Daraa

Daraa is an ancient city dating to the Late Bronze Age. It was mentioned in texts from the New Kingdom of Egypt of the reign of Thutmose III (1490-1436 BCE) as the city of Atharaa. The Hebrew Bible refers to it as Edrei ({{langx|hbo|אֶדְרֶעִי|Eḏreʿi}}),Numbers 21:33 and Deuteronomy 3:1 the capital of Bashan, site of a battle where the Israelites defeated Og.Negev, p. 150. According to Jewish tradition, Eldad and Medad were buried in Edrei.Burial Places of the Fathers, published by Yehuda Levi Nahum in book: Ṣohar la-ḥasifat ginzei teiman (Heb. צהר לחשיפת גנזי תימן), Tel-Aviv 1986, p. 253 {{OCLC|15417732}}

During the Seleucid Empire, and the Roman Empire after 106, the city was known as Adraa ({{langx|grc-x-koine|Ἀδράα}}),[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Dadraa-geo William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1864): Adraa] and appears on its coinage.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xs8GAwAAQBAJ&q=Adraa+Arabia|title=Catalogue of the Greek coins in The British Museum|year=2004|isbn=9785872102076}}{{cite web|url=http://www.snible.org/coins/hn/arabia.html|title=Ancient coins of Arabia|work=snible.org}} It was incorporated into the province of Arabia Petraea.Sharon, 2007, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1d8xHcor0psC&pg=PA68 68]

By the 3rd century, it had gained the status of polis or self-governed city. The Roman historian Eusebius referred to it.[https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&dq=Eusebius+Adraa&pg=PA419 Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337] (Harvard University Press 1993 {{ISBN|978-0-67477886-3}}), p. 419 The area east of Adraa was a centre of the Ebionites.[http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak/courses/535/Harnack/bk4ch3-1n.htm Adolf Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, Book 4, Chapter 3, section 1][https://books.google.com/books?id=zs43AAAAIAAJ&dq=Adraa+Ebionites&pg=PA29 Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn, G. J. Reinink, Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects] (Brill Archive 1973 {{ISBN|978-9-00403763-2}}), p. 29 Adraa itself was a Christian bishopric. Arabio, the first bishop of Adraa whose name is known, participated in the Council of Seleucia of 359. Uranius was at the First Council of Constantinople in 381; Proclus at the anti-Eutyches synod of Constantinople in 448 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451; and Dorimenius at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.Michel Lequien, [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_86weAemI-e4C Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus], Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 859-860Siméon Vailhé, v. Adraa, in [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6562709t/f316.image Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques], vol. I, Paris 1909, coll. 592-593 No longer a residential bishopric, Adraa is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 838 It was also a centre of monastic and missionary activity in the Syrian Desert.

In 614, the Sasanian Empire sacked Adraa during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, but spared the inhabitants.

According to ibn Hisham and al-Waqidi, 9th-century biographers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Jewish tribes of Arabia of the Banu Nadir and Banu Qaynuqa migrated to Adhri'at, as it was known during the early Islamic conquests, following their expulsion from Medina. However, historian Moshe Sharon says this does not appear in Jewish or earlier Muslim sources. Situated between the major Jewish centres of Syria Palaestina and Lower Mesopotamia, Adhri'at had a large Jewish population in the early 7th century and served as a place of Jewish learning. Its residents lit an annual bonfire before Rosh Hashanah to alert the Jewish communities of Mesopotamia to the start of the New Year.

Early Muslim historian al-Baladhuri lists Adhri'at as one of the towns conquered by the Muslim army following the Battle of Mu'tah in 629 and forced to pay the jizya. However, contemporary sources maintain that Adhri'at was conquered by the Rashidun army during the caliphate of Abu Bakr in 634.Houtma, 1993, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC&pg=PA135 135] Adhri'at's residents reportedly celebrated the arrival of the second caliph, Umar, when he visited the city, "dancing with swords and sweet basil."Sharon, 2007, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1d8xHcor0psC&pg=PA69 69] Throughout Rashidun and Umayyad calipahtes, the city served as the capital of the al-Bathaniyya subdistrict, part of the larger Jund Dimashq ("military district of Damascus").le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/34/mode/1up 34]

