Umar al-Bitar

Umar al-Bitar
Portrait of al-Bitar
Born	1886 Latakia area, Ottoman Empire
Died	1946 Turkey
Nationality	Syrian
Occupation	Rebel commander
Known for	Commander of Jabal Sahyun rebels during Hananu Revolt

Umar al-Bitar (1886-1946) was a Syrian rebel leader who led a revolt against French military forces in his native Latakia region in 1920. After the suppression of his revolt, he evaded arrest by the French authorities by escaping to Turkey. He was pardoned and returned to Syria in 1936 and entered politics as part of the anti-French opposition. The French authorities again tried to arrest Bitar in 1945, but he managed to escape to Turkey, where he died the next year.

Bitar was born in 1886 to an Sunni Muslim, Arab family of landowners in the Latakia region and was raised in the port city of Latakia. In 1919, French troops landed on the Syrian coast to assume control of the country as part of their Mandate.

Al-Bitar formed a band of armed volunteers in 1919 to resist French military forces who were landing on the Syrian coast. Al-Bitar eventually joined the Hananu Revolt and was assigned responsibility over Jabal Sahyun, a mountainous region whose center was al-Haffah. He also coordinated military action with Saleh al-Ali who was leading the Alawite Revolt against the French in the mountains south of Jabal Sahyun. With material support from the Turkish armed movement fighting the French in southern Anatolia, Bitar acquired arms and military equipment. Within six months, his band grew from 100 members to 2,000, according to Syrian historian Sami Moubayed.

The French declared their mandate over Syria in 1920 and issued an arrest warrant for al-Bitar on charges that he killed French officers and engaged in rebellion against French authority. Al-Bitar consequently fled to Turkey, while the French military authorities sentenced him to death in absentia. Al-Bitar's rebels mostly joined the rebel band of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, also based in Jabal Sahyun. Al-Bitar remained in Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's protection for 16 years.