Busra Al-Harir
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Busra al-Harir ( ''Buṣra al-Ḥarīr'', also spelled ''Busr al-Hariri, Basr al-Harir, Busra Hariri'') is a town in southern
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, part of the
Daraa Governorate Daraa Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ') is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the south-west of the country and covers an area of 2594 km2. It is bordered by Jordan to the south, Quneitra G ...
situated in the
Hauran The Hauran (; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat ...
plain. It is located northeast of
Daraa Daraa (, Levantine Arabic: ) is a city in southwestern Syria, north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate in the Hauran region. Located south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, it serves as a way sta ...
and northwest of
as-Suwayda Suwayda (), also spelled Sweida, is a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Suwayda Governorate, one of Syria's 14 governorates, bordering Jordan in the South, Daraa Governorate ...
. Nearby localities include Maliha al-Atash to the southeast,
al-Shaykh Maskin Al-Shaykh Maskin (), also spelled Sheikh Maskīn, Sheikh Miskeen, is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located north of Daraa. Nearby localities include Ibta' and Da'el to the south, Khirbet al-Ghazaleh t ...
to the east, Izra to the northeast,
Harran Harran is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 904 km2, and its population is 96,072 (2022). It is approximately southeast of Urfa and from the Syrian border crossing at Akçakale. ...
to the northwest,
Najran Najran ( '), is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Najran Province. Today, the city of Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As of the 2022 census, the city population was 381,431, wi ...
to the west, al-Mazraa to the southwest and Nahitah to the south. In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Busra al-Harir had a population of 13,315.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate.


History

Busra al-Harir has been identified with the city of Bosor, mentioned in
1 Maccabees 1 Maccabees, also known as the First Book of Maccabees, First Maccabees, and abbreviated as 1 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which details the history of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire as well as the founding and earliest hi ...
(2nd century BC), where
Gilead Gilead or Gilad (, ; ''Gilʿāḏ'', , ''Jalʻād'') is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> The region is bounded in the west by the J ...
was captured by
Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...
. The town is also mentioned in the 3rd century
Mosaic of Rehob The Mosaic of Reḥob (, also known as the Tel Rehov inscription and the Baraita of the Boundaries), is a late 3rd–6th century Common Era, CE mosaic discovered in 1973. The mosaic, written in late Mishnaic Hebrew, describes the geography and ...
. Extensive
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
-era ruins were found in the town. Of the ruins was a
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
temple dedicated to unspecified
deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
that was consecrated as a church by 517/18 CE. The temple was built by a certain Fl. Chrysaphios, but was consecrated by archdeacon Elias, a subordinate of bishop Varus of Zorava. A notable Christian family during this era, the Maiorinus, maintained their estates in Busra al-Harir. The family played an important role converting the inhabitants of the
Lajat The Lajat (/ALA-LC: ''al-Lajāʾ''), also spelled ''Lejat'', ''Lajah'', ''el-Leja'' or ''Laja'', is the largest lava field in southern Syria, spanning some 900 square kilometers. Located about southeast of Damascus, the Lajat borders the Haura ...
plain to Christianity. It is possible that the tomb of Elias, is that of the prophet
Elisha Elisha was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a Jewish prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, Ełishe (Yeghishe/Elisha) via Armenian or Alyasa via Arabic, a ...
. Busra al-Harir was visited by Muslim geographer
Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...
during
Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...
rule in the 1220s. He referred to it as "Busr" and noted that it was a "village of the Hauran" in the Lajat plain. Busr contained a shrine dedicated to the prophet
Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
(Nabi Yusha) and the tomb of Sheikh al-Hariri. According to al-Harawi, the tomb of Elias (Ilyas) was still revered in Busr. The Haririyya, a highly
pantheist Pantheism can refer to a number of philosophical and religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arisesAnn Thomson; Bodies ...
sect of the Rifa'iyya
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
order, was founded in Busr in 1247 by its namesake Ali ibn Abi'l Hasan al-Hariri al-Marwazi.Massignon 1971, p. 222. The teachings of the sect were repudiated in a ''
fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...
'' (Islamic edict) by the Mamluk-era scholar
Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim schola ...
.


