Shukri Pasha Al-Ayyubi
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| Shukri Pasha Al-Ayyubi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | شكري باشا الأيوبي |
| Born | 1851 Damascus, Ottoman Syria |
| Died | 1922 (aged 70–71) Damascus, Syria |
| Allegiance | Kingdom of Hejaz |
| Service/branch | Sharifian Army |
| Rank | Major general |
| Battles/wars | Arab Revolt |
Major general Shukri Pasha Al-Ayyubi (Arabic: شكري باشا الأيوبي; 1851 – 1922) was a Syrian military officer who participated in the Arab Revolt.
Biography
[change | change source]Al-Ayyubi was born in Damascus to the eminent Al-Ayoubi family. He studied at the Ottoman Military College in Istanbul, graduating in 1871, and then worked there as a tutor before returning to the Military College in Damascus, where he eventually became the manager.[1] He was promoted to Major general and received the title of Pasha.[2]
He was one of the founders of the Arab Brotherhood Association, established in Istanbul on 2 September 1908. He then secretly joined the Arab nationalist organization al-Fatat and, in collaboration with Ahmed Kadry and Nasib al-Bakri, founded an office for it in Damascus.[2] On 2 May 1916, he was arrested by Djemal Pasha after letters urging an Arab revolt were found in his home.[3] He was imprisoned at the Khan Pasha prison in Damascus.[4] Fares al-Khoury later documented in his diaries that al-Ayyubi was severely tortured by the Ottomans.[5][6] His son Khaled al-Ayyubi, also a military officer, was arrested, lashed 600 times, and pressured to reveal his father's collaborators in the revolt against the Ottoman rule.[5] During a visit from his youngest son, Fasih, al-Ayyubi instructed him to contact Shukri al-Quwatli to arrange an escape to Jabal al-Druze.[5] The Ottomans, who were tailing Fasih, captured al-Quwatli and imprisoned him as well. Al-Ayyubi remained in prison, refusing to reveal other al-Fatat members despite promises of release from the Ottomans.[2]
After the Capture of Damascus, rebels including Muhammad al-Ashmar and Ahmad Maryud stormed the prison and freed al-Ayyubi. He then joined the transitional government led by Muhammad Said al-Jazairi and met with Ottoman inspector Bahjat Bey to oversee the handover of all prisons and military barracks.[7] Later, British officer T. E. Lawrence held a meeting with local leaders at the Vitoria Hotel,[a] and decided to replace al-Jazairi with al-Ayyubi as the governor of Damascus.[8] He was subsequently appointed governor of Beirut.[9]
The French, seeking direct control over Greater Lebanon, persuaded the British to convince King Faisal I to remove al-Ayyubi from his position in Beirut. Meanwhile, on 11 October 1918, Edmund Allenby reported to the War Office:
Shukri el Ayubi has not yet been withdrawn from Beirout by Feisal. He has however modified his attitude so far as to instruct the heads of the Police and the President of the Municipality that they must accept my Corps Commander at Beirout's Orders.
— [10]
Al-Ayyubi was subsequently transferred to Aleppo by Faisal I, where he attended his own inauguration as governor. Following the dissolution of the monarchy in Syria in 1920, he decided to retire. He later died in Damascus in 1922.[2]
Notes
[change | change source]- ↑ It was named after Queen Victoria before a planned visit to Damascus, which did not eventually materialize.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Moubayed 2015, p. 37.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "شكري باشا الأيوبي" (in Arabic). damapedia.com.
- ↑ Prüfer 2017, p. 238.
- ↑ Qadama 1956, p. 93.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Khoury 1989, p. 215.
- ↑ Amin 1934, p. 94.
- ↑ Al-Omari 1991a, p. 190.
- ↑ Kadry 1956, p. 73.
- ↑ Al-Omari 1991b, p. 18.
- ↑ Allenby 2004, pp. 205–206.
Sources
[change | change source]
- Al-Omari, Sobhi (1991a). لورانس: الحقيقة والأكذوبة (in Arabic). London: Dar Riad Najeeb Al Rayyes.
- Al-Omari, Sobhi (1991b). ميسلون: نهاية عهد (in Arabic). London: Dar Riad Najeeb Al Rayyes.
- Amin, Said (1934). الثورة العربية الكبرى (in Arabic). Egypt: Issa Al-Bani Al-Halabi Printing Press.
- Allenby, Edmund (2004). Matthew Hughes (ed.). Allenby in Palestine: The Middle East Correspondence of Field Marshal Viscount Allenby June 1917 – October 1919. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7509-3841-9.
- Kadry, Ahmed (1956). مذكراتي عن الثورة العربية الكبرى (in Arabic). Damascus.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Khoury, Colette (1989). أوراق فارس الخوري (in Arabic). Vol. 1. Damascus: Dar Tlass.
- Moubayed, Sami (2015). تاريخ دمشق المنسي (in Arabic). Beirut: Dar Riad Najeeb Al Rayyes.
- Prüfer, Curt (2017). Kevin Morrow (ed.). Germany's Covert War in the Middle East: Espionage, Propaganda and Diplomacy in World War I. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781786733184.
- Qadama, Ahmed (1956). معالم وأعلام في بلاد العرب (in Arabic). Damascus.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)