Ayyash Al-Haj Hussein Al-Jassim

Ayyash Al-Haj was born in Deir ez-Zor in 1864 to a prominent family from the Baggara tribe. He grew up in a nationalistic environment that opposed the Ottoman rule and later the French mandate. He formed a local government with his cousin Fadel Al-Aboud in 1918 to protect the people of Deir ez-Zor from the chaos and insecurity left by the Ottoman withdrawal. He also established a national army with other patriots to counter the British invasion and clashed with them at the site of Salhiya in 1919. He maintained close ties with the Baggara tribes and the Albu Saraya clan, who later joined him in forming armed revolutionary groups against the French forces. He was in contact with the leaders of the Great Syrian Revolution and agreed to extend the revolution to the Euphrates region. He and his sons planned and carried out several military operations against the French, the most famous of which was the epic of Ain Albu Gomaa in 1925, where they ambushed and killed four French officers and their driver. The French authorities retaliated by executing his son Mahmoud and 12 of his companions by firing squad, and exiling him and his family to Jableh. There, he was assassinated by the French in a café by poisoning his coffee. He was buried in Jableh in the cemetery of Sultan Ibrahim ibn Adham Mosque, where prayers were held for his spirit in all the Syrian cities. He is considered one of the heroes of the Syrian resistance and a symbol of courage and sacrifice.