In 906, the population was massacred in a raid by the rebellious Qarmatians. The late 10th-century geographer al-Muqaddasi noted that during the Abbasid Caliphate, Adhri'at was a major administrative center on the edge of the desert.le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/383/mode/1up 383] He claimed the city was part of the Jund al-Urdunn district and that its territory was "full of villages" and included the region of Jerash to the south of the Yarmouk River.le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/40/mode/1up 40]

Throughout the early Islamic period, it served as a strategic station on the Hajj caravan route between Damascus and Medina and as the gate to central Syria. The Crusaders temporarily conquered Adhri'at, then known as Adratum, during the reign of Baldwin II of Jerusalem in 1118.{{sfn|Runciman|1989|p=146}}

According to Yaqut al-Hamawi, in the early 13th century during Ayyubid dynasty, Adhri'at was "celebrated for the many learned men who were natives of the place." Under the Mamluk Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire, the city maintained its importance.Sharon, 2007, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1d8xHcor0psC&pg=PA70 70] In 1596 Daraa appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as madinat Idra'a and was part of the nahiya of Butayna (Bathaniyya) in the Hauran Sanjak of Ottoman Syria. It had a Muslim population of 120 households and 45 bachelors. A 40% tax−rate was levied on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 26,500 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 214.

In 1838, Eli Smith listed Daraa as a Muslim, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox village in the Nuqrah (southern Hauran plain) south of al-Shaykh Maskin.Smith; in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/152/mode/1up 152].

Following the construction of the Hejaz Railway, Daraa became a chief junction of the railroad. In his book Seven Pillars and a letter to a military colleague,Letter to W.F. Stirling, Deputy Chief Political Officer, Cairo, 28 June 1919, in Brown, 1988. T. E. Lawrence says he was captured by the Ottoman military in Daraa, where he was beaten and sexually abused by the local Bey and his guardsmen. During the Battle of Megiddo, Lawrence led the Arab Revolt in cutting the southern rail line at Mafraq, the northern at Tell Arar, and the western by Mezerib.{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=T.E. |title=Seven Pillars of Wisdom |date=1935 |publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. |location=Garden City |pages=580–583,635}}{{cite book |last1=Faulkner |first1=Neil |title=Lawrence of Arabia's War: The Arabs, the British and the Remaking of the Middle East in WWI |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300226393 |page=427-429}} On 27 September 1918, the Arab Northern Army captured Daraa from the retreating Ottoman forces.{{cite web |url=https://arabrevolt.jo/en/milestones-list/revolt-s-military-routes-in-jordan-and-syria/ |title=Revolt's Military Routes in Jordan and Syria |website=arabrevolt.jo }}

Daraa is the southernmost city of Syria near the border with Jordan and a major midpoint between Damascus and Amman.

After the Syrian Ba'ath Party gained power following the 1963 coup, the new interior minister Amin al-Hafiz appointed Abd al-Rahman al-Khlayfawi as governor of Daraa until 1965.Moubayed, 2006, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sC-xU8QHSooC&pg=PA275 275]

Daraa had recently, before the Syrian Civil War, suffered from reduced water supply in the region and had been straining under the influx of internal refugees who were forced to leave their northeastern lands due to a drought exacerbated by the government's lack of provision.{{cite news|work=n+1|author=Michael Gunning|date=26 August 2011|url=http://nplusonemag.com/background-to-a-revolution|title=Background to a Revolution}}

{{see also|Syrian revolution|Siege of Daraa|Daraa offensive (February–May 2014)|Daraa offensive (February–June 2017)|2018 Southern Syria offensive|March 2020 Daraa clashes|2021 Daraa offensive}}

File:درعا_البلد_إحدى_المظاهرات_في_بداية_الإحتجاجات_2013-10-11_16-41.jpeg

Daraa played an important role by the start of the Syrian revolution against the government led by President Bashar al-Assad as part of the Arab Spring protests with hundreds of thousands of people protesting in the city.{{cite news|title=Syria protesters torch buildings |newspaper=Al Jazeera English|date=20 March 2011|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011320113138901721.html|access-date=23 May 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321132023/http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011320113138901721.html|archive-date=21 March 2011}} The uprising was sparked on 6 March 2011, when at least 15 youths were arrested and tortured for scrawling graffiti on their school wall denouncing the Assad government. The family and friends of the detained youths and tens of thousands of locals marched on the streets on 15 March, demanding their release. According to activists, this protest was faced with Syrian security forces opening fire on the protesters, killing four people.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12791738 | work=BBC News | title=Middle East unrest: Three killed at protest in Syria | date=18 March 2011}} Protests continued daily.

