Suburb of Damascus, Syria
33°30′00″N
36°25′15″E
/
33.50000°N 36.42083°E
/
33.50000; 36.42083
Ghouta
(
Arabic
:
??????? ????????
/
ALA-LC
:
???at Dima?q
) is a countryside area in southwestern
Syria
that surrounds the city of
Damascus
along its eastern and southern rim.
Name
[
edit
]
Ghouta is an Arabic term (
ghuta
) for 'garden'.
Geography
[
edit
]
The Ghouta is an
oasis
formed by the
Barada River
, as its waters flow east of
Mount Qasioun
, and its seven tributaries. It surrounds the city of
Damascus
. To the east and south of the Ghouta lies the
Marj
plain, which forms a narrow belt of fields,
and south of that lies the
Hauran
plain. The Barada River Valley borders the Ghouta to the northeast.
The area north of the Ghouta is less fertile and eventually desolate hill country. To the west of the region is the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains
.
The Ghouta is historically the most celebrated 'green zone' (a verdant, fertile area around an urban center) in the
Levant
, according to the historian Beshara Doumani.
He also notes that its fame in this regard persists, despite the significant loss of its planted areas to the development of suburban sprawl, extensive highways, and the effects of the
Syrian Civil War
.
It was historically characterized by farming villages, vast gardens, orchards, and vineyards, which stretched up to 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) from the limits of the Old City of Damascus. The lands of the Ghouta were fed by irrigation. These factors distinguished it from the rain-dependent, mainly grain-growing Marj.
The size of the Ghouta has varied considerably at different times and according to different surveys and estimates. In the 20th century, the Syrian journalist Muhammad Kurd Ali approximated that it spanned an area 20 by 10 kilometers (12.4 mi × 6.2 mi),
while a 2000 a survey reported that the region spanned 19,000 hectares.
History
[
edit
]
The
Jerusalemite
geographer,
al-Muqaddasi
(d. 991), mentions the Ghouta as being one of the six rural territories belonging to
Jund Dimashq
(district of Damascus).
[a]
Since ancient times, canals dug by Damascenes provided irrigation of land on either side of the Barada, increasing the size of the Ghouta to the south and east of the city.
[8]
Separating the city from the dry grasslands bordering the
Syrian Desert
, the Ghouta has historically provided its inhabitants with a variety of cereals, vegetables and fruits.
[9]
Ottoman period
[
edit
]
Throughout much of the 19th century, most of the Ghouta farmlands were held by middle-class, small-scale landholders, who the historian James Reilly terms as "gentleman farmers".
This type of land tenure was enabled by "the intensive and commercial nature of irrigated agriculture", according to Doumani.
These farmers, part of whom were tenants and the other part possessors of usufruct rights, did not cultivate the lands themselves, but hired laborers with the considerable revenues they derived from their small plots.
In the early 20th century, an estimated three-quarters of the Ghouta's lands were owned by small and middle-sized planters, known as
zurra
, a rare occurrence among the agricultural regions of the Levant at that time. The remainder of the lands were owned by members of the Damascene urban elite.
French colonial period
[
edit
]
Ghouta was the site of a French offensive against
Druze
rebels in 1926.
[11]
Independent Syria
[
edit
]
In 1965, the first small-scale state-owned farm collectives in Syria were established in the Ghouta, afterward spreading to other areas of the country.
Eventually the irrigated agricultural area in the Damascus countryside reached a size of 370 square kilometers (140 sq mi). In the 1980s, urban growth from Damascus started replacing agricultural use with housing and industry, shrinking the green zone.
[13]
Before the
Syrian Civil War
, the area was home to about two million people,
[14]
but in 2017 the population was estimated to be about 400,000.
[15]
Syrian Civil War
[
edit
]
During the
civil unrest
that began in Syria in March 2011, eastern Ghouta residents joined the protests against Syrian president
Bashar Al-Assad
and joined the
Syrian rebels
,
successfully expelling Syrian government forces
by November 2012. In February 2013, Syrian rebels
captured
parts of the ring road on the edge of Damascus and entered the
Jobar district
of the capital city.