Ottoman era

During early
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
rule, Busra al-Harir was a large village. In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as "Busr" and was part of the ''
nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...
'' (subdistrict) of Badi Sarma in the Hauran Sanjak. At that time it had an entirely
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
population of 42 households and 31 bachelors, who paid fixed tax rate of 40% various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 17,000
akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...
. In 1838,
Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...
noted that inhabitants were predominantly
Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...
s.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p
156
/ref> Towards the end of Ottoman rule in
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, the residents of Busra al-Harir engaged in regular clashes with the residents of
Jabal al-Druze Jabal al-Druze (), is an elevated volcanic region in the Suwayda Governorate of southern Syria. Most of the inhabitants of this region are Druze, and there are also significant Christian communities. Safaitic inscriptions were first found in ...
. In 1879 fighting flared up between the townspeople and the
Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...
after the
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
inhabitants of several nearby villages fled to Busra al-Harir as a result of fighting between the
al-Atrash The al-Atrash (‎ ), also known as Bani al-Atrash, is a Druze clan based in Jabal Hauran in southwestern Syria. The family's name ''al-atrash'' is Arabic for "the deaf" and derives from one the family's deaf patriarchs. The al-Atrash clan mig ...
family, a leading Druze clan, and the local
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
. With pressure from the Ottoman government in
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, a truce was reached that year stipulating a Druze evacuation of Muslim villages in the Hauran occupied during the previous years. By 1885 the Ottoman government set up Busra al-Harir as one of 42 stations on the telegraph grid which extended from
Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
in the north to Gaza in the south. In 1892 Osman Nuri Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Damascus, demanded the completion of land registration in Busra al-Harir in attempt to extend central government control over the outlier Hauran and Transjordan regions. The town's inhabitants resisted the measure, leading to a shootout which resulted in the wounding of the district governor. In May 1909 a dispute between the chief of Jabal al-Druze, Yahya "Bey" Atrash, and his business partner in a steam mill in Busra al-Harir led to armed clashes between the Druze and the town's residents. The latter were supported by the Ottoman government which prepared a large army headed by Sami Pasha Faruqi to put down the Druze revolt in August 1910. Busra al-Harir was one of the principal garrison towns from which the
Ottoman army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...
launched its campaign. Atrash's forces were decisively defeated with an estimated 2,000 Druze killed and hundreds of fighters imprisoned. Consequently, the Ottoman government successfully began the process of extending direct rule to the Hauran.


Syrian Civil War

Busra al-Harir was reportedly "a stronghold of the rebel
Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...
(FSA)" during the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising against the government of
Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...
, according to the BBC. From the town and the nearby Lajat area, the FSA attacked military supply lines.Major battle in Syria; shops shut by strike
''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
''. 2011-12-11.
Two residents were reported killed by security forces on 10 June 2011, according to the opposition. State television reported a policeman was shot dead in the town on 16 September. On 11 December, the
Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...
's Izra'-based 12th Armoured Brigade stormed the town in an attempt to rout out FSA fighters. According to opposition activists, two people were killed and dozens were injured after Busra al-Harir was shelled by Syrian Army tanks in April 2012.Syria troops bombard Homs and other rebel areas
''
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
''. 2012-04-17.
A freelance journalist for ''
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
'' and opposition activist, Mohammad al-Massalma ("al-Horani"), was killed by sniper in Busra al-Harir by security forces, according to activists. In late August 2014, the rebel battalions targeted the government-held areas in the city, while army units targeted rebel vehicles. On 24 June 2018, the
Syrian Arab Army The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria. The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air D ...
and its elite branch, the Tiger Forces of
Suheil al-Hassan Major general, Major General Suhayl al-Hasan (; born 10 June 1970) is a Syrian Military Officer, military officer, formerly serving as the commander of the Syrian Arab Army's Special Forces. He graduated from the Syrian Air Force academy in 1991 ...
, entered the city after airstrikes conducted by the
Russian Air Force The Russian Air Force () is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the latter being formed on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the reb ...
paved way for the assault. They captured the town on 26 June.Syrian Army seizes another town in southwest Syria
. Al Masdar News.


References


Bibliography

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External links


Map of town
Google Maps
Ezra-map, 20M
{{DEFAULTSORT:Busra Harir Populated places in Izra' District Gilead