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Syria-Lebanon campaign
Part of World War II
Hammana, Lebanon. September 2, 1941. Following the end of the campaign, Maj. Gen. A. S. "Tubby" Allen (centre), commander of the Australian 7th Division, inspects the 2/27th Infantry Battalion. (Photographer: Frank Hurley.)
Date June 8 - July 14, 1941 Location Syria and Lebanon Result Allied victory
Combatants
Allies British Commonwealth Australia British India U.K. British Palestine Free France	Vichy France
Commanders
Henry Maitland Wilson	Henri Dentz
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties
Australia: 416 killed 1,136 wounded	1,000

The Syria-Lebanon campaign was the Allied invasion of Vichy French-controlled Syria and Lebanon in 1941, during World War II.

The Allied offensive, also known as Operation Exporter, was aimed at preventing Nazi Germany from using Vichy territory as a springboard for attacks on the Allied stronghold of British Egypt, as the Allies fought a major campaign against Axis forces further west, in North Africa.

The Vichy high commissioner for the region, General Henri Dentz had allowed Luftwaffe planes to refuel in Syria during May 1941, en route to Iraq. There was a threat of Axis support for anti-British parties in Iraq, thus endangering strategic oil supplies and communications.

Syria and Lebanon were defended by Dentz's Armée du Levant, including a French Foreign Legion regiment.

Allied forces including the Australian 7th Division, two Free French brigades and the Indian 5th Brigade, launched thrusts into Vichy territory from bases in the British Mandate of Palestine.

Commando and raiding operations were undertaken by the British Army's No. 11 Commando, and Palmach, a unit recruited from Jews in the British Mandate of Palestine. Palmach also provided interpreters and guides to other Allied units.

The ground forces were supported by shelling from Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy units, and by ground attack squadrons from the Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force.

Allied forces in reserve included the British 6th Infantry Division, the Australian 17th Brigade and Iraqforce — the Allied force occupying Iraq, including the Indian 10th Infantry Division, Indian 17th Infantry Brigade from Indian 8th Infantry Division, the British 4th Cavalry Brigade and the Arab Legion.

The Allied plan of attack, devised by the commander, the British General Henry Maitland Wilson, called for the Australian 21st Brigade to advance north towards Beirut; the Australian 25th Brigade would attack the major airbase at Rayak, and; the Free French and Indian forces would mount a thrust towards Damascus. The attack was launched on June 8, 1941. The campaign ended with the Convention of Acre on July 14, 1941.

The fall of Damascus to the Allies, late June 1941. A car carrying the Free French commanders, General Georges Catroux and General Paul Louis Le Gentilhomme, enters the city. They are escorted by French Gardes Tcherkess (Circassian cavalry).

• Battle of the River Litani
• Battle of Kissoué
• Battle of Merdjayoun
• Battle of Jezzine
• Battle of Damascus (1941)
• Battle of Palmrya
• Battle of Damour
• Battle of Beirut (1941)

Dentz surrendered at Acre on July 12.

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Australian troops among the ruins of the old Crusader castle at Sidon, Lebanon, July 1941.

Among the people involved in the campaign was Moshe Dayan, later an Israeli general, who lost an eye while serving as an interpreter with an Australian unit. Dayan received the Military Cross for his actions in the campaign.

• Australian War Memorial, 2005, "Syrian Campaign"
• The Palmach

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