Deir ez-Zor

Deir ez-Zor is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 census, it had a population of 271,800.

Etymology

Ad-Deir is a common shorthand for Deir ez-Zor. In the Syriac language of the Assyrian Christian population, Zeʿūrta means "little"; hence, Dīrā Zeʿūrta means "small habitation". The current name, which has been extended to the surrounding region, indicates an ancient site for one of the Early Christian secluded Syriac monasteries established during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire and Apostolic Age throughout Mesopotamia. Although Deir, which is Arabic for "monastery", is believed to have been kept throughout the various Medieval and modern age renamings, Zor, which indicates the riverbank bush, appeared only in some late Ottoman records of the Deir ez-Zor Vilayet.
Many different romanizations are used, including Deir Ezzor, Deir Al-Zor, Deir-al-Zour, Dayr Al-Zawr, Der Ezzor, Deir Azzor, Der Zor, and Deirazzor.

History

Ancient history

findings in Deir ez-Zor indicate that the area has been inhabited since the ninth millennium BC. While the region was not densely populated, it was an urban area subordinate kingdoms like the Kingdom of Mari, which rose in the third millennium BC.
During the third millennium BC, the Amorites settled the area and established the kingdom of Yamhad, one of whose urban centers was the city of Deir Ez-Zor. The city was not adversely affected during the succession of major empires, as Deir al-Zour was too small to be considered a threat and the region was incorporated into Assyria during the Iron Age.
In the third century BC, Alexander the Great crossed the region and built the city of Dura-Europos. Although influenced by Greek culture, the Semitic Aramaic language remained prevalent in the city. When Syria came under the Roman Empire in 64 BC, Deir Ez-Zor was a small, marginal village known as Azdra, which the Romans made the center of the region and founded a strong military garrison. Deir Ez-Zor came under the reign of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra in the third century, within an autonomous federation of the Roman Empire.

Muslim conquest

After the end of the Ridda wars in the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Bakr sent four armies to the Levant, led by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Amr ibn al-Aas, and Shurahbil ibn Hasana. Because of the strength and size of the armies of the Byzantine Empire, Abu Bakr ordered Khalid ibn al-Walid to march with half of the Muslim Arab army to the Levant and command the armies there.
Khalid set off with his army towards Sham and opened Bosra and then defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Ajnadayn. After Umar ibn Al-Khattab became caliph in 13 AH, Khalid was replaced by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah. Abu Ubaidah was ordered to complete the conquest. He took Damascus, Baalbek, Homs, Hama and Latakia.
After the successive defeats of the Byzantine army, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius requested the help of the Assyrian Christians in Mesopotamia. They mobilized a large army and headed towards Homs, now the base of Abu Ubaidah in northern Syria, which they besieged. Heraclius also sent soldiers from Alexandria. Omar ibn al-Khattab wrote to Saad ibn Abi Waqqas to request support Abu Ubaidah with forces from Iraq, who were then organized under Iyad ibn Ghanm. When the Byzantines who were besieging Homs heard about the army coming from Iraq, they withdrew from Homs. Saad ordered Iyad to invade Upper Mesopotamia, which he conquered in 17 AH, including Deir Ez-Zor.
At the time, Deir Ez-Zor were adherents of Syriac Christianity and Judaism. There was a Christian monastery in Monastery of the Hermits, which became Omari Mosque. Many of the town's indigenous Christians left.
During the Abbasid era, Deir Ez-Zor grew. The agriculture in the region prospered because of advances in irrigation. The small town, now called 'Deir Al-Rumman,' did not record any significant events during the decline of the Abbasid state and the ensuing Mamluk period until its destruction by the Mongols in the thirteenth century.

Ottoman Era

First Ottoman Era (1517–1864)

