Vichy, June 23.
Strong British motorized units crossed the Syrian frontier from Iraq yesterday and advanced in the direction of Palmyra, said an official announcement here last night.
French aviation hotly attacked the motorized units, bombing and machine-gunning ' them throughout the morning.
Meanwhile, a fierce battle raged throughout Saturday night and continued Sunday morning in the mountains and along the narrow seaboard south of Beirut. The native population fied from the Lebanon capital. Beirut yesterday was more than half evacuated of civilians but still was firmly held by the French, Las British consolidated their positions inside Damscus and mopped up the maze of narrow streets in the native quarters, where the last French troops were massed before their evacuation, the French took up strong positions in the Lebanon mountains north of the capital, From good commanding posts in the mountains the French can sweep Damascus to the Bosh road and thus Ankara, June 23.
Turkish coastal vessels last night sighted an unspecified number of Russian destroyers. submarines and other naval units in the vicinity of the Straits of the Bosphorus, reliable Turkish sources revealed today.—United Press.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.