On May 29, French troops were fighting Syrians in the streets of Damascus. They dropped their bombs not just on the ancient capital, but also on Aleppo, Hama and Homs. The French had called for reinforcements after Syrian demands that they transfer special Syrian forces under French command to the Syrian national army.

The next day, Syrian president Shukri al-Quwatli, a deft diplomatic operator, wrote a letter to President Truman expressing the same sentiments as Ho Chi Minh (in Vietnam) and Sukarno (Indonesia), though with a much more successful outcome. Here were the French, he wrote in perfectly justified indignation, killing Syrians with weapons bought with money borrowed from the United States to fight the Germans.

The United States had recognized Syria as an independent country in 1944.