During the whole time the British forces were in occupation of the country, from the end of October 1918 till November 1919, there were only two attempts to disturb the peace, and both of these were nipped in the bud at once. The first occurred on the night of November the 30th, 1918, when a notorious robber chief, who lived in an almost inaccessible village up in the Anti-Lebanon, attempted to raid one of our ammunition and store depots at Rayak. The robbers were driven off, with the loss of six men killed and twenty prisoners, and we had no more trouble of that sort.
[Illustration: Within the jurisdiction of the Desert Mounted Corps.
The second attempt took place at Aleppo on the 23rd February 1919. A plot was engineered by Turkish ex-officers and local Arabs, to bring about a massacre of the hated Armenians in the city. The disturbance was quickly put down, but not before a few persons on both sides had been killed. Several prominent natives were arrested in connection with the plot, and tried by a mixed court of British and Arab officers. Those of the conspirators who were proved actually to have taken life were executed, and others were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. These sentences had a most salutary effect, and there was no further effort to disturb the peace.
There was a detachment of the Arab Army, about 200 strong, at Aleppo, and one or two soldiers were quartered in all outlying villages of any importance. It is pleasant to be able to record that the Arab Government made a genuine, and successful, effort to assist in maintaining law and order in the country, and the Arab Governor of Aleppo was always on the best of terms with our officials. The Governor at this time was Gafar Pasha, who had been a general in the Turkish Army, and had fought against us in the Senussi Campaign, where he was taken prisoner, and sent to Cairo to be interned. He was liberated, at his own request, in order to join the Arab Army, in which he commanded a division with distinction from the latter part of 1917 till the end of the war.
One of the most difficult tasks carried out by the Corps was that of restoring to the Armenians their houses and property. A Reparation Committee was formed in Aleppo, with representatives at Aintab and Marash, and much useful work was done. All houses that formerly belonged to Armenians were evacuated by their Moslem occupiers, and, as far as possible, restored to their rightful owners. Very many of these had, however, been killed or had disappeared. Others, attracted by tales of the fabulous sums to be made in Aleppo by trading with the British, flocked into the city, and refused to return to their own homes. Many Armenian women had entered the harems of Turks or Arabs, and a number of these did not now wish to leave. They were well treated there, and protected, and they preferred the comfort of the harem to the prospect of starting again in the cold world outside.