French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon that local leaders had could easily be overruled by French officials. The French did everything in their power to prevent people in the Levant from developing self-sufficient governing bodies. In 1930, France extended their constitution on to Syria. On August 3, 1920, 299 of the "Haut-commissariat de la République française en Syrie et au Liban" linked the cazas of Hasbaya, Rachaya, Maallaka and Baalbeck to what was then known as the Autonomous Territory of Lebanon. Then on 31 August 1920, General Gouraud signed Arrêté 318 delimiting the State of Greater Lebanon, with explanatory notes stating that Lebanon would be treated
Phoenicia under Assyrian rule Phoenicia under Assyrian rule During the Middle Assyrian Empire (1392–1056 BC) and the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), Phoenicia, what is today known as Lebanon and coastal Syria, came under Assyrian rule on several occasions. Southern Canaan (in modern terms Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan) was inhabited by a number of Semitic states speaking Canaanite languages, these being Israel, Judah, Samarra, Ammon, Edom, Moab, the Suteans and Amalekites. In addition, the Philistines migrated into this region from the Aegean, a non-Semitic Indo-European speaking people. Northern Canaan (in modern terms Lebanon the Mediterranean coast of Syria and far south west coast