The assembly met at Damascus on June 9, and proceeded to frame an elaborate constitution, of which the outstanding feature was that Syria was declared to be an independent republic with Damascus as its capital. It was further declared that Syria was one and indivisible, and that the post-war territorial changes (in cluding the enlargement of the Lebanon and its recognition as a political unit distinct from Syria) were null and void. M. Ponsot pointed out that the proposed constitution ignored the %existence of the mandate, and would make it impossible for France to dis charge her obligations as the Mandatory Power. His remon strances, however, were ineffectual. The assembly was obdurate, and in August, a deadlock having been reached, M. Ponsot sus pended the sittings of the assembly for three months. In June 1930 a new republican constitution for the State of Syria was promul gated by the French High Commissioner, and a parliament was elected in 1932. In 1933 parliament was suspended; this suspension was subsequently made indefinite. (See also DRUSES ; LEBANON.) BIBLIOGRAPHY General Works: C. Baedeker and A. Socin, HandBibliography General Works: C. Baedeker and A. Socin, Hand- book to Syria and Palestine (1906) ; L. Latet, La Syrie d'aujourd'hui (1884) ; V. Cuinet, Syrie, Liban et Palestine (1896) ; D. G. Hogarth, A. E. Shipley and H. Winckler, "Syria" in Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903) ; H. Pirie-Gordon, Guide Book to Central Syria (1920) ; G. Samne, La Syrie (1921) ; Admiralty Handbook to Syria (1921) ; Syria and Palestine (Historical Section of Foreign Office, 1921). See also Cambridge Ancient History, vol. iii. (1928), ch. ii., x., xiv. and xviii., with useful bibliography.
plored Syria (1872) ; W. S. and A. Blunt, Bedouins of the Euphrates (1879) ; M. von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeeer zum Persischen Golf (Iwo) ; C. E. Sachau, Am Euphrat. u. Tigris (Iwo) ; H. C. Butler, American Archaeological Expedition to Syria, 1899-1900 (1904) ; G. L. Bell, The Desert and the Sown (19o7), Syria (1919) ; J. and J. Tharaud, Le Chemin de Damas (Syrie) (1921) ; C G. E. Andrea, La vie militaire an Levant (1923).
Special Works: E. Rewan, Mission de Phenicie ; G. Per rot and C. Chipiez, Hist. de l'art dans l'antiquite (1885-87) ; vols. in.— iv. ; G. E. Post, Flora of Syria, Palestine, etc. (1896) ; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog. of the Holy Land (7th ed., 5900) ; H. V. Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands (19°3) ; R. E. Brunnow and A. V. Domaszewski, Die Provincia Arabia (19o5) ; B. H. Springett, Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon (1922) ; Annual Reports by the French Government (1922, ff.) ; and Reports of the Department of Overseas Trade (London).