Jabal al-Druze (), is an elevated volcanic region in the Suwayda Governorate of 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 ...

. Most of the inhabitants of this region are

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 ...

, and there are also significant

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

communities.The Druze and Assad: Strategic Bedfellows
/ref>

Safaitic Safaitic ( ''Al-Ṣafāʾiyyah'') is a variety of the South Semitic scripts used by the Arabs in southern Syria and northern Jordan in the Harrat al-Sham, Ḥarrah region, to carve rock inscriptions in various dialects of Old Arabic and Ancient N ...

inscriptions were first found in this area. The

State of Jabal Druze Jabal al-Druze (, ) was an autonomous state in the French Mandate of Syria from 1921 to 1936, designed to function as a government for the local Druze population under French oversight. Nomenclature On 4 March 1922, it was proclaimed as ...

was an autonomous area in the

French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (; , also referred to as the Levant States; 1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, concerning the territori ...

from 1921 to 1936. In the past, the name Jabal al-Druze was used for a different area, located in

Mount Lebanon Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round. Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...

. 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

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 Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

) 11% and Sunni Muslims 2%. In 2010, the As-Suwayda governorate has a population of about 375,000 inhabitants,

made up 90%,

s 7% and Sunni Muslims 3%.The Druze and Assad: Strategic Bedfellows
/ref> Due to low birth and high emigration rates, Christians proportion in As-Suwayda had declined.

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 The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

(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 Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, the word "'' tell''" means "mound" or "hill", but in Jabal al-Druze it rather refers to a

volcanic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

References

{{Coord, 32, 40, N, 36, 44, E, region:SY_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Jabal ad Duruz Volcanic fields Druze in Syria

Cultural regions Eastern Mediterranean conifer–sclerophyllous–broadleaf forests

Geology

Peaks

See also

References