[6] The French High Commissioner began a series of discussions in Beirut with the main Syrian national leaders Hashim al-Atassi and Ibrahim Hananu on the future constitution, which failed to reach any agreement.

On 15 February 1928, Ahmed Nami resigned, and the High Commissioner appointed Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hasani as the new interim head of state.

[7] The High Commissioner decreed an amnesty before the elections, terming it a general amnesty but excluding charges related to the great revolution and key Syrian-Lebanese nationalist leaders such as Shukri al-Quwatli, Abdel Rahman Shahbandar, Fawzi Qawukji, Ihsan Jabri (Syria), Amin Rouhaiaha and Mohamed Shureiki (Alawi region), Sultan al-Atrash (Jabal Druze), as well as Shakib Arslan, and Shaib Whab (Lebanon).

[2] The project of a new constitution was discussed by a Constituent Assembly elected in April 1928, but as the pro-independence National Bloc had won a majority and insisted on the insertion of several articles "that did not preserve the prerogatives of the mandatary power".

After negotiations in March with Damien de Martel, the French High Commissioner in Syria, Hashim al-Atassi went to Paris heading a senior National Bloc delegation.

The new Popular Front-led French government, formed in June 1936 after the April–May elections, had agreed to recognize the National Bloc as the sole legitimate representatives of the Syrian people and invited al-Atassi to independence negotiations.

The resulting treaty called for immediate recognition of Syrian independence as a sovereign republic, with full emancipation granted gradually over a 25-year period.

However, the treaty allowed Jabal Druze, the Alawite region (now called Latakia), and Alexandretta to be incorporated into the Syrian Republic within the following two years.

Hashim al-Atassi, who was Prime Minister during King Faisal's brief reign (1918–1920), was the first president to be elected under a new constitution adopted after the independence treaty.

In September 1938, France separated the Syrian Sanjak of Alexandretta, despite its territory being guaranteed as part of Syria in the treaty, and transformed it into Hatay State, which joined Turkey in June 1939.

The emerging threat of Nazi Germany induced a fear of being outflanked by it if France relinquished its colonies in the Middle East.

That, coupled with lingering imperialist inclinations in some levels of the French government, led France to reconsider its promises and refuse to ratify the treaty.

With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of the Vichy Government until the British and Free French invaded and occupied the country in July 1941.

[19] Benqt Broms said that it was important to note that there were several founding members of the United Nations whose statehood was doubtful at the time of the San Francisco Conference and that the Government of France still considered Syria and Lebanon to be mandates.