The Education Minister under King Faysal, Sati al-Husari in 1920
Husari is accredited for translating all school textbooks from Ottoman Turkish into Arabic.

Members of the al-Fatat group meeting in Dummar near Damascus in 1919
Front row, left to right: Prince Fayez al-Shihabi, Palestinian nationalist Rafiq al-Tamimi, Palestinian nationalist Awni Abdul Hadi, Ahmad Qadri, Muin al-Madi, Tawfiq Yazagi, Suheil Talab. Middle row: Wasfi al-Tasi, Ahmad Muraywed, Shukri al-Quwatli (future president of Syria), Prince Bahjat al-Shihsabi, Salim al-Attar, Zaki al-Tamimi, Husni al-Barazi (future prime minister of Syria). Back row: Adel al-Azma, Riad al-Sulh (future prime minister of Lebanon), Saadallah al-Jabiri (future prime minister of Syria), Afif al-Sulh, Palestinian nationalist Izzat Darwaza.

King Faisal I of Syria in July 1920
The photo is signed by Faisal himself in May 1920, two months before he was toppled by the French Army in July.

Emir Faisal at the Victoria Hotel in Damascus with British General Edmund Allenby (right) on October 1, 1918
On this day, the first joint Arab-British forces arrived in Damascus, declaring end of 400-years of Ottoman control.

Rida Pasha al-Rikai, the first Prime Minister of Syria in 1918
Rida al-Rikabi was a decorated Arab officer in the Ottoman Army who defected during World War I to join the Arab rebels in Mecca. He was appointed military governor of post-Ottoman Syria, and became Syria's first Prime Minister under King Faisal I, charged with creating the Syrian Army from scratch. He resigned from office in 1920 and was exiled when the French Mandate was imposed on Syria.

Emir Faisal in Paris with a group of Arab notables in 1919
This is the first time Faisal replaces his Arabic uniform with a Western dress.

Emir Faisal Ibn al-Hussein at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919
This is the only photograph of Faisal smiling, taken by the wife of US President Woodrow Wilson

Hashem al-Atasi, the President of the Syrian National Congress in 1920
This congress (parliament) crowned Faisal I as King of Syria on March 8, 1920.