List of heads of state of Syria

This is a list of heads of state of Syria since 1920.

Ancient monarchies

Mamluk Sultanate

Ottoman Syria

Military administrators

OETA South chief administrators

The area was divided into four districts: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Majdal and Beersheba, each under a military governor. Both of the first two British administrators, Generals Money and Watson, were removed by London for not favouring the Zionists over the Arabs;^[1] when the OETA administration ended, Liberal party politician (and former British Home Secretary) Herbert Samuel was installed as the first civilian administrator.^[1] Samuel recorded his acceptance of the role, and the end of military administration, in an often-quoted document: "Received from Major-General Sir Louis J. Bols K.C.B.—One Palestine, complete."^[2]

OETA East administrators

OETA East was a joint Arab-British military administration. The Arab and British armies entered Damascus on 1 October 1918, and on 3 October 1918 Ali Rida al-Rikabi was appointed Military Governor of OETA East.^[3]^[4] Prince Faisal son of King Hussain of Mecca entered Damascus as on 4 October and appointed Rikabi Chief of the Council of Directors (i.e. prime minister) of Syria.

The boundary definition of OETA East left uncertainties to the south and east, leading to competing claims from the Kingdom of Hejaz and Occupied Iraq respectively – see Occupation of Ma'an and Occupation of Zor for further details.

Rida al-Rikabi (3 October 1918 – 26 November 1919)^[5]

OETA North (West) administrators

Marie Antoine Philpin de Piépape (7 Oct 1918 - 19 Nov 1918)
Jules Camille Hamelin (19 Nov 1918 - 21 Nov 1919)
François Georges Barb (21 Nov 1919 - 1 Sep 1920)

OETA North (Cilicia) administrators

Édouard Brémond^[6]

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Term of office			Ref.
No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1		Major general Arthur Wigram Money (1866–1951)	June 1918	June 1919	1 year
2		Major general Harry Davis Watson (1866–1945)	June 1919	December 1919	6 months
3		Lieutenant general Louis Bols (1867–1930)	January 1920	July 1920	6 months

List of high commissioners of France in the Levant

Syria or French Syria (1920–1946) (French Mandate of Syria)

Portrait	Name	Term of office			Notes
Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Notes
	Henri Gouraud	9 October 1919	23 November 1922	3 years, 45 days
	Robert de Caix	23 November 1922	19 April 1923	147 days	Acting
	Maxime Weygand	19 April 1923	29 November 1924	1 year, 224 days
	Maurice Sarrail	29 November 1924	23 December 1925	1 year, 24 days
	Henry de Jouvenel	23 December 1925	23 June 1926	182 days
	Henri Ponsot	August 1926	13 July 1933	6 years, 11 months
	Damien de Martel	16 July 1933	January 1939	5 years, 5 months
	Gabriel Puaux	January 1939	November 1940	1 year, 10 months
	Jean Chiappe	24 November 1940	27 November 1940	3 days	Died on flight to take office.
	Henri Dentz	6 December 1940	14 July 1941	220 days	Dentz was repatriated to Metropolitan France following the Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre.

List of general delegates of Free France in the Levant

Portrait	Name	Term of office			Notes
Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Notes
	Georges Catroux	24 June 1941	7 June 1943	1 year, 348 days	Catroux was also Chief of Free French Forces in Levant states.
	Jean Helleu	7 June 1943	23 November 1943	169 days
	Yves Chataigneau	23 November 1943	23 January 1944	61 days
	Paul Beynet	23 January 1944	1 September 1946	2 years, 221 days

High Commissioners

26 Nov 1919 – 23 Nov 1922: Henri Gouraud
23 Nov 1922 – 17 Apr 1923: Robert de Caix [fr] (acting)
19 Apr 1923 – 29 Nov 1924: Maxime Weygand
29 Nov 1924 – 23 Dec 1925: Maurice Sarrail
23 Dec 1925 – 23 Jun 1926: Henry de Jouvenel
Aug 1926 – 16 Jul 1933: Auguste Henri Ponsot
16 Jul 1933 – Jan 1939: Damien de Martel
Jan 1939 – Nov 1940: Gabriel Puaux
24 Nov 1940 – 27 Nov 1940: Jean Chiappe (died on flight to take office)
6 Dec 1940 – 16 Jun 1941: Henri Dentz
24 Jun 1941 – 7 Jun 1943: Georges Catroux
7 Jun 1943 – 23 Nov 1943: Jean Helleu [fr]
23 Nov 1943 – 23 Jan 1944: Yves Chataigneau
23 Jan 1944 – 1 Sep 1946: Étienne Paul-Émile-Marie Beynet

Governors of Jabal Druze State

Amir Salim Pasha al-Atrash (1 May 1921 – 15 September 1923)
Trenga (provisional) (September 1923 – 6 March 1924)
Gabriel Marie Victor Carbillet (6 March 1924 – 14 October 1925), provisional to 1 October 1924
Sultan Pasha al-Atrash (18 July 1925 – 1 June 1927), chief of state; in dissidence
Charles Andréa (15 October 1925 – 1927)
Marie Joseph Léon Augustin Henry (1927)
Abel Jean Ernest Clément-Grancourt (1927–1932)
Claude-Gabriel-Renaud Massiet (3 February 1932 – 28 January 1934)
Justin-Antoine Devicq (1934–1935)
Pierre-Joseph-François Tarrit (1935 – 2 December 1936)

Hatay State

Hatay State (Turkish: Hatay Devleti; French: État du Hatay; Arabic: دولة حطاي, romanized: Dawlat Ḥaṭāy), also known informally as the Republic of Hatay (Arabic: جمهورية حطاي, romanized: Jumhūriyyat Ḥaṭāy), was a transitional political entity that existed from 7 September 1938 to 29 June 1939, being located in the territory of the Sanjak of Alexandretta of the French Mandate of Syria. The state was transformed de facto into the Hatay Province of Turkey on 7 July 1939, de jure joining the country on 23 July 1939.^{[citation needed]}

Alawite State

The Alawite State was run by a succession of French governors from 1920 to 1936:^{[citation needed]}

2 September 1920 – 1921: Colonel Marie Joseph Émile Niéger (b. 1874; d. 1951)
1921–1922: Gaston Henri Gustave Billotte (b. 1875; d. 1940)
1922–1925: Léon Henri Charles Cayla (b. 1881; d. 1965)
1925 – 5 December 1936: Ernest Marie Hubert Schoeffler (b. 1877; d. 1952)

The Sunni landowners, primarily living in the province's cities, were supporters of Syrian unity; however, the French were supported by the rural Alawite communities to whom they catered.

In 1930 the Alawite State was renamed as the Government of Latakia, the only concession by the French to Arab nationalists until 1936.