of Syria in Damascus. In the end, Abdullah agreed to halting his advance towards the French and to administer the territory east of the Jordan River for a six-month trial period during which he would be given a British subsidy of £5,000 per month. Transjordan The region, which would become part of TransJordan, was separated from the area of the French Mandate after the French defeated King Faisal in July 1920. For a time, the area had no established ruler nor occupying power. During this period Transjordan became a no man's land or, as Sir Herbert Samuel put it, "..left politically derelict". On 7 September, Rufaifan al-Majali (al-Karak) and Sultan al-'Adwan (al-Balqa), both supporters of the British, received telegrams from Hussein announcing that one of his sons was coming north to organize a movement to oust the French from Syria. Abdullah arrived in Ma'an on 21 November 1920 leaving on 29 February 1921 and arriving in Amman on 2 March 1921. Abdullah established his government on 11 April 1921. Iraq Abdullah's Iraq ambitions On the same day as Faisal was proclaimed King of Syria, Al-'Ahd convened the Iraqi Congress (a congress of 29 Iraqis in Damascus that included Ja'far al-Askari as well as his brother-in-law Nuri al-Said), at which they called for the independence of Iraq, with Abdullah as king and Zayd as his deputy; as well as the eventual union of Iraq with Syria. The Iraqi revolt against the British began a few weeks later at the end of June 1920. Faisal's Iraq ambitions Following the fall of the Arab Kingdom of Syria, Faisal made his way via Haifa (1 to 18 August) to Italy, arriving in Naples on 25 August 1920. En route, 'Abd al-Malik al-Khatib, the Hejaz representative in Egypt, gave Faisal a letter from Hussein saying that Faisal should only discuss policy with the British government and only on the basis of the McMahon-Hussein correspondence while also reproving Faisal for "declaring a separate kingdom and not being content to remain as Hussein's representative". According to the director of the Arab Bureau, reporting on the discussions between Faisal and 'Abd al-Malik, in regards to Iraq "...If the British government wished him to go he was ready either as ruler or as regent for Abdullah..." Faisal headed for Switzerland where Lloyd George was vacationing but was dissuaded from doing so by a message from the British asking him