Al-Atrash
Through his battlefield reputation and his political intrigues with other Druze clans, Bedouin tribes, Ottoman authorities and European consuls, Ismail consolidated al-Atrash power.
One of its sheikhs, Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, was the chief leader of the Great Syrian Revolt against French rule in Syria in 1925–1927.
[1] The Bani al-Atrash claim descent from Ali al-Aks, a ruler of the Jabal al-A'la mountain in the western countryside of Aleppo.
[1] Some members of the family claim descent from the Ma'an clan, the Druze power in Mount Lebanon during Mamluk and early Ottoman rule (14th–17th centuries).
[3] His son Shibli was a poet who adopted the Bedouin poetic style and whose poems were recited by tribesmen spanning the area between the Hauran and the Sinai Peninsula.
[7] By 1867, the Bani al-Atrash added Malah, Dhibin, Salkhad, Urman, Umm al-Rumman and Mujaymir to their sheikhdom, and Sahwat Balatah, Khirbet Awad, Jubayb, Kanakir and al-Ruha to their zone of influence.
[8] Relations with the Hamdan and Bani Amer clans further deteriorated and the latter families joined the Bedouin Sulut tribe in their war against Ismail in 1868.
[9] To put an end to the war, Rashid Pasha replaced Ismail with his son Ibrahim and divided Jabal Hauran into four subdistