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State of Jabal al-Druze Djebel Druze جبل الدروز | |||||||||
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| 1 May 1921–9 September 1936 | |||||||||
.svg) | |||||||||
 Location of Jabal al-Druze (blue) in theMandate for Syria and the Lebanon | |||||||||
| Status | Mandate of France | ||||||||
| Capital | As-Suwayda | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | |||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
• 1921–1923 | Prince Salim Basha al-Atrash | ||||||||
• 1935–1936 | Pierre Tarit | ||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||
• Established | 1 May 1921 | ||||||||
• Named "State of Souaida" | 4 March 1922 | ||||||||
• Named "Jabal al-Druze" | 1 June 1927 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 9 September 1936 | ||||||||
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Jabal al-Druze (Arabic:جبل الدروز,French:Djebel Druze) was an autonomous state in theFrench Mandate of Syria from 1921 to 1936, designed to function as a government for the localDruze population under French oversight.[1][2]
A separate independent Druze state to be established in theGolan Heights was proposed byIsraeli politicianYigal Allon in hisAllon Plan.[3]
On 4 March 1922, it was proclaimed as theState of Souaida, after the capitalAs-Suwayda, but in 1927 it was renamedJabal al-Druze orJabal Druze State. The name comes from theJabal al-Druze mountain.[2]
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TheDruze state was formed on 1 May 1921 in formerOttoman territory, while other statelets were installed in other parts of the Syrian mandate (e.g. theAlawite State in theLattakia region). Jabal al-Druze was home to about 50,000 Druze.[1][2] It was the first, and remains the only, autonomous entity to be populated and governed by Druze. The 1925Syrian Revolution began in Jabal al-Druze under the leadership ofSultan al-Atrash, and quickly spread toDamascus and other non-Druze areas outside theJabal al-Druze region. Protests against the division of Syrian territory into statelets were a main theme of Syriananti-colonial nationalism, which eventually won the victory to reunite the entire French-mandated territory, exceptLebanon (which had become independent) and theSanjak of Alexandretta, which was annexed to Turkey as theHatay Province.
As a result ofSyrian nationalist pressure, under theFranco-Syrian Treaty of 1936, Jabal al-Druze ceased to exist as an autonomous entity and was incorporated intoSyria.
| Religion | Inhabitants | Percentage |
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| Druze | 43,000 | 84.8% |
| Christians | 7,000 | 13.8% |
| Sunni | 700 | 1.4% |
| Total | 50,700 | 100% |
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