Britain Weighs Chance of Nazi Push Through Syria, Determined to Hold Near East Position

Britain today strengthened her determination to hold her position in the Mediterranean basin as London speculated on the possibility that the Vicly Government had granted Germany passage of troops through Syria for an attack on Suez through Palestine.

Discussing Germany’s new agreement with the Petain government, in which the concessions made by Vichy were not mentioned, a commentator on the British radio, Robert Montgomery, said “it may well be” that the pact “covers the use of Syria as a stepping stone to Suez and Iraq.”

It is known that Germany had been seeking a path through Syria from French High Commissioner Henri Dentz. Otto von Hentig, chief Nazi agent in the Near East, recently stressed the value of Syria to Germany as “a bridge to India” in a lecture before the World Economic Study Society in Leipzig.

With the belief prevailing that Turkey will remain firm against passage of Nazi forces, The Times declares. “We are strong enough to prevent any serious landings in Syria or Lebanon.”

Official British dispatches form Cairo quoted the British authorities in Palestine as reporting that the country has “never been so quiet.” British military authorities in Cairo said the British aim was the maintenance of communications along the triangle formed by Basra, Mosul and Palestine.

Nazi parachutists may attempt to capture Haifa, the Evening Standard said in an article on the possible outcome of the Iraq conflict.

The article pointed out that even if Hitler succeeded in seizing the Iraq oil fields they would be useless to him without the refinery at Haifa. If the Iraq attempt fails the Nazis will then bomb Haifa in an attempt to make the Iraq oil useless to the British by destroying the refinery, the article said.

Palestine’s confidence was strengthened by Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s announcement in Commons yesterday that the strength of imperial forces in the Middle East had now reached a half million and his expression of Britain’s determination to hold her positions in this area.

“I notice a tendency in some quarters, especially abroad, to talk about the Middle East as if we could afford to lose our positions there and yet carry on the war to victory on the oceans and in the air,” Churchill stated.

“The loss of the Nile valley and the Suez Canal, of our position in the Mediterranean and of Malta would be among the heaviest blows we could sustain. We are determined to fight for them with all the resources of the British Empire and have every reason to believe that we shall be successful.”

Meanwhile, the German propaganda machine continues spreading propaganda aimed at splitting Palestine’s resistance. The German news agency today gave wide circulation to a report, datelined Beirut, quoting the Palestine administration as assuring the Arabs that the British were determined to meet their demands and were willing to restrict Jewish influence in the Holy Land. The British are also circulating a rumor that the Government will revoke the Balfour Declaration, the Nazi report declared.

The German agency also reported a new appeal to the Arabs of Palestine by the Iraqi Government to join the Iraqi army as volunteers. It added that the Iraqi General Staff had ordered establishment of a special legion of Arab volunteers from neighboring countries to participate in guerilla activities against the British on the Transjordan frontier.