Syria’s 2025–26 textbooks drop “Great Arab Revolt” and soften anti-Turkish wording in the first edition under President Ahmad al-Sharaa

Syria’s new 2025–26 school textbooks have revised the account of the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, dropping the term “Great Arab Revolt” and using less anti-Turkish language. They are the first textbooks under President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The 2017–18 Assad-era edition described the Great Arab Revolt of 1916–1918, led by Sharif Hussein, as an effort “to liberate the Arab lands from the Ottoman occupation and the rule of the Unionist Turks.” The new edition instead calls it “the rebellion movement of Hussein bin Ali” and says its goal was “to break the Arab lands from the Ottoman State.”

The wording on the war in the East has also changed. The old text said it was fought “to liberate the peoples from the injustices of the Turks”; the new version says its goal was “to expel the Ottomans from the region.”