[6] France divided the region into six states based in part on the sectarian makeup on the ground in Syria.

[7] A six-day general strike in the spring of 1936 paralyzed the country and in part forced the French government to negotiate the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence with the National Bloc.

With the advent of the Levant Crisis in 1945, prompted by a British invasion authorised by Sir Winston Churchill, the French evacuated the last of their troops on 17 April 1946.

[9] The French regime had proposed to depart on 18 April, Good Friday in 1946, but Syrian officials opted for a slightly earlier date to avoid holding ceremonies on the Christian holiday.

[10] In 2018, with the Syrian Civil War ongoing, and merely days after the Douma chemical attack and the retaliatory military strikes carried out by the US, UK, and France, Evacuation Day commemorative activities held in Umayyad Square in Damascus were attended by thousands of people carrying Syrian flags.