Ancient history 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 (), the capital of
Bashan, site of a battle where the
Israelites defeated
Og. According to Jewish tradition,
Eldad and Medad were buried in Edrei.
Classical era During the
Seleucid Empire, and the
Roman Empire after 106, the city was known as Adraa (), and appears on its coinage. It was incorporated into the province of
Arabia Petraea. By the
3rd century, it had gained the status of
polis or self-governed city. The Roman historian
Eusebius referred to it. The area east of Adraa was a centre of the
Ebionites. 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. No longer a residential bishopric, Adraa is today listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see. 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. Adhri'at's residents reportedly celebrated the arrival of the second caliph,
Umar, when he visited the city, "dancing with swords and
sweet basil." Throughout
Rashidun and
Umayyad caliphates, the city served as the capital of the al-Bathaniyya subdistrict, part of the larger
Jund Dimashq ("military district of Damascus"). In 906, the population was massacred in a raid by the rebellious
Qarmatians. 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. 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, 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. 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.
Modern era 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,
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. On 27 September 1918, the
Arab Northern Army captured Daraa from the retreating Ottoman forces. Daraa is the southernmost city of Syria near the border with
Jordan and a major midpoint between Damascus and
Amman. 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.
Civil War 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. 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 18 March, demanding their release. According to activists, this protest was faced with Syrian security forces opening fire on the protesters, killing four people. 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. 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. 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. In early June 2017, much of Daraa was reported to have been destroyed by protracted fighting. 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. 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. 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. ==Geography==