Sultan al-Atrash

Sultan Pasha al-Atrash was the hereditary chieftain of the Druze community of Jabal al-Druze in southern Syria. A veteran of the Great Arab Revolt who hoisted the Arab flag over Damascus in 1918, he refused French attempts to partition Syria into sectarian statelets, raising the banner of rebellion in July 1925 following French violations of local sovereignty.

Atrash issued a historic national manifesto proclaiming 'Religion is for God, the Fatherland is for all', uniting Druze, Sunni, Christian, and Alawite factions into a nationwide military campaign that shook French colonial rule. Though forced into Jordanian exile for a decade, he returned in triumph in 1937, revered as a timeless hero of Syrian independence.