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
Lebanon–Syria border Lebanon–Syria border The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese Republic runs for a total length of about ; it accounts for most of the land border of Lebanon (except for the short border with Israel in the south). It runs eastward from the Mediterranean coast, following the Nahr al-Kabir al-Janoubi. The Lebanese border forms a salient to include the villages of Karha and Knaisse Akkar in the northwest of Akkar District, just west of the Syrian Lake Homs, and again turns to the south-east, cutting across the Orontes (at ) and the trans-Beqaa road between Qaa and