Assal al-Ward ( ar, عسال الورد; also spelled Asal el-Ward) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the

Rif Dimashq Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف دمشق, ', literally, the "Governorate of the Countryside of Damascus", Damascus Suburb) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the ...

, located northeast of Damascus along the Syrian–

Lebanese Lebanese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Lebanese Republic * Lebanese people The Lebanese people ( ar, الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may al ...

borders. Nearby localities include

Hala Hala may refer to: People * Hala (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * David Hala (born 1989), Australian Rugby League player * Hāla (fl. 20-24), Indian king of the Satavahana d ...

, Hosh Arab and al-Qutayfah to the southeast, Rankous,

Saidnaya Saidnaya (also transliterated Saydnaya, Seidnaya or Sednaya, from the syr, ܣܝܕܢܝܐ, ar, صيدنايا, Ṣaydnāyā) is a city located in the mountains, above sea level, north of the city of Damascus in Syria. It is the home of a Gree ...

, Douma and al-Tawani to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Assal al-Ward had a population of 5,812 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. The town is also the administrative center of the Assal al-Ward ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' which consists of three towns with a combined population of 8,766. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

History

Assal al-Ward ("the rose makers") was long famous for its flower produce. The flowers produced in the town were supplied to the

attar Attar or Attoor ( ar, عطار, ) may refer to: People *Attar (name) *Fariduddin Attar, 12th-century Persian poet Places *Attar (Madhya Pradesh), the location of Attar railway station, Madhya Pradesh, India *Attar, Iran, a village in Razavi Kho ...

makers of Damascus. But unrestricted grazing reduced the town's once burgeoning yearly harvest of sixty to seventy

Kantar A kantar is the official Egyptian weight unit for measuring cotton. It corresponds to the US hundredweight, and is roughly equal to 99.05 pounds, or 45.02 kilogram The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the unit of mass in the International Sy ...

s (hundredweights) to one or one and a half by the end of the 19th century.Burton; Drake, 1872, p. 45. During the early 1870s, the village was described as a "well-to-do place" with an entirely Shafi'i Muslim population. Armed men from the village possessed about 250 guns and were led by a local chief, Shaykh Salih. The inhabitants were noted for their hospitality, intelligence and willingness to fight. In 1874, the town was visited by British geographer, Sir

Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

, and he noted that the town was affluent, with cool fresh air and healthy inhabitants. In its ''Quarterly Statement'' of 1892, the Palestine Exploration Fund described Assal al-Ward as a "village of a few hundred people" with a cool water spring.

Geography

Assal al-Ward lies on a high plateau that starts at between the Qalamoun and

Anti-Lebanon Mountains The Anti-Lebanon Mountains ( ar, جبال لبنان الشرقية, Jibāl Lubnān ash-Sharqiyyah, Eastern Mountains of Lebanon; Lebanese Arabic: , , "Eastern Mountains") are a southwest–northeast-trending mountain range that forms most of th ...

.Hastings, 2004, p. 92. The large

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non- avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

- Quaternary basinBeck, 1989, p. 18. of Assal al-Ward is watered by several springs, and drains northwards towards the towns of

Jayroud Jairoud ( ar, جيرود; also spelled Jerud or Jayroud) is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located northeast of Damascus in the Qalamoun Mountains. Nearby localities include ar-Ruhaybah, al-Qutayfah ...

and an-Nabek. The area's forest vegetation is dominated by ''

Juniperus excelsa ''Juniperus excelsa'', commonly called the Greek juniper, is a juniper found throughout the eastern Mediterranean, from northeastern Greece and southern Bulgaria across Turkey to Syria and Lebanon, Jordan, the Caucasus mountains, and south ...

'' (Greek Juniper) which is observed between .Merlo; Croitory, ed., 2005, p. 183.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{Authority control Populated places in Yabroud District Towns in Syria