first captured Anjar in the Beqaa Valley, where General Hassan al-Hindi's brigade had disbanded without a fight. The French advance surprised King Faisal who believed that French military action would be avoided by his agreement to the 14 July ultimatum as General Gouraud had promised. In response to Gouraud's action, King Faisal agreed to al-Azma's request for mobilization. About 300 of Hindi's disbanded troops from Anjar were ordered to re-mobilize at the Maysalun Pass, some 12 miles to the west of Damascus. Al-Azma managed to assemble a few hundred regular troops, and around 1,000 volunteers, including Bedouin cavalry. On 22 July, King Faisal attempted to delay the French advance by dispatching Minister of Education Sati al-Husri to negotiate with General Gouraud, who laid out new conditions to prevent his army's offensive and gave King Faisal one more day to deliberate on the terms. The next day, while the cabinet considered Gouraud's conditions, the French requested entry into Maysalun to access its water. The Syrians interpreted the request to be an excuse for Gouraud's army to enter Damascus without a fight and King Faisal ultimately rejected Gouraud's request and his new conditions. Afterward, al-Azma departed Damascus to confront Gouraud's army in what became known as the Battle of Maysalun. Al-Azma's troops in Maysalun were mostly equipped with rusted rifles left by Ottoman troops and rifles used by Bedouin irregulars during the 1916 Arab Revolt as well as 15 cannons. The Arab force was composed of northern, central and southern columns with camel cavalry at the head. Al-Azma led the central column which was backed by numerous civilian volunteers. Around dawn, at the approaches of Maysalun, clashes between Arab forces and the French Army took place, but most Arab resistance, which was largely uncoordinated, had collapsed by the first hour of battle. The Syrians had used up the little ammunition they had and the militarily superior French Army broke the Arab lines. Around 10:30am French forces reached al-Azma's headquarters. The mines that had been laid by the Syrians did not explode or at least did not seriously hinder the incoming French forces. With French troops about 100 meters away from him, al-Azma rushed to an artilleryman and commanded him to fire at the French tanks. Before any shell was fired, al-Azma was fatally shot in the head and chest by machine gun fire from a French tank crew. He was the only