An Independent Syria While Palestine is still in the midst
of her troubles, the neighbouring mandated territory is about to follow. in Iraq's footsteps on the path of emancipation. The draft Franco-Syrian Treaty initialled in Paris at the end of last week appears, from such particulars of it as have been published, to follow closely on the model of the British-Iraq Treaty of 1930, though the Egyptian Treaty signed in London the other day may also have served to inspire some of its provisions. The essential points are that Syria becomes independent, that France will support her application for membership to the League, and that she will be bound to France by a clear military alliance, which also provides for the appointment of French instructors to. the Syrian Army. The territories of Latakia and the Jebel Druze, whose separation from the rest of Syria has been a cause of much bitterness in. Arab circles, will be included in the new State, but French troops will be maintained there—a precaution which, in view of the presence of substantial non-Arab minorities, cannot be considered superfluous. It may be hoped that this arrangement will mark a new chapter in the not too happy story of the French administration of Syria.
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