Damascus place

“Then, on February 5, 1840, something happened in Egyptian-occupied Damascus which dramatically altered the complexion of the crisis. Under circumstances which remain obscure, a Sardinian Capuchin friar named Father Tommaso and his servant I…”

“Egged on by the French consul, the comte de Ratti-Menton, who wished to assert France’s responsibility for Catholics in Damascus, the Egyptian Governor arrested a number of Jews and subjected them to torture.…”

“After 500 lashes, a Jewish barber alleged that he had seen Tomasso with two rabbis and seven leading members of the Jewish community, including one David Arari.…”

“It was the arrest of Isaac de Picciotto, a Jewish merchant who also happened to be an Austrian subject, which transformed the witch-hunt into a major international incident.…”

“Determined to prevent his suffering the same fate as Ratti-Menton’s other victims, the Austrian consul, Caspar Giovanne Merlatto, protested to the Damascus authorities and asked his superior in Egypt, the consul-general Anton Laurin, to do …”

“The southern province of Basra, largely Shiite, was to be British, while the ancient capital of Baghdad was to fall under some form of British protectorate. After the British conquest of Palestine and Mesopotamia, Syria would be taken by Se…”