جولة (٦): دمشق - السويداء .. كتاب في ربوع سورية

Round (6): Damascus - As-Suwayda:

After we left the southern side of Damascus - from the airport roundabout, heading to As-Suwayda via its main road that cuts through my town Babila, and then Sayyida Zainab, we connected to the city of Damascus with a separator represented by the southern Damascus corridor. A road branches out from Sayyidah Zainab to the west to Hujaira and then to Sbeineh to meet the Damascus-Daraa and Sanmar road. We are on our way next to the Sayyidah Zainab Mosque, which is crowded with visitors every day throughout the year, and where the street is crowded with people, vendors, and shops. newly hospitalized It is Imam Khomeini Hospital.

After Al-Sayeda Zeinab, about 15 km, we leave to our right a small village located on a high hill called Khirbet Al-Ward, and to the east of it (east of the road, about 1.5 km), a high hill emerges, on top of which there is a shrine known as the shrine of Sultan Bayazid, and the hill was known by its name. After that village, about a kilometer, we leave To our left is the cemetery of the martyrs in Najha, and at its northern end an asphalt road extends eastward to the villages of Qarta and al-Ghazlaniya. To the right of the road there are orchards of fruit trees of various kinds, such as apricots, figs, walnuts, almonds, grapes and olives, which continue intermittently for a distance of about 5 km, as we pass after the cemetery by about 500 meters. In the village of Najha, where most of its houses are spread - the basalt stones are visible in its old building, which tends to fall - west of the road at the edge of the southern terrain basin of Najha, which is pierced by the Al-Aouj River in its southern third, heading east to the depression of Lake Al-Hayjana, east of the Damascus basin, where it branches after passing an asphalt road Towards the west to the villages of Al-Adiliya and Harjala, and continuing to Al-Kiswah.At the southwestern end of that basin, a garbage factory was established for the garbage coming from Damascus and its nearby countryside.After that, the land begins to rise, forming an end
The basin, on its southern edges, is dotted with dozens of simple concrete houses scattered on both sides of the road overlooking the basin from the south, so that the village that includes these houses would have been known as Al-Mutalla. After this elevational protrusion by about a kilometer, we enter a new basin whose area is close to that of Nagha. We can call it the basin of Khirbet al-Thiyab, as after entering it by about one kilometer, an asphalt road extends westward for a distance of 15 km to the village of Khirbet al-Thiyab located at the edge of the eastern basin, and opposite its junction it separates Another road towards the east to the village of Al-Ghasula, a distance of approximately 10 km. Khirbet al-Thiab is a beautiful village in terms of its location overlooking the basin, which is full of greenery, and its good construction, which is dominated by cement. At the southern end of the basin, we see a vineyard grove to the west of the road, and an apricot grove to the east of the road. After that, we leave the basin and cross a high hill about 50 meters above the basin level. meters, and the land is barren on both sides of the road for a distance of about 2 km, after which we will look at another basin, and we will penetrate it in the middle of it as we head south, and where the village of Zubaydiyah lies at its southwestern end, and the village of Buraq at its northwestern end, and its length is about 6 km and its width is about 4 km. Field crops are cultivated predominantly in This basin is slightly undulating, and large basalt stones seem to cover the surface in many parts of it, to form a border between agricultural lands. At the beginning of the basin, an asphalt road goes west to the village of Zubaydiyah, and a road in the middle of it branches east to the village of Beli (2 km) and al-Shaqraniyya (5 km). After that, about 500 meters, another road branches east to the village of Beli, and a road branches west to the villages of Buwaisan, al-Masmiya and Jabab. Before the end of the basin, an asphalt road extends westward to the village of Sukkara.

The village of Buraq is about 30 km from Damascus, and most of its houses are located to the west
The road, and its old basalt stone houses are still visible, although most of them are inclined to fall, making it look like an old ruined village, on the outskirts of which some asphalt houses were built. It seems that the area was inhabited from ancient times. After Buraq, we leave the basin that follows. Administratively to the province of Daraa, and we rise to a relatively high land (200) above the level of the basin) to enter the lands of the province of As-Suwayda, so that we have approached the city of As-Suwayda to about 55 km.

At a distance of 37 km from Damascus, we pass through the village of Al-Sura Al-Kabira, most of its buildings are located to the west of the road, and the old houses made of basalt stones are still visible in it, next to the walls of the basalt houses, and they lie in the midst of a very undulating semi-basin with few crops and many stones and volcanic masses. After about 3 km, we leave the village of Hazm to our right to pass after about 1.5 km the village of Umm Haritin, whose houses are scattered to the west of the road, which are dominated by cement houses scattered with a few basalt houses. Two lanes of less than 1000 m. We enjoy seeing the village of Khalkhla, which is located on a high wave to the west of the road. It has beautiful houses dominated by vaulted balconies that abound in all the villages of Jabal Al Arab. It also contains many basalt stone houses, but they are on their way to collapse because they are old houses, overshadowed by cement houses. . After a disturbance of about a km, we leave to the west of the road directly to the village of Dhukir - it is a small village. Cement houses have replaced the black basalt houses that are abundantly visible, but most of them are in a state of ruins. Then we enter the small village of Soura, most of whose houses are spread to the west of the road, with the exception of the old village that occupies the edge. On the south side of the current picture, which is located on a low hill, which is dominated by basalt houses, the modern village has public houses

Concrete, and after the small picture, a small village called Radima Al-Liwa, because its residents were among those who were displaced from the Alexandretta District, as-Slaib. Thus, we have approached As-Suwayda, a distance of 40 km, to pass after about 4 km, in the vast village of Lahatha, the beautiful extension of the site and the building, most of which is spread to the west of the road, and it has many floor houses (two floors) that are dominated by cement, and only a few of its old basalt stone houses remain. . To the east of Lahatha, about 5 km, a high hill stands out on its southern outskirts, the small village of Al-Khalidiyah, to which a secondary asphalt road leads, after which it continues east to the villages of Al-Salmiya and Al-Haqf - Figure (12).

