 It was due to this publication that he came to attend the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, where he became attached to the entourage of Emir Faisal, the leader of the Arab delegation, as a translator.A Greater Syrian state (the Kingdom of Syria) did briefly come into existence under Faisal before the French Mandate of Syria was imposed in 1920.Rihbany's account of the peace conference, "Wise Men from the East and Wise Men from the West", was in part published in "Harper's Magazine" (Dec. 1921) before being issued as a book.