Martyr Youssef Al-Azma
He is Youssef Bey bin Ibrahim bin Abdul Rahman Al-Azma. He belongs to a prominent Damascene family. He was martyred while confronting the French army that came to occupy Syria and Lebanon, where he was the Minister of War for the Arab government in Syria led by King Faisal I. He was the first Arab Minister of War to fight in a battle and be martyred in it.
His upbringing
The martyr Youssef Al-Azmeh was born in 1301 AH / 1884 AD in the Al-Shaghour neighborhood in Damascus to a large and distinguished family. When he was 6 years old, his father died, so his brother Aziz took care of him.
Al-Azmeh studied in Damascus at the Rushdieh Military School starting in 1893 AD, then at the Military Preparatory School from 1897 AD. In 1900 AD, he moved to the Military Military School in Istanbul. The following year, he entered the Higher Military School (Harbiya Şahane), from which he graduated with the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1903 AD. He was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in 1905 AD and then to the rank of Captain in 1907 AD after completing a local staff course in Istanbul. In late 1909 AD, he was sent on a study mission to Germany, where he studied there at the Higher Military Staff School for two years. After that, he returned to Istanbul and was appointed a military attaché at the Ottoman High Commission in Cairo.
Al-Azma participated in the Balkan War in 1912 AD, and in 1917 AD he was appointed as an assistant to Enver Pasha, the Inspector General of the Ottoman Army. He worked towards the end of World War I as Chief of Staff of the First Turkish Corps, which defended the Dardanelles until the end of the war. After the armistice, Al-Azma remained in Turkey until he heard about the formation of the Arab government in Damascus. He resigned from his position in the Turkish Army despite his marriage to a Turkish woman with whom he had his only child, and joined the Arab Army.
Minister of War
After joining the Faisal Arab Army, Al-Azmeh was appointed as a liaison officer in Beirut, where he first used the cipher in the Arab Government Office there. After the monarchy was declared, he was transferred from Beirut and appointed Chief of Staff of the Arab Forces after being promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. Then, when Hashim al-Atassi’s Defense Ministry was formed on May 3, 1920, he was assigned the Ministry of War, so he devoted himself to organizing it and strengthening the young Arab Army. He even held a military parade in Damascus to boost morale in the army and among the population, but fate did not allow him time to complete the organization and strengthening of this army.
His attributes
Youssef Al-Azmeh was a man in every sense of the word, clearly proud of himself and his Arab identity, and possessed many good qualities that even his enemies attested to. He was also a military man by nature, believing that the army had one mission, which was to fight, regardless of whether he would win or lose as a result of this fight. He knew that there must be a decisive battle between the Syrians and France, and he was not prevented from fighting it because he knew in advance that he would lose, because he believed that the French soldiers trampling on the bodies of the people and seizing the destroyed cities was a thousand times better and more honorable than opening the country’s gates for the French army to enter with ease and walk in its streets with arrogance.
The occupation wants Syria
When the French government began to implement the mandate approved by the Versailles Conference, according to the divisions of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, in the form of a full-scale military occupation, France concluded an armistice with Turkey, sent numerous forces to the East, and authorized General Gouraud, its High Commissioner, to send a final ultimatum to King Faisal. Prince Faisal received the ultimatum from General Gouraud, who had already landed on the Syrian coast, demanding that the Arab Army be disbanded, the railways be surrendered to French control, the circulation of French banknotes, and other measures that would undermine the country's independence and wealth. King Faisal and his cabinet vacillated between acquiescence and refusal, but most of them agreed to surrender. They telegraphed General Gouraud, and Faisal ordered the army to be disbanded. This was strongly opposed by the Minister of War, Yusuf al-Azma, who was forced to agree with his government colleagues and acquiesce to this acceptance, despite his constant belief that "the army exists to fight, even if the outcome of the battle is against it."
Preparing for resistance
While the Arab army stationed on the border was withdrawing, disbanded by order of King Faisal, the French army was advancing by order of General Gouraud. When General Gouraud was asked about the matter, he replied that Faisal's telegram accepting the terms of the ultimatum had reached him after the 24-hour period had expired. Thus, the king and the government found that there was no longer any room for accepting these new conditions, and they were rejected. The nationalist forces began urging people to go to Maysalun to repel the enemy. Faisal again appealed to the Syrian nationalists to form a civil army to replace the disbanded army in defending the country. A large crowd rushed there, armed with old rifles, pistols, swords, and even slingshots, to join the remnants of the army that Al-Azma had tried to assemble before completing the order to disband it, which had been issued previously in response to the ultimatum. Yusuf Al-Azma advanced, leading the disorganized crowd of volunteers, alongside a small number of officers and soldiers. He and his aide set off for the royal palace to ask King Faisal's permission to go to the front.
There was no alternative but to wage an unequal battle between the French army, equipped with the latest modern weapons and numbering 9,000 soldiers, led by General Goubet, the grandson of one of the Crusader leaders who came to invade our country during the Second Crusade in 1147 AD, and the 8,000 soldiers, at least half of whom were volunteers, armed with outdated weapons and without tanks, aircraft, or heavy equipment, led by Yusuf al-Azma.
Battle of Maysalun
On July 23, 1920, Al-Azma took command of the army in Maysalun. He met with the officers who had not completed their demobilization order and informed them that war was inevitable. He instructed all forces to be ready to repel the attacking enemy. He verbally presented his defensive-offensive plan to his commanders, which consisted of organizing a defensive line in the center of the front on both sides of the road (the heart), with light units being deployed to the right and left of the front to protect the flanks (the right wing and the left wing), in addition to placing locally made mines on the roads leading to the area...
Al-Azma took up positions at the front's command center, on the highest hill overlooking the entire front. After performing the morning prayer on the 24th, he began preparing for the battle, which lasted from dawn until noon.
At nine o'clock the battle began when the French artillery began to overcome the Arab artillery, and the French tanks began to advance towards the Arab front line in the heart of the defense. Al-Azma relied on the buried mines to stop the advance of these tanks, but the mines did not do their job and had no effect, so he rushed to search for them, and found that their wires had been cut!
The French were able to achieve an unfair victory due to their large numbers and powerful armament, and despite the bravery of the mujahideen in defending Arab dignity.
His martyrdom
During the battle, after the ammunition ran out, Al-Azma descended from his position on the side of the road where there was a rapid-fire Arab cannon. He ordered Sergeant Sadin Al-Madfa’ to fire at the advancing tanks. One of the gunners fired his gun at Al-Azma, and he fell as a martyr. He and the sergeant of the cannon who was next to him surrendered their pure souls at 10:30 a.m. on July 24, 1920. Al-Azma was martyred in the Battle of Al-Karamah, the outcome of which was expected. He fought in defense of his military honor and the honor of his country. His life and the life of the state he was defending ended.
The battle ended after the martyrdom of 400 Arab soldiers, compared to 42 French dead and 154 wounded.
Al-Azma was buried in the place where he was martyred, and his grave in Maysalun has become, to this day, an immortal symbol of national sacrifice, with wreaths brought to it every year from all over Syria.
When the French had established control, General Gouraud arrived in Damascus in early August 1920 AD / 1338 AH. The first thing he did after his arrival was to go to the tomb of the hero Saladin al-Ayyubi, and address him with sarcasm and gloating: “O Saladin, you told us during the Crusades that you had left the East and would not return to it, and here we are, back. Rise up and see us in Syria!”

From the book Unforgettable Leaders by Major Tamer Badr