Deir Ali () is a small 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 ...

, administratively part of the

Rif Dimashq Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate (, Literal translation, lit. "Damascus Countryside Governorate" or "Damascus Suburb") is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the country. ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Deir Ali had a population of 4,368 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly members of 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 ...

community.

History

The town was historically a village known as ''Lebaba'', and contains the archaeological remains of a

Marcionite Marcionism was an early Christian dualistic belief system that originated with the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around 144 AD. Marcion was an early Christian theologian, evangelist, and an important figure in early Christianity. ...

church. These include an inscription dated to 318 CE, which is the oldest known surviving ''inscribed'' reference, anywhere, to

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

: :The meeting-house of the Marcionites, in the village of Lebaba, of the Lord and Saviour Jesus the Good -Erected by the forethought of Paul a presbyter, in the year 630

Seleucid era The Seleucid era ("SE") or (literally "year of the Greeks" or "Greek year"), sometimes denoted "AG," was a Calendar era, system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic period, Hellenistic ...

This gained the attention of the First Bible Network (FBN.) 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 Deir Ali's population as being Druze. The

Arab Gas Pipeline The Arab Gas Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline in the Middle East. It originates near Arish in the Sinai Peninsula and was built to export Egyptian natural gas to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, with branch underwater and overland pipelines to and ...

passes through the area and supplies gas to a modern power station (estimated cost 250 million euros) in the town; the pipeline junction at the power station links the power grids of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, Syria, and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{Rif Dimashq Governorate, markaz Populated places in Markaz Rif Dimashq District Roman sites in Syria Druze communities in Syria Marcionism

History

See also

References

Bibliography