Jabal al-Druze (), also known as Jabal al-Arab or Jabal Hauran, is an elevated volcanic region in Hauran in the Suwayda Governorate of southern Syria. Most of the inhabitants of this region are Druze, and there are also significant Christian communities.The Druze and Assad: Strategic Bedfellows Safaitic inscriptions were first found in this area. The Jabal Druze State was an autonomous area in the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from 1921 to 1936, which had 42 of the Haurans ~180 towns.
In Syria, most Druze reside in Suwayda Governorate, which encompasses almost all of Jabal al-Druze. This governorate is unique in Syria as it has a Druze majority. Additionally, it has integrated Christian communities that have long coexisted harmoniously with the Druze in these mountains.
In the 1980s Druze made up 87.6% of the population, Christians (mostly Greek Orthodox) 11% and Sunni Muslims 2%. In 2010, the As-Suwayda governorate has a population of about 375,000 inhabitants, Druze made up 90%, Christians 7% and Sunni Muslims 3%. Due to low birth and high emigration rates, the Christian proportion in As-Suwayda had declined.
History
Ottoman and early 20th-century period By the early 1880s the Al-Atrash family, a Druze clan, had consolidated control over much of Jabal al Druze, governing key towns including al Suwayda, Salkhad and al Qurayya. Al Atrash sheikhs led several revolts against Ottoman authority from the region, including an unsuccessful 1910 uprising in which Zuqan al-Atrash was captured and later executed.
French Mandate and the Great Syrian Revolt Following the establishment of the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, Jabal al Druze was constituted as an autonomous Jabal Druze State. Discontent with French rule, particularly the centralizing reforms of the French appointed governor Captain Gabriel Carbillet and the detainment of Druze delegates by high commissioner Maurice Sarrail, led Sultan Al Atrash to declare revolt against France on 23 August 1925. What began as a local Druze uprising centred on Jabal Al Druze, became the Great Syrian Revolt, the largest anti colonial rebellion in the Levant of the interwar period, after Syrian nationalists allied with Al Atrash and a National Provisional government was proclaimed with him as president.
Geology
The Jabal al-Druze volcanic field, the southernmost in Syria, lies in the Haurun-Druze Plateau in SW Syria near the border with Jordan. The most prominent feature of this volcanic field is 1800m-high Jabal al-Druze (also known variously as Jabal ad Duruz, Djebel Al-Arab, Jabal Druze, Djebel ed Drouz). The alkaline volcanic field consists of a group of 118 basaltic volcanoes active from the lower-Pleistocene to the Holocene (2.6 million years ago to present). The large SW Plateau depression is filled by basaltic lava flows from volcanoes aligned in a NW-SE direction. This volcanic field lies within the northern part of the massive alkaline Harrat al-Sham (also known as Harrat al-Shaam) volcanic field that extends from southern Syria to Saudi Arabia.
Peaks
Tell Qeni (1,803 m) Tell Joualine (1,732 m) Tell Sleiman (1,703 m) Tell Qleib (1,698 m) Tell Abou-Hamra (1,482 m) Tell El-Ahmar (1,452 m) Tell Abed-Mar (1,436 m) Tell Khodr-Imtan (1,341 m) Tell Azran (1,220 m) Tell Shihan (1,138 m)
In Arabic, the word "tell" means "mound" or "hill", but in Jabal al-Druze it rather refers to a volcanic cone.
See also Druze in Syria Jabal Druze State List of volcanoes in Syria
References