ABSTRACT
With the outbreak of World War I in Europe a number of Maronites came to the French consulate-general in Beirut requesting to be recruited into the French army. Their request was rejected since they were Ottoman subjects. Later, after the Empire entered the war, the French agreed to accept Syrian and Lebanese volunteers for the Foreign Legion. On 25 April most of the Syrian migrs in Paris held a meeting on the Shukri Ghanim initative and in the presence of a senior official of the French foreign ministry. It was decided to form the Comit Central Syrien (CCS), which would unite the Syrians in the city and work first of all to collect funds to finance sending a recruiting mission to America and to aid the families of the recruits to the Legion dorient. CCSs activity summation brought out that it was not successful in becoming a unifying factor among the Syrian communities and societies in America and in Europe.
