Awas, Suwayda

Awas is a village situated in the Salkhad District of Suwayda Governorate, in southern Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Awas had a population of 308 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze.

History

In 1596, it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Us, as part of the nahiya of Bani Malik as-Sadir, in the Hauran Sanjak. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 7 households and 1 bachelors. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 20% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" ; the taxes totalled 3,700 akçe.
In 1838, Eli Smith noted it as 'Auwas, a ruin located east of Salkhad.