on the same day as faisal was proclaimed king of syria, al-'ahd convened the iraqi congress (a congress of 29 iraqis in damascus that included ja'far al-askari as well as his brother-in-law nuri al-said), at which they called for the independence of iraq, with abdullah as king and zayd as his deputy; as well as the eventual union of iraq with syria. the iraqi revolt against the british began a few weeks later at the end of june 1920.