[16]
Backed by
Hezbollah
, the
Syrian Arab Army
counterattacked and in May 2013 began a siege of Eastern Ghouta.
In mid-2017, the main rebel faction in the area was
Jaysh al-Islam
, based in
Douma
(with an estimated 10?15,000 fighters in the region in early 2018
[17]
). The second largest was
Faylaq al-Rahman
, an official affiliate of the
Free Syrian Army
(FSA), controlling much of central and western parts of Ghouta, including the
Jobar
and
Ain Terma
districts.
Ahrar al-Sham
(based in
Harasta
) and
Tahrir al-Sham
(HTS - controlling smaller districts such as
Arbin
,
Hawsh al-Ashari
and
Beit Nayim
, with an estimated strength in the area of 500 in February 2018
[18]
) had a far smaller presence.
[19]
The residents described the life under the control of Islamist rebels as "hell" to a
Channel 4
correspondent as they were forcibly conscripted, prevented from leaving and had no water and electricity.
[20]
In February 2018, the Syrian army launched an
operation
to dislodge rebels from the area. In early March 2018, the Syrian army had captured 59% of the Eastern Ghouta pocket. On 7 April 2018, at least 48 people were reportedly killed in
a chemical attack
in Douma, which resulted in an
armed response
from the
United States
,
France
, and the
United Kingdom
.
[21]
On 14 April 2018, the Syrian Army officially declared Eastern Ghouta to be free of militants, securing it under government control.
[22]
List of settlements in Ghouta
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Al-Muqaddasi,
The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions
(Being a translation of "Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma?rifat al-Aqalim"), Reading 1994, p. 141
ISBN
1-873938-14-4
- ^
"Damascus - Landscape - City site"
. Encyclopædia Britannica
. Retrieved
21 May
2015
.
- ^
Al Zoughbi, Samira (2005).
"An Analysis of Agriculture-Environment Interactions and Policy Options for Sustainable Agriculture in Eastern Al Ghouta (Syria)"
(PDF)
. Farming Systems and Poverty: Making a Difference -- Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium of the International Farming Systems Association: A Global Learning Opportunity. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. p. 31. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on August 7, 2021
. Retrieved
17 February
2016
.
- ^
"11. French Syria (1919-1946)"
.
uca.edu
. Retrieved
2022-09-17
.
- ^
Collelo, Thomas, ed. (1988). "Land, Water, and Climate".
Syria: a country study
. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.
LCCN
87600488
.
- ^
Alsaafin, Linah (6 February 2015).
"Syria's Eastern Ghouta: the latest casualty of war"
.
Middle East Eye
. Retrieved
18 February
2016
.
- ^
Almohibany, Amer (22 October 2017).
"In Syria region under regime siege, children die of hunger"
.
France 24
. Retrieved
23 October
2017
.
- ^
"Damascus on Edge as War Seeps into Syrian Capital"
.
New York Times
. 10 February 2013.
- ^
Which rebel groups are fighting in Syria's eastern Ghouta?
, Deutsche Welle, 20.02.2018
- ^
Explainer: Who's fighting whom in Syria's Ghouta?
, BBC Monitoring, 22 February 2018
- ^
Wisam Franjieh
In Besieged Eastern Ghouta, Rebel Infighting Increases Civilian Suffering
, Syria Deeply, Aug. 1, 2017
- ^
Channel 4
,
Inside Ghouta as Syrian government fully controls Damascus for the first time in seven years
, 24 May 2018
- ^
Loveluck, Louisa.
"Dozens killed in apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians in eastern Ghouta ? rescue workers"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
8 April
2018
.
- ^
"Syrian army announces eastern Ghouta free of militants: state media"
.
Reuters
. 14 April 2018.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]