The first Ottoman era extended from the date the Ottomans entered Syria in 1517 until 1864, where the Ottomans found Deir Ez-Zor a small town on the upper Euphrates and chose it as a center for their employees and settled in some of tribal sheikhs to protect the trade route between Aleppo and Baghdad and The tribe members began to visit it to communicate the men of power and buy their needs.
Some Arab and European travellers visited it and described its construction, economy, and the nature of its inhabitants. According to the description, "Its houses are adjacent over an artificial hill, and its inhabitants are strong, polite, and welcome guests. Their crops were wheat, barley, cotton, and corn, along with orchards full of fruit species, including palm trees, lemons, and oranges, the chess game is common among elders".
Deir ez-Zor was repeatedly subjected to Bedouin attacks. With the Ottoman Empire preoccupied with wars and its sultans deemed corrupt, the people armed themselves with guns and organized a militia that resulted in a decline in attacks. However, because they had to rely on themselves the city failed to prosper.
As security improved, commercial convoys started passing through the area, and Deir ez-Zor became a waystation for travelers. Caravanserai were established and the road between Aleppo and Baghdad began to emerge from isolation. Local merchants traveled to Hauran in early spring and returned in the fall. Aleppo, Baghdad, Mardin and Urfa were additional destinations.
In 1831 Ibrahim Pasha took over Deir ez-Zor and annexed it to Hama Sanjak and appointed Maejun Agha governor of the city, Egyptian rule remained until 1840 when the authority of the Ottoman returned to the city, Perhaps the most prominent feature of Ibrahim Pasha's rule is the proliferation of weapons among the city's inhabitants, especially rifles, known as "Brahimiyat," which constituted a major tool to defend the city and repel Bedouin attacks.

Second Ottoman Era (1864–1918)

Zor Sanjak

On 2 January 1858, the Ottoman government launched a military campaign under the command of Omar Pasha consisting of 500 soldiers to subdue the tribes in the Euphrates region. The campaign reached Deir Ez-Zor city and fought against the city's residents, where 16 Ottoman soldiers were killed. After the Ottoman army subdued the city, Omar Pasha recruited 16 young men from the city to replace the Ottoman soldiers killed.
In 1864 the city revolted against Ottoman rule, and Soraya Pasha, the governor of Aleppo, sent a military force to suppress it. After the campaign, Soraya Pasha came to Deir ez-Zor He made it the center of the district's headquarters, and he returned to Aleppo after appointing Omar Pasha governor, whose rule did not last more than 6 months. Khalil Bey Saqib was appointed as Kaymakam of Deir ez-Zor after it was annexed to Aleppo.
During his reign, it established the government house, a military barracks, a hospital and some trade markets. Some of the arrivals from Urfa settled in the city to help Khalil Bey Saqib with the administration, as well as starting campaigns to settle the Bedouin in urban centers on the Euphrates.
In 1868, the Qaimakamiyya was transformed to the Zor Sanjak, which did not report to the wali but reported directly to the Grand Vizier in Istanbul. Its ruler was granted wide powers and its area was extended to include the city of Raqqa and Hasakah.
The rulers solidified security, especially during Arslan Pasha's reign, and were interested in organizing and planning the city, building schools and streets and established the first public park. They also built bridges on the Euphrates and some mosques and encouraged afforestation and they used boats to cross the Euphrates. They reformed the tax system and introduced European uniforms into the city and did not generalize it.
The era of the Zor Sanjak lasted 54 years, where 29 Mutasarrıfs successively ruled it, the most recent being Hilmi Bey, who left the city with the Ottoman army on 6 November 1918. The continuous change of rulers and lack of resources and disruption of conditions in the Ottoman Empire affected negatively on the urban, economic, cultural and social activity of the city. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought calamities, with many young people being recruited, famine and disease spread, livelihoods were confiscated, trade stopped and agriculture declined. But in the opinion of historian Abdul Qadir Ayyash, Deir ez-Zor owed its civilization to the Ottoman rulers despite their mistakes.

Armenian genocide

At the beginning of World War I in 1914, the Ottoman Empire began systematic campaigns to kill and displace Armenians. Beginning April 1915, this was carried out through massacres, forced deportations, and displacement, which were marches under harsh conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees. Researchers estimate the number of Armenian victims as between 1 million and 1.5 million.
Deir ez-Zor was the last destination of the forced displacement of Armenian convoys and the scene of killings and slaughter by the Turkish gendarmerie, where the Ottoman authorities planned to exterminate Armenians. These plans failed because the people of Deir ez-Zor regretted what happened to the Armenian men, women, and children, prompting the mayor Haj Fadel Al-Aboud to help protect them and provide them with food, housing, safety and livelihoods.
Despite Armenians coming to the region as part of death marches, the liberation that they achieved ultimately benefited the city, increasing population and growth rates. Historically, the city of Deir ez-Zor has been a special place for Armenians in Syria and the Armenian Diaspora. The Armenian genocide Memorial Church, which was officially built in 1991, includes a museum containing some remains, collectibles and maps for memory of the martyrs who died in that area by the Ottoman Turks. The city later became a pilgrimage destination for hundreds of thousands of Armenians on 24 April each year, after being declared in 2002 by Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Orthodox of Cilicia as a pilgrimage to the Armenians.