Al-Shajara, Syria

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Al-Shajara
الشجرة
Town
Al-Shajara is located in Syria
Al-Shajara
Al-Shajara
Coordinates: 32°46′18″N 35°52′59″E / 32.77167°N 35.88306°E / 32.77167; 35.88306
Country Syria
GovernorateDaraa
DistrictDaraa
SubdistrictAl-Shajara
Population
 (2004)[1]
 • Total6,567
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Al-Shajara (Arabic: الشجرة, also spelled ash-Shajarah) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located west of Daraa, in between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Jordan. Nearby localities include Saham al-Jawlan to the east, Nafia to the north, Jamla to the northwest and Bayt Ara to the southwest.

History[edit]

In the Ottoman tax registers of 1596, it was located in the nahiya of Jawlan Sarqi, Qada of Hawran, with the name of Sajara. It had a population of 5 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslims. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, winter pasture/grass lands, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 1,988 akçe.[2]

In 1838 Eli Smith noted that the place was located west of the Hajj road, and that it was populated with Sunni Muslims.[3]

Railway bridge over the Yarmuk right east of ash-Shajara station, 1908

In 1908 the DarʿāHaifa railway line started operating and ash-Shajara was connected with the ash-Shajara train station far south of the city in the valley of the Yarmuk, in this section drowned in the waters of the Al-Wehda Dam since 2007.

Modern era[edit]

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Shajara had a population of 6,567 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Shajara nahiyah (subdistrict) which consisted of 17 localities with a combined population of 34,206 in 2004.[1]

As of September 2016, al-Shajara was controlled by the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army of ISIL.[citation needed]

In an offensive on ISIS' pocket in southern Syria, the Syrian Armed Forces took control of this former ISIS stronghold in July 2018.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "General Census of Population 2004". Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  2. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 197
  3. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 161
  4. ^ "BREAKING: Last main ISIS stronghold in southwest Syria falls". AMN - Al-Masdar News | المصدر نيوز. 2018-07-30. Archived from the original on 2019-06-21. Retrieved 2018-07-28.

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