Sultan Pasha al-Atrash
Commander of the Great Syrian Revolt (1925–1927) against the French Mandate
The Druze leader who set Syria ablaze — a man who defeated the French in the Ghouta and became famous for his cigars.
Sultan Pasha al-Atrash was born in 1891 CE in al-Qraya (Jabal Druze), Syria. He came from the Atrash family, Druze leaders who ruled a semi-autonomous emirate in the Druze Mountain under Ottoman and then French rule.
In 1925 he led the Great Syrian Revolt against the French Mandate — after the French imprisoned Druze leaders and confiscated lands. He opened it with attacks on French positions in July 1925, and the revolt spread to Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo and to many other parts of Syria.
Sultan Pasha led the Battle of al-Kafr (July 1925) — a major Druze victory — and proclaimed a revolutionary government in Hauran. The French responded by shelling Damascus on 18–19 October 1925 (the Midhat Pasha market massacre), but the revolt lasted until 1927.
After the revolt Sultan Pasha took refuge in Wadi al-Sirhan in the Jordanian desert; the French pardoned him and he returned to his mountain in 1937. In 1936 he had taken part in the negotiations with France for independence, and in 1947 he was elected to the Syrian parliament for Jabal al-Arab.
He died in 1982 CE after a long political life. He is considered an icon of Druze and Syrian national resistance — the Ba'ath Party itself adopted his history, and Syria awarded him the title of "national hero".
