Kamil Pasha al-Qudsi

Kamil Pasha al-Qudsi was a Syrian statesman who served as the first Governor General of the State of Aleppo between 1920 and 1922. He was born in Aleppo in 1845 and received his education in Istanbul. He held various administrative positions in the Ottoman Empire, such as governor of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra. After the collapse of the Ottoman rule in Syria, he was appointed by the French High Commissioner Henri Gouraud as the head of the newly created State of Aleppo, which included the Sanjak of Alexandretta. He tried to maintain a balance between the French interests and the Syrian nationalist aspirations, but he faced opposition from both sides. He resigned from his post in 1922 and joined the Syrian Federation, which later merged with the State of Damascus to form the Syrian Republic. He died in Aleppo in 1926. He is remembered as one of the prominent figures of the Syrian history and a defender of the autonomy of Aleppo.