Al-Hirak, Daraa
village in Syria
Al-Hirak (Arabic: الحراك also spelled al-Hrak or Herak) is a city in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Izraa District of the Daraa Governorate. It is situated about 40 kilometers northeast of Daraa, and is surrounded by the towns of Al-Mlaihah al-Gharbiyah to the east and Izraa to the northeast.
According to the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Hirak had a population of 20,760. It is the administrative center of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") consisting of six localities with a combined population of 40,979 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims. It is primarily inhabited by clans originally from the Hejaz who arrived in the region in the 17th and 18th centuries and settled there, such as Al Zamil, Al Salamat (historically allied to the currently-ruling Al-Sharaa family) and Abu Salem, all of which belong to the Anaza tribe. Other clans, such as Al-Qaddah (from the Islamic prophets tribe of Quraysh), Al-Kheirat, Al-Hareeri and Al-Kasabra inhabit the city.
Among its most important features is the ancient Al-Umari mosque, once a Christian monastery and before that a pagan temple for the worship of Baal, the sun god.
History
In 1596 al-Hirak appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of al-Harak al-Sharqi (the Eastern Hirak), being in the nahiya of Bani Malik al-Ashraf in the Qada Hawran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 61 households and 31 bachelors.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Al-Hirak, Daraa” is village in Syria. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Al-Hirak, Daraa and village, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “village in Syria” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4119860. Authority coordinates are 32.751, 36.305. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004 and 1596.
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This entry incorporates text from “Al-Hirak, Daraa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.