DAMASCUS: Damascus has had one of its noisiest nights with several loud explosions suggesting use of more lethal weapons than rifles and machine-guns. One man and one woman were killed and three people were injured. Reports reaching the Syrian capital told of deterioration in the position both at Homs and Hama. Six hundred tribesmen from the surrounding countryside made their way into Hama where they ambushed three French armoured cars. One was destroyed, two captured and three French soldiers were killed and three taken prisoner.

At Homs, the French have shelled the Syrian local administrative headquarters and the Syrians are said to have derailed a train in the neighbourhood. The Secretary General of the Arab League … declared in Cairo today [May 28] that the situation in Syria and the Lebanon was worsening.

After clashes in Aleppo, an important town in northern Syria, Sengalese and other troops have adopted threatening positions, the Arab leader, Azzam Bey, alleged. They had stationed themselves outside large towns whose communications they had first cut. Planes had flown low to frighten the people... “Machine-guns have been placed on house-roofs,” Azzam Bey continued. “The anger of the people and their leaders has increased.”

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2020