Hananu Revolt

Hananu Revolt
Part of the Franco-Syrian War
Northwestern Syria, where the Hananu Revolt was based. The revolt was divided into four military zones: Jabal Qusayr, Jabal Sahyun, Jabal Zawiya and Jabal Harim
Date April 1920 –July 19211 Location Western countryside of Aleppo Result French victory
Belligerents
France  • Mandatory Syria  • Army of the Levant	Rebel groups (′Isabat) of northern Syria Supported by:  • Syria  • Turkey  • Transjordan
Commanders and leaders
Henri Gouraud H. F. de Lamothe André-Gaston Prételat Fernand Goubeau	Ibrahim Hananu Najib Uwaid Umar al-Bitar Yusuf al-Sa'dun Mustafa al-Hajj Husayn Tahir al-Kayyali Abdullah ibn Umar Sha'ban Agha Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
Strength
20,000 (2nd Division in Cilicia and Aleppo district)	~5,000 irregulars
1 A low-level insurgency continued until at least August 1926[1]

The Hananu Revolt (also known as the Aleppo Revolt^[2] or the Northern revolts) was an insurgency against French military forces in northern Syria, mainly concentrated in the western countryside of Aleppo, in 1920–1921. Support for the revolt was driven by opposition to the establishment of the French Mandate of Syria. Commonly named after its leading commander, Ibrahim Hananu, the revolt mainly consisted of four allied insurgencies in the areas of Jabal Harim, Jabal Qusayr, Jabal Zawiya and Jabal Sahyun. The rebels were led by rural leaders and mostly engaged in guerrilla attacks against French forces or the sabotage of key infrastructure.

The Hananu Revolt coincided with the Alawite Revolt in Syria's coastal mountains led by Saleh al-Ali, and both al-Ali and Hananu jointly referred to their revolts as part of the "general national movement of Western Aleppo". Despite early rebel victories, guerrilla operations ceased after the French occupation of Aleppo city in July 1920 and the dissolution of the Arab government in Damascus, the revolt's key backer. Hananu's forces renewed the revolt in November 1920 after securing substantial military aid from the Turkish forces of Mustafa Kemal, who were fighting the French for control of southern Anatolia.

At the revolt's peak in 1920, Hananu established a quasi-state in the region between Aleppo and the Mediterranean. The rebels were dealt major battlefield defeats in December 1920, and following agreements between the French and the Turks, Turkish military support for the rebels largely dissipated by the spring of 1921. French forces overran Hananu's last stronghold in Jabal Zawiya in July. Hananu was tried by the French Mandatory authorities and was ultimately acquitted. A low-level insurgency led by Yusuf al-Sa'dun persisted, with the last major military engagement with French forces occurring on 8 August 1926. The latter occurred during the countrywide Great Syrian Revolt, which began in the summer of 1925.

The collapse of the Hananu Revolt marked a significant turning point in Aleppo's political configurations. Whereas prior to the revolt, many in Aleppo's political elite were aligned with Turkish national politics, the betrayal that Aleppo's leaders felt at the withdrawal of Turkish support prompted most of them to embrace and pursue a shared destiny with the rest of Syria. Many were also influenced by Hananu's support for Syrian unity and strengthening ties with Damascus. In the aftermath of the Franco-Turkish accords, Aleppo's Anatolian hinterland, the major market for its goods and the supplier of its food and raw materials, was ceded to Turkey. This effectively severed commercial relations between Aleppo and Anatolia, harming the former's economy.