and Shaykh Hamdi al-Juwajani, a Muslim scholar. Yasin and Abd al-Qadir were killed during the battle. Shaykh Muhammad al-Ashmar also participated in the battle with 40–50 of his men from the Midan quarter of Damascus. Other Muslim preachers and scholars from Damascus, including Tawfiq al-Darra (ex-mufti of the Ottoman Fifth Army), Sa'id al-Barhani (preacher at the Tuba Mosque), Muhammad al-Fahl (scholar from the Qalbaqjiyya Madrasa) and Ali Daqqar (preacher at the Sinan Pasha Mosque) also participated in the battle. The Syrians were equipped with rifles discarded by retreating Ottoman soldiers during World War I and those used by the Sharifian Army's Bedouin cavalry during the 1916 Arab Revolt. The Syrians also possessed a number of machine guns and about 15 artillery pieces. According to various versions, ammunition was low, with 120–250 bullets per rifle, 45 bullets per machine gun, and 50–80 shells per cannon. Part of this ammunition was also unusable because many bullet and rifle types did not correspond to each other. Battle The first clashes took place at 6:30 when French tanks stormed the central position of the Syrian defensive line while French cavalry and infantry units assaulted the Syrians' northern and southern positions. The camel cavalry were the first Syrian units to engage the French. Syrian forces initially put up stiff resistance along the front, but lacked coordination between their different units. Early in the clashes, Syrian artillery fire inflicted casualties on a battery of French soldiers. French tanks faced heavy fire as they attempted to gain ground against the Syrians. However, French artillery took a toll on Syrian forces and by 8:30 the French had broken the Syrians' central trench. At one point in the first few hours of the clashes, Syrian forces managed to briefly pin down two Senegalese companies that were relatively isolated on the French right flank. The losses inflicted on the two Senegalese units represented roughly half of the French army's total casualties. Nonetheless, by 10:00, the battle was effectively over, having turned decisively in favor of the French. At 10:30, French forces reached al-Azma's headquarters, unhindered by the mines laid en route by the Syrians. Little information is known about the battle from the Syrian side. According to one version, when French forces were about 100 meters in the distance, al-Azma rushed to a Syrian artilleryman stationed near him and ordered him to open fire. However, before any shells could be