Mount Bental ( ar, جبل بنطل, /

ALA-LC ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...

: ''Jabal al-Gharam'' / "Mountain of Lust" "Jabal Bental"; he, הר בנטל, ''Har Bental'', "Mount Bental" (lit. "Son of Dew") is a

dormant volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

in the North-Eastern part of the

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 ...

, It extends to an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 1,171

Meters The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

Geology

The mountain is a part of a chain of dormant volcanic mountains spanning along the eastern part of the Golan Heights starting from Mount Ram in the north and ending on Tal Saki in the south, it is the northern neighbor of

Mount Avital This is a list of mountains in the Golan Heights. }, ''Har Baron'') , align="center" , , align="left" , , Part of an extinct volcano in the northeastern Golan Heights. , - , align="center" , Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ, ''Jabal el-Sha ...

which shares the same volcanic

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

source with it. Mount Bental was formed in a volcanic eruption which formed a

scoria Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) ''G ...

volcanic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and ...

, the magma which tried to erupt from Mount Avital's top could not do so and the pressure lead to an eruption of the western side of Mount Avital and of Mount Bental.

The Mountain

Mount Bental is covered with

Quercus calliprinos ''Quercus calliprinos'' is an oak classified as part of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus growing in the Mediterranean climate zone, mainly on limestone, in mid-elevations, often dominating the flora, alongside terebinths (''Pistacia terebinthu ...

trees and on its top, there is an

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

stronghold A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

which was built on an older

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

which is an attraction point for visitors. The mountain top has a good view of the

lands,

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the ...

and the Golan Heights. The Hebrew name of the mountain, "son of dew", is by analogy to its higher neighbor

whose name means "father of dew" (a

loan translation In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...

from Arabic "Tel Abu Nada"). Merom Golan is located at the bottom of the

volcanic crater A volcanic crater is an approximately circular depression in the ground caused by Volcano, volcanic activity. It is typically a bowl-shaped feature containing one or more vents. During Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruptions, molten magm ...

Attractions

The mountain sits at the top of a car trail where families can stop and buy local Druze treats and food and eat at the Coffee Anan restaurant. It is a pun on the former UN secretary's name, as Anan means cloud in Hebrew and the restaurant is on the peak of the mountain. On the mountain, there are 2 trails. One above ground and one under. The underground trail is an old IDF bunker which tells the story of the Yom Kippur war using Wall art. At the end of both trails there is an UN Observation post.

References

{{Authority control Dormant volcanoes Mountains of the Golan Heights Mountains of Syria International mountains of Asia