جولة ١ : الضفة اليمنى لنهر الفرات ١_a .. كتاب في ربوع سورية

Round 1 - Right bank of the Euphrates

This tour of ours begins from Jarabulus in the far north of Syria to the city of Abu Kamal at the Iraqi border along the Euphrates course in Syria, where we approach the river at times and move away from it at other times as we enjoy its winding course, and testify about the books of the history of its natural development and how man, since ancient times, chose a home for himself. He praised the palaces and masterpieces of human civilization on the right side of the

the river.

How far is Nimr Castle, including Najm Castle, Youssef Pasha Castle, Al-Rahba Castle). How many ancient hills do we visit on our tour, and how many historical cities do we see, such as: Balis (Maskanah), Zalabiya, Al-Mayadeen, Al-Ashara (Tarqa), Dura Orbus (Al-Salihiya) and Maritel Hariri) - Figure (33) -

The tourist importance of this tour stems from our passing through different areas in their natural appearances, the water that does not leave us on our left as it flows through the course of the Euphrates River, the beautiful crescent lakes that we enjoy the view of, and the greenery that spreads its plain in most of its parts. However, the greatest importance is that we get acquainted with the civilizations of the successive peoples who have inhabited it since thousands of years before Christ until our present era. However, what saddens the soul is what we see during our tour of parts of the valley land that were transformed by salinization into a barren land covered with a bright white salty layer, and this is what we clearly feel between Deir Ezzor and Abu Kamal.

Most of our tour of the upper section of the right-hand side of the Euphrates Valley will be outside the valley, but close to it because there is no paved asphalt or dirt road crossing that side. So, starting from Jarabulus, we head south within the western edge of the valley for a distance of eight kilometers, to get out of it through plateaus and undulating plains high above the level of the valley, and to cross Wadi al-Sajur after Jarablus by about 22 km, and to reach after al-Sajur by about 14 km to the city of Manbij - which we have already talked about - and then we continue south for about 30 km to enter The Euphrates Valley, about 6 km before reaching the town of Khafsa, where we cross the valley of the Al-Hamr Al-Sili River, passing by Khafsa, which ends in Lake Al-Assad, north of the archaeological site of Aroud, about 2 km. Al-Bayda, Dabis, Al-Dadat, Kurd Latahani, Manbij, Kaber, Saghir, Kaber, Kabir, Qara Saghir, Himyar Labda, Little Arab, and then the town of Khafsa (the center of the district). On both sides of the road, there is a considerable distance from which many historical sites and archaeological hills pass, and we can take some secondary roads towards the riverbed to get acquainted with Najm Castle and Youssef Pasha Castle. And near Yusuf Pasha Castle, there is the ancient train hill

In which were found traces dating back to the second millennium BC. To the east and southeast of Khafsa, there are several archaeological hill sites on the bank of Lake Assad, including: Tell al-Taas, north of the Red Valley, in which artifacts dating back to the Umayyad era (the eighth century AD) and the Ayyubid era (the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) were found, in addition to traces dating back to Byzantine era To the south of Wadi Al-Hammar, about 3 km, Mount Aruda rises overlooking Lake Al-Assad, with a height of 180 meters above the adjacent plain, and its eastern and northern slopes were inhabited in the second half of the fourth millennium BC. The era of the dawn of history (100 3500 3300 BC) at the site of Habouba Al Kabeerah South and the hill overlooking it from its north (Tell Habouba Al Kabeer in which residential remains from the Old Babylonian era (the first half of the second millennium BC) were found.

To the south of Habouba, about 2 km, we pass near the archaeological Tell Qannas, in which temples from the era of the dawn of history (3500 BC) were found. Directly south of it, about 5 km, is Tell Al-Salankhiyya, in which traces dating back to the Hellenistic era were found in its upper layers, and to Bronze Age - in its middle layers. Maskanah, the ancient city - which we mentioned in one of our previous tours across northern Syria - is one of the historical monuments that we pass through and learn about its treasures. Continuing our tour after Maskanah for a distance of about 15 km, we leave four human settlements to our left (Al-Masha, Smouha, Al-Aziziya, and Musataha Al-Makhroot) before we reach the borders of Al-Raqqa Governorate, and we see the first village of its villages, which is the village of Dabsi Faraj (currently Buhaisah), which is far from Lake Al-Assad to the south. towards you, changing its location after the lake flooded the ancient village. The ruins of a fortified Roman castle preserved by the Byzantines and Arabs were found there, in addition to a church and baths.