After a short breath of about 5 km, we reach the village of Al-Matuna (60 km from Damascus and 30 km from As-Suwayda, whose houses are spread out to the west of the road, and where many basalt houses stand out in the middle of it, and all the houses are made of basalt stones. Archaeological studies indicate that the village is built over a cemetery from the Bronze Age.

From there, a road goes east to Hayat (5 km), Hayat (7 km) and Shaqqa (10 km). And as soon as we pass Al-Mtuna by about 2 km, we will pass by the village of Al-Sweimarah, whose houses do not exceed 30 concrete houses, and its population is about 250 people, whose houses were built on the ruins of an older basalt village.

After that, we pass the village of Umm Al-Zaytoun, which is located within a small basin rich in greenery, just north of the volcanic hill of Shehan, from which an asphalt road extends westward to the villages of Majadel, Samid, Kharsa, and Qom.

Umm al-Zaytoun is a large village with a population of approximately 2,500. Its houses are scattered among agricultural fields of limited size and orchards of small fruit trees surrounding those houses. The old village is still with its basalt houses.

Its location on a high hill is clearly visible. After passing it, we cross a shallow valley, on its southern shoulder lies a beautiful, modern two-storey palace. Thus, we have begun to ascend towards the conical-shaped volcanic hill of Shehan, and we pass directly to its west, where above its summit we see the shrine of the Prophet Shuaib. As soon as we pass the hill a little, we reach a branching road that extends north-east to the villages of Shaqa (9 km), Al-Junaina (14 km), and Al-Rudaimah Al-Sharqiah (17 km). Then we will look at a valley devoid of water, and as soon as we cross it, we will enter the outskirts of Medina:

Shahba Al-Awwal is the black city, as most of its remarkable construction so far is built of basalt stones. It is an ancient city that rebuilt, developed and flourished rapidly during the Roman era, during the period of the rule of the Syrian Arab Emperor Philip (244-249 AD) in Rome, and there are still many The archaeological monuments bear witness to that period, including: the traces of the rectangular wall with four gates, which appears clearly in its eastern and southern sections, and the two main streets paved with stones, and at their intersection - in the junction - the pillars of the square arch (the tetrabel), the remains of a temple, the amphitheater, and the baths at the intersection The two main streets, the remains of a canal that used to carry water from one of the springs, and Darat Shahba with a floor furnished with several mosaic panels, which now represents the Mosaic Museum in Shahba, which contains paintings of purpose and expression from the ancient houses of Shahba.

Shahba overlooks its valley in the east, on which a storage dam is located, with an annual storage capacity estimated at one million cubic meters. It is the center of a region with a population of about 14,000 people. Despite its historical importance and the beauty of its location, it is devoid of basic tourist facilities (restaurants, rest houses, and hotels). from
As soon as we pass a meteor, the road will turn southwest for a distance of about 6 km, before returning to the south.

It is the first village that we see after Al-Shahba (4 km) the village of Mardak, whose houses are scattered on both sides of the road, and from there an asphalt road goes southwest to pass through the villages of Deir al-Laban, Kafr al-Lahf and al-Majdal, and then the prison where it meets the Suwayda-Izraa road. From the village of Mardak we overlook a basin to its south and south. In the western part, we leave several small villages in the western part: (Al-Buraika, Deir Al-Laban, Rima Al-Lahf and Kafr Al-Lahf, and as soon as we leave Al-Hawdah after that, about 4 km, we enter the village of Salim, located north of As-Suwayda, by about . km. It is a beautiful village surrounded by green trees, most of which are spread Its houses are on a high hill to the west of the road, and despite the presence of many beautiful basalt houses, and those that are about to fall, the cement houses dominate

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To the south of the village of Salim, Wadi Abu al-Dahab descends westward to the Hauran Plain. To its south and southeast, there are many forest trees and shrubs that in some places take the form of a forest, which constitute an outlet for visitors to As-Suwayda, as they are the natural green beginnings that one enjoys enjoying and that adorn the land with its valleys and hills, to grow in a distinctive way to the east of the highway between the two villages of Salim And Anil, which shares the beauty of the village of Selim, but most of its houses spread east of the road, climbing the lands of gradual elevation to the east. The village of Atil continues with a slight extension on both sides of the road after its main mass, for a distance of about 1000 meters, until the urban facilities located in the early part of the city of As-Suwayda almost continue, and the city of As-Suwayda informs us of this. with
Let us walk about 1.5 km before we reach its center, so that we will first see a residential community to the east of the road, about 150 meters, that has not been completed yet, and to the right of the road opposite it is the As-Suwayda Civil Prison. Thus, we inform As-Suwayda, and leave a page for it to talk about it, to learn about its location, construction, history, tourist facilities... and so on.