Hader ( ar, حضر, also spelt ''Hadar'') is a village in southern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, administratively part of the

Khan Arnabah Khan Arnabah ( ar, خان أرنبة, also spelt ''Khan Arnabeh'') is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Quneitra Governorate (Golan Heights), in the portion of the province still under Syrian control. The town is located just ...

Subdistrict of the

Quneitra Governorate Quneitra Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة القنيطرة / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Al-Qunayṭrah'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in southern Syria, notable for the location of the Golan Heights. The ...

. It is in the portion of the governorate that is still under Syrian, rather than

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i, control. The town is located just outside the

United Nations Disengagement Observer Force The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission tasked with maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The mission was established by United ...

Zone. Nearby localities include

Beit Jinn Beit Jinn ( ar, بيت جن), also known as Bayt Jin, Beit Jann or Beyt Jene, is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located southwest of Damascus on the foothills of Mount Hermon. According to the Sy ...

to the northeast, Harfa to the east,

Jubata al-Khashab Jubata al-Khashab ( ar, جباتا الخشب) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Quneitra Governorate (Golan Heights), in the portion of the province under the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone. According t ...

to the south,

Majdal Shams Majdal Shams ( ar, مجدل شمس; he, מַגְ'דַל שַׁמְס) is a Druze town in the southern foothills of Mount Hermon, north of the Golan Heights, known as the informal "capital" of the Golan Heights. The majority of residents are S ...

in the Israeli−occupied

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

to the west and

Shebaa Shebaa (), also transliterated as Chebaa. is a town on the south-eastern tip of Lebanon. It has a largely Sunni Muslim population of 25,000 people. It is situated at an altitude of approximately above sea level; spread across two steep rocky mo ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

to the northwest.

Population

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Hader had a population of 4,819 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Quneitra Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly from the

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

community.

History

In the 1895–1896 conflict between the Druze of

Hauran The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa (Syria), al-Safa ...

and the

Ottoman government The Ottoman Empire developed over the years as a despotism with the Sultan as the supreme ruler of a centralized government that had an effective control of its provinces, officials and inhabitants. Wealth and rank could be inherited but were j ...

and their local allies, Hader and nearby Hina were assaulted by Circassians and

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

fighters from the Golan allied with the Ottomans. This followed a Druze attack which devastated 12 villages in the Hauran plain near

al-Shaykh Maskin Al-Shaykh Maskin ( ar, الشيخ مسكين, Al-Sheikh Meskīn), also spelled Sheikh Maskīn, Sheikh Miskeen, is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located north of Daraa. Nearby localities include Ibta' and ...

. Following the attack on Hader, Druze fighters from Majdal Shams retaliated by attacking the Circassian-inhabited village of Mansura, which in turn led to Ottoman and Circassian raids against the Druze villages in the Golan. In mid-June 2015, during the Quneitra offensive of the Syrian Civil War, rebel forces reportedly surrounded the village, which is pro-

Assad Asad ( ar, أسد), sometimes written as Assad, is an Arabic male given name literally meaning " lion". It is used in nicknames such as ''Asad Allāh'', one of the by-names for Ali ibn Abi Talib. People Among prominent people named ''Asad'', ...

. However, their motives are disputed. Even though the surrounding localities are under rebel control, the town had remained under government control for the entire duration of the civil war. On 13 March 2019,

accused senior Lebanese

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

operative

Ali Musa Daqduq Ali Mussa Daqduq ( ar, علي موسى دقدوق) is a senior Hezbollah leader and senior advisor to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali. He was captured by US troops in Basra, Iraq on 20 March 2007 along with Qais al-Khazali and his br ...

of having been sent to Syria and founding a network of "a few" Syrian operatives manning outposts in Hader and collecting intelligence against Israeli targets. The accusation included video footage of men walking to and from the outposts.

References

Bibliography

* {{Quneitra Governorate Druze communities in Syria Towns in Quneitra Governorate