ABSTRACT
Ali Rida al-Rikabi was one of the prominent members of al-Fatat during World War I. On 22 September he was returned to the Ottoman after several years in forced retirement, appointed commander of the Tiberias front, and assigned to halt the British advance at all costs. His younger brother Abd al-Qadir had studied before the war at the school for administration in Istanbul and was on the administrative committee of the Literary Club. One of the most controversial questions in the history of the First World War in the Middle East is the question of who conquered, or to be more exact, who reached Damascus first. The controversy over this question resulted not only from considerations of national and political prestige, but also because in the Declaration to the Seven the recognition by the British of the independence of the areas liberated by the Arabs themselves was promised.
