The battle occurred when the French moved to topple the newly proclaimed nationalist government of Hashim al-Atassi under King Faisal. An independent Kingdom of Syria had recently been proclaimed after an Arab army, which included British colonel T. E. Lawrence, defeated the Ottomans and captured Damascus. However, as a result of negotiations between the western powers at the San Remo conference, and the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and France, the French were given a  mandate (August 1920) over Syria by the League of Nations, which Faisal and his government refused to recognize. Faisal also refused to recognize Lebanese independence from Greater Syria. The French had set up the republic on the remnants of a former Ottoman Christian-majority autonomous province. The French forces advanced out of Beirut, led by General Gouraud. Some Maronite Lebanese reportedly fought on the French side, unwilling to join a Muslim-dominated Kingdom of Syria.