JABAL DRUZE

A volcanic massif in southern Syria, between the plain of Hawran and the Eastern desert.

This mountain region has a curved, conelike surface, its highest peak rising to 5,915 feet (1,803 m). On the west, the basalt upland is surrounded by lava, which tapers into the fertile plains of Hawran and Jawlan, famed since Roman times for their abundance in grain. The western slopes of the mountain receive an average annual rainfall of about 11.7 inches (300 mm). The soil is especially suitable for vine and fruit trees.

The term Jabal Druze was first applied to the Shuf region of Mount Lebanon where the people of the Druze community predominate. Under the Mamluk sultanate (1260–1517), some Druze, suffering from Mamluk punitive expeditions against them, took refuge in Jabal Hawran. After the Qaysi–Yamani war at Ayn Dara in Lebanon in 1711, the Yamanis, most of whom were Druze, who were overpowered in the fighting, fled to Jabal Hawran, where they formed the bulk of the Druze community. Later on, more Druze fled from Mount Lebanon to the Hawran in the wake of the 1860 events, when punitive measures were taken against them. Others went there during World War I to avoid Ottoman Empire conscription and the famine. Because of this considerable Druze settlement in Jabal Hawran, it became known in the latter part of the nineteenth century as Jabal Druze. In the 1930s, Jabal Druze was also referred to as Jabal al-Arab to avoid the sectarian term of Druze and also in recognition of the nationalist role played by the Druze, headed by Sultan al-Atrash, in leading the Great Syrian Revolt against the French (1925–1927).

see also atrash, sultan pasha al-; druze; lebanon, mount; mamluks; shuf.

Bibliography

Lewis, Norman. Nomads and Settlers in Syria and Jordan, 1800–1980. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

abdul-karim rafeq