During this time the local courthouse, the Ba'ath party headquarters in the city, and the Syriatel building owned by Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of President Assad, were set on fire. What followed was a government assault on the city as violence continued and intensified all across Syria. On 25 April 2011, the Syrian Armed Forces launched the Siege of Daraa in a crackdown on protesters.{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/node/99345/section/5 |title="We've Never Seen Such Horror" | Human Rights Watch |publisher=Hrw.org |date=1 June 2011 |access-date=29 August 2013}} The operation lasted until 5 May 2011, killing and arresting tens of thousands of locals in the process.

On 16 February 2012, the Syrian Army reportedly attacked Daraa, shelling the city heavily. This was apparently because, "Daraa has been regaining its role in the uprising. Demonstrations resumed and the Free Syrian Army provided security for protests in some parts of the city." The attack was part of a security force push "to regain control of areas they lost in recent weeks", indicating that the FSA in Daraa had taken control of parts of the city. Security forces attacked at least three districts, but FSA fighters fought back, firing at Syrian Army roadblocks and buildings housing security police and militiamen.{{cite web |url=http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/syria-feb-16-2012-0932 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712111242/http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/syria-feb-16-2012-0932 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 12, 2012 |title=Syria live blog Thu, 16 Feb 2012, 06:32 |publisher=Blogs.aljazeera.net |date=16 February 2012 |access-date=29 August 2013 }} {{anchor|Al-Balad}} On 14 March 2012, the Free Syrian Army controlled at least one main district in the city of Daraa (al-Balad district) prompting the Syrian army to attack it with anti-aircraft guns.{{cite web |url=http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/syria-mar-14-2012-1143 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711041628/http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/syria-mar-14-2012-1143 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 11, 2012 |title=Syria - Mar 14, 2012 - 11:43 | Al Jazeera Blogs |publisher=Blogs.aljazeera.net |date=14 March 2012 |access-date=20 April 2012 }}

In early June 2017, much of Daraa was reported to have been destroyed by protracted fighting.[https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/6/5/syrian-regime-jets-pound-a-day-after-rebel-attacks Syrian regime jets pound Daraa after rebel attacks] TheNewArab, 5 June 2017. On 12 July 2018, the battle for Daraa ended after several days of intense clashes between the Syrian Army and rebel forces, some of which agreed to terms of reconciliation. The Syrian Army retook the city fully.{{cite news|title=Breaking: Battle for Daraa city ends in decisive victory for Syrian Army|url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-battle-for-daraa-city-ends-in-decisive-victory-for-syrian-army/|access-date=12 July 2018|publisher=Al-Masdar News|archive-date=30 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130102846/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-battle-for-daraa-city-ends-in-decisive-victory-for-syrian-army/|url-status=dead}}

The March 2020 Daraa clashes and 2021 Daraa offensive ended with Syrian Army victory. After that, the Syrian government fully recaptured the city, reestablished state institutions there, and restarted the reconciliation process.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/1/truce-reached-in-syrias-deraa-after-months-of-fighting-reports|title=Truce reached in Syria's Deraa after months of fighting: Reports|website=www.aljazeera.com |date=1 September 2021}}

On 6 December 2024, local rebels began an offensive to take the city. 90% of the governorate, including the city itself, fell under their control.{{cite web |url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/350789/ |title=After local factions advanced to Daraa Al-Balad | Regime forces nearly lose all control over the province |publisher=SOHR |language=en |date=6 December 2024 }}

The city also contains a Palestinian refugee camp, known as Daraa camp.

The city is divided into two sections; Daraa al-Mahatta, which is the northern portion, and Daraa al-Balad, which is the southern part of the city.

{{cite news|title=Explainer: What are the clashes in Syria’s Deraa about?|newspaper=Al Jazeera English|date=13 August 2021|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/13/explainer-what-are-the-clashes-in-syrias-daraa-about|access-date=22 May 2025}}

Daraa has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk).

{{Weather box

|width = auto

|location = Dara'a (1972–2004)

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

|Jan high C = 13.3

|Feb high C = 14.7

|Mar high C = 18.0

|Apr high C = 23.6

|May high C = 28.5

|Jun high C = 31.3

|Jul high C = 32.6

|Aug high C = 32.6

|Sep high C = 31.3

|Oct high C = 27.8

|Nov high C = 21.0

|Dec high C = 15.2

|Jan mean C = 8.3

|Feb mean C = 9.4

|Mar mean C = 12.0

|Apr mean C = 16.5

|May mean C = 20.5

|Jun mean C = 23.6

|Jul mean C = 25.5

|Aug mean C = 25.6

|Sep mean C = 23.9

|Oct mean C = 20.3

|Nov mean C = 14.4

|Dec mean C = 9.9

|Jan low C = 3.2

|Feb low C = 4.0

|Mar low C = 6.0

|Apr low C = 9.3

|May low C = 12.5

|Jun low C = 15.8

|Jul low C = 18.3

|Aug low C = 18.6

|Sep low C = 16.5

|Oct low C = 12.8

|Nov low C = 7.8

|Dec low C = 4.6

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 60.9

|Feb precipitation mm = 49.4

|Mar precipitation mm = 42.3

|Apr precipitation mm = 15.2

|May precipitation mm = 3.4

|Jun precipitation mm = 1.0

|Jul precipitation mm = 0.0

|Aug precipitation mm = 0.0

|Sep precipitation mm = 0.4

|Oct precipitation mm = 9.4

|Nov precipitation mm = 22.9

|Dec precipitation mm = 45.9

|Jan precipitation days = 10

|Feb precipitation days = 11

|Mar precipitation days = 7

|Apr precipitation days = 4

|May precipitation days = 1

|Jun precipitation days = 0

|Jul precipitation days = 0

|Aug precipitation days = 0

|Sep precipitation days = 0

|Oct precipitation days = 2

|Nov precipitation days = 5

|Dec precipitation days = 8

|source 1 = WMOWorld Weather Information Service: [http://worldweather.wmo.int/099/c01266.htm Daraa], World Meteorological Organization

}}

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|first=M.Th.|last=Houtsma|author-link=Martijn Theodoor Houtsma|title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC&q=Adhriat|volume=1|publisher=BRILL|year=1993|isbn=9004097961}}
• {{cite book

| last1 = Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth

| last2 = Abdulfattah|first2=K. |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah

| title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ

| year = 1977

| publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft

|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}

• {{cite book|title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500|url=https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft |first=G.|last=Le Strange|author-link=Guy Le Strange|year=1890|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite book |last=Moubayed |first=S.M.|author-link=Sami Moubayed |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sC-xU8QHSooC&pg=PA56 |title=Steel and Silk |publisher=Cune Press |isbn=9781885942401}}
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}
• {{cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman |year=1989 |title=A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-06162-9 }}
• {{cite book | first = G. |last=Schumacher |author-link1=Gottlieb Schumacher| title = Across the Jordan: being an exploration and survey of part of Hauran and Jaulan| year = 1888| publisher = Bentley|url= https://archive.org/details/jaulansurveyedf00schu}}
• {{cite book|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Addendum |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1d8xHcor0psC |first=M.|last=Sharon|author-link=Moshe Sharon|year=2007|publisher=Brill |isbn = 978-9004157804}}

{{refend}}

• T.E. Lawrence, (various editions) Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Chapter LXXX

• [http://www.daraa.at.ua/ Official Site of Daraa Governorate] {{in lang|ar}}
• s:Encyclopaedia Biblica/Ecclesiasticus-Eglon (king)#EDREI
• [https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6215172,36.0999585,14z Map of the town], Google Maps
• [http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.map-vn745520-s22l Deraa-map; 22L]

{{Coord|32|37|31|N|36|6|22|E|region:SY_type:city|display=title}}

{{Cities of Syria}}

{{Daraa Governorate|daraa}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Cities in Syria

Category:Populated places in Daraa District