List of heads of state of Syria


This is a list of heads of state of Syria since 1920.

Military administrators

OETA South chief administrators

The area was divided into four districts: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Majdal and Beersheba, each under a military governor. Both of the first two British administrators, Generals Money and Watson, were removed by London for not favouring the Zionists over the Arabs; when the OETA administration ended, Liberal party politician Herbert Samuel was installed as the first civilian administrator. Samuel recorded his acceptance of the role, and the end of military administration, in an often-quoted document: "Received from Major-General Sir Louis J. Bols K.C.B.—One Palestine, complete."

OETA East administrators

OETA East was a joint Arab-British military administration. The Arab and British armies entered Damascus on 1 October 1918, and on 3 October 1918 Ali Rida al-Rikabi was appointed Military Governor of OETA East. Prince Faisal son of King Hussain of Mecca entered Damascus as on 4 October and appointed Rikabi Chief of the Council of Directors of Syria.
The boundary definition of OETA East left uncertainties to the south and east, leading to competing claims from the Kingdom of Hejaz and Occupied Iraq respectively – see Occupation of Ma'an and Occupation of Zor for further details.

OETA North (West) administrators

  • Marie Antoine de Piépape
  • Jules Camille Hamelin
  • François Georges Barb

OETA North (Cilicia) administrators

High Commissioners of France in the Levant

Governors of Jabal Druze State

  • Amir Salim Pasha al-Atrash
  • Trenga
  • Gabriel Marie Victor Carbillet, provisional to 1 October 1924
  • Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, chief of state; in dissidence
  • Charles Andréa
  • Marie Joseph Léon Augustin Henry
  • Abel Jean Ernest Clément-Grancourt
  • Claude-Gabriel-Renaud Massiet
  • Justin-Antoine Devicq
  • Pierre-Joseph-François Tarrit

Governors of Hatay State

Hatay State, also known informally as the Republic of Hatay, was a transitional political entity that existed from 7 September 1938 to 29 June 1939, being located in the territory of the Sanjak of Alexandretta of the French Mandate of Syria. The state was transformed de facto into the Hatay Province of Turkey on 7 July 1939, de jure joining the country on 23 July 1939.

Governors of Alawite State

The Alawite State was run by a succession of French governors from 1920 to 1936:
  • 2 September 1920 – 1921: Colonel Marie Joseph Émile Niéger
  • 1921–1922: Gaston Henri Gustave Billotte
  • 1922–1925: Léon Henri Charles Cayla
  • 1925 – 5 December 1936: Ernest Marie Hubert Schoeffler
The Sunni landowners, primarily living in the province's cities, were supporters of Syrian unity; however, the French were supported by the rural Alawite communities to whom they catered.
In 1930 the Alawite State was renamed as the Government of Latakia, the only concession by the French to Arab nationalists until 1936.