Salih al-Ali

Salih al-Ali صالح العلي
Al-Ali during the rebellion of 1919
Born	1883 Al-Shaykh Badr, Syria vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	13 April 1950 (aged 65–66) Tartus, Syrian Republic
Known for	Commander of the Syrian Revolt of 1919

Salih al-Ali (1883 – 13 April 1950) was a Syrian Alawite military commander who led the Alawite revolt of 1919–1921 against the French mandate of Syria.

Background

Salih al-Ali was born in 1883 to a family of Alawite notables from al-Shaykh Badr, in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range in northwest. He reportedly clashed with the Ottomans in 1918 before their withdrawal from Syria, killing two Ottoman soldiers who were harassing a wife of his father. This act gained him a local reputation as a rebel. After his father's death, he built a shrine for him and reportedly performed miracles at the site, according to local legend.

Rebellion against the French

Main article: Syrian Revolt of 1919

Start of the rebellion

See also: Franco-Syrian War

In 1918 the French occupied the Syrian coast and began to move into the interior. On 15 December 1918, Salih al-Ali called for a meeting of prominent Alawite notables in the town of Sheikh Badr. Al-Ali alerted the attendees that the French had occupied the Syrian coast with the intention of separating the region from the rest of the country, and urged them to revolt and expel the French from Syria. When the French authorities heard of the meeting, they sent a force from Al-Qadmus to the town of Sheikh Badr in order to arrest Salih al-Ali. Al-Ali and his men ambushed the force at the village of Niha, west of Wadi al-Oyoun. The French forces were defeated and suffered more than 35 casualties.

Organizing the rebellion

Seated from left to right: Shukri al-Quwatli (future president), Saadallah al-Jabiri (future prime minister), Rida al-Shurbaji (co-founder of the National Bloc), Sheikh Salih al-Ali, commander of the Syrian Coastal Revolt of 1919. Standing are Hajj Adib Kheir (left) and Ibrahim Hananu, commander of the Aleppo Revolt

After the initial victory, al-Ali started to organize his rebels into a disciplined force, with its own general command and military ranks. The army was supported by the local population, and some women supplied water and food and replaced the men at work in the fields. Al-Ali also allied himself with the rebellion of Ibrahim Hananu in Aleppo, the uprising in Talkalakh by the Dandashi tribe and the revolt in Antioch by Subhi Barakat. He also received funds and arms from Kemal Atatürk of Turkey which was also at war with France at the time.

In July 1919, in retaliation to French attacks against rebel positions, al-Ali attacked and occupied several Ismaili villages that were allied to the French. A truce was concluded between the two, but the French violated it by occupying and burning the village of Kaf al-Jaz. Al-Ali retaliated by attacking and occupying al-Qadmus from which the French conducted their military operations against him.

Final stages

The balance of power began to shift in favor of the French after they conquered Damascus, defeating a makeshift army at the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920. Around this time al-Ali began collaborating, through Ibrahim Hananu's meditation, with Turkish Kemalist forces fighting the French occupation in southern Anatolia. A letter addressed directly to Mustafa Kemal in January 1921 asking for weapons for their common "jihad" against the French is preserved in the Turkish ATASE military archives in Ankara. In November 1920, General Henri Gouraud mounted a full-fledged campaign against Salih al-Ali's forces in the Alawite Mountains. They entered al-Ali's village of Ash-Shaykh Badr and arrested many Alawite notables. Al-Ali fled to the north, but a large French force overran his positions and al-Ali went into hiding. A French court-martial convened in Latakia and sentenced him to death in absentia.

Later years

Salih al-Ali

Al-Ali remained in hiding until General Gouraud issued a general amnesty in 1922. He returned to his home and abstained from all political activity until his death on 13 April 1950 in Tartus.

Legacy

Salih al-Ali became a celebrated figure after the Syria's independence. Al-Ali, in his first public appearance since 1922, was a guest of honor of president Shukri al-Quwatli at the Evacuation Day celebrations on 17 April 1946.

Bibliography

• Moosa, Matti (1987). Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-2411-5.
• Douwes, Dick (2011). "Modern History of the Nizari Ismailis of Syria". In Farhad Daftary (ed.). A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 9780857735263.
• Moubayed, Sami M. (2006). Steel & Silk: Men & Women Who Shaped Syria 1900–2000. Cune Press. ISBN 1-885942-41-9.
• Winter, Stefan (2016). A History of the 'Alawis: From Medieval Syria to the Turkish Republic. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691173894. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2023.