During this conflict, Admiral François Darlan allowed German aircraft to use Vichy airfields in Syria for attacks against the British in Iraq.

[4] The Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre (Convention of Acre) was signed on 14 July at the Sidney Smith Barracks on the outskirts of the city.

On 28 May 1941, Admiral François Darlan, on behalf of Vichy France, signed the Paris Protocols, an agreement with the Germans which granted Germany access to military facilities in Vichy-controlled Syria.

[5] The protocols remained unratified, but Charles Huntziger, the Vichy Minister of War, sent orders to Henri Dentz, the High Commissioner for the Levant, to allow aircraft of the German Luftwaffe and the Italian Regia Aeronautica to refuel in Syria.

Darlan, a confirmed Anglophobe, allowed the German and Italian aircraft to use Syrian airfields partly because of attacks on Vichy French ships by the British.

[6][7] Under the Paris Protocols, an agreement was also made for the French to launch an offensive against the British-held Iraqi oilfields, a proposal put forward by Darlan.

[6] Despite government prodding, General Archibald Percival Wavell, the Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Command, was reluctant to intervene in Syria, because of the situation in the Western Desert, the imminent German attack on Crete and doubts about the Free French intentions.

[10][11] On 14 May 1941, a Royal Air Force (RAF) Bristol Blenheim bomber crew flying a reconnaissance mission over Palmyra, in central Syria, spotted a Junkers Ju 90 transport taking off, with more German and Italian aircraft seen later that day.

An additional concern related to the possibility of German troops on the Eastern Front linking up with Vichy forces if Germany defeated the Soviet Union, by advancing south through the Caucasus.

Both contingencies were unlikely, but would have exposed Allied forces in Egypt to a northern front at a time when all available resources were needed to halt Axis advances from the west.

[18] On 1 April 1941, after a coup d'état, Iraq, on the eastern border of Syria, came under the control of nationalists led by Rashid Ali, who was willing to appeal for German support.

[24] In mid-June, the division with its two infantry brigades came into the line as reinforcements, mainly on the Damascus front, and the southern force was placed under the command of the 1st Australian Corps on 19 June.

[30][31] The 5th Indian Brigade Group (Brigadier Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd) was ordered to cross the Syrian border from Palestine and take Quneitra and Deraa.

The bulk of the 10th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General William "Bill" Slim) was to advance north-west, up the Euphrates River from Haditha in Iraq (upstream from Baghdad), toward Deir ez Zor and thence to Raqqa and Aleppo.

[41] As the thrust up the Euphrates took place, Habforce would meanwhile advance north-westerly to take Palmyra, Syria, and secure the oil pipeline from Haditha to Tripoli.

Junkers Ju 88s of II./LG 1 (2nd Group, Lehrgeschwader 1), attacked British warships forces off the Syrian coast and hit the destroyers HMS Ilex and Isis.

[47] On 16 June, British torpedo aircraft sank the French destroyer Chevalier Paul, which had been en route from Toulon to Syria, carrying ammunition from Metropolitan France.

However, political factors, including pressure from Churchill and CIGS in addition to guarantees by the Free French that any operation into Syria and Lebanon would meet with little resistance, forced his hand.

The Vichy government also conducted an effective propaganda campaign within France, encouraging the people to fight the "hereditary enemy" (Britain) and equating the defence of Syria as a matter of national honour.

Many of the British and Commonwealth troops were novices and the hot, dry, mountainous terrain was a severe test, in which Indian Army units excelled.

The Australian contingent had to cope with the worst country but conducted the most effective attack, "with a good plan carried through with great determination".

The achievement of air superiority was delayed by the lack of aircraft but the urgency of the situation made it impossible for the naval and ground forces to wait.

Vichy French airmen concentrated their attacks on ships and ground targets, which were highly effective until they were forced to move north.

The British invaded Syria anyway and gained naval and air bases far north of Suez, thus increasing the security of the oil route from Basra to Baghdad in Iraq to Haifa in Palestine.