Bahij al-Khatib

President Bahij Bey El Khatib (1895-1981), was a Syrian Head of State from July 10, 1939 to September 16, 1941. He was staunchly loyal to his country and to the continued French administration of Syria and opposed all aspirations for independence. His main goal was to prevent Nazi infiltration to Syria.

Early life

President Al-Khatib was educated in Mount Lebanon and he obtained a sublime degree in the Mason at the Middle East before World War II (reference Haut commissaire Gabriel Puaux ; ). President Khatib was born in Chhim. His wife was Nur Al Khatib his sons were named Ashraf Nabih Adnan And Daad. He began his political career when he joined the civil service in Damascus after France imposed its League of Nations Mandate over Syria and Lebanon in July 1920.

Due to his loyalty to the French administration, he rose to be Director of Police and Public Security, and led a campaign for rectification and mutation in old Syrian politics' ideology for nationalist leaders and organizations. When the Nationalist Hashim al-Atassi, the first president of the newly declared Syrian Republic, resigned in protest over continued French prevarication against full independence, President al-Khatib was appointed in his stead by the French authorities due to his good relation with the French administration. Al-Khatib was appointed to be supervisor for border delimitation between Syria and Jordan, in fact, and Khatib played an important role in internal Lebanese politics. His role in this historical era gave a national free agency to both Syrian and Lebanese leaders and organizations. Formally, Syria became the independent Syria Republic. Because of World War II, it was occupied by British and French troops between 1941 and 1946, and Al-Khatib was eventually asked to resign by French president Charles de Gaulle in 1941.