He played a major role in establishing al-Fatat, an underground organization which sought the independence and unity of the Ottoman Empire's Arab territories.

As the chief envoy between al-Fatat and the Hejaz-based Hashemites, al-Bakri became a close aide to Emir Faisal when the latter became King of Syria following the success of the 1916 Arab Revolt.

Al-Bakri opposed the establishment of the French Mandate of Syria and became one of the chief commanders of the Great Syrian Revolt, leading the rebels' brief capture of Damascus.

'Ata was an influential official in the city and district councils of Damascus between the 1890s and 1914,[2] and was one of the most prominent Arabs to serve in the imperial Ottoman court of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in Constantinople.

[5] When Abdul Hamid II was overthrown during the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, 'Ata lost his favor from the central authorities because of his closeness with the deposed sultan and criticized the revolutionary officers.

[2] Nasib attended Maktab Anbar, a preparatory school in Damascus that attracted the children of the elite and produced several future Arab nationalists.

[5] Prior to this, Nasib and his brothers Fawzi and Sami had joined the budding al-Fatat movement, an underground society advocating Arab independence from the Ottomans.

[7] In the summer of 1916, amid World War I, Sharif Hussein launched the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans from Mecca with the backing of the British military.

Al-Bakri joined the revolt and moved to the Hejaz where he served as a channel between al-Fatat based in Damascus and the Hashemite forces leading the uprising.

The next year al-Bakri co-founded the first legal political party in Faisal's Syria, the pan-Arabist al-Istiqlal ("Independence") which sought to unify all the former Ottoman-held Arab territories under the leadership of the Hashemites.

Al-Bakri would later serve as Abdullah's aide in 1921, a position he held for about two years before returning to Syria after the French issued amnesty for political exiles.

On his return, he became a member of al-Shahbandar's People's Party and actively sought to topple the French authorities in Syria and align the country with the ruling Hashemites in Iraq, Transjordan and the Hejaz.

[8] The summer of 1925 also saw the beginning of the Great Syrian Revolt, launched by Sultan Pasha al-Atrash in the Jabal al-Arab region in southern Syria.

[7] Following the French defeat at the Battle of Mazraa on 3 August, al-Bakri began working with Abd al-Ghaffar al-Atrash, the Druze chief of al-Suwayda, to advance the revolt to other parts of the country outside of Hauran.

[9] Al-Bakri set up a meeting between the Damascus-based nationalists and Sultan al-Atrash at his home in Qaboun,[7] after which the two sides agreed to work together to uproot the French from Syria.

[20] According to historian Peter A. Shambrook, al-Bakri's inclusion on the amnesty list was surprising for two reasons: he maintained a strong relationship with France's chief rivals in the region, the Hashemites and their British patrons, and he held "unrivaled" influence among the bosses of "the popular quarters of Damascus".

[21] The French sought to divide the ranks of the rebels and the nationalist politicians by pardoning some leaders and blacklisting others like al-Atrash, al-Shahbandar, and Shukri al-Quwatli.

[8] Al-Bakri successfully ran for parliament as a representative of Damascus on the National Bloc's ticket in 1932, after winning a run-off vote by a large margin.

[23] In January 1936, Syrian nationalist sentiments became incensed as the French authorities suspended parliament and appointed the pro-French president Taj al-Din al-Hasani.

Speeches denouncing the arrests and colonialism were made at the Umayyad Mosque, after which demonstrators, including students and local youths, gathered at al-Bakri's home where they coordinated a march to the Serail (French government headquarters).

President al-Atassi assigned him ambassador to Jordan, ruled by the Hashemites, after al-Bakri refused the ambassadorial post to Saudi Arabia, a government that he opposed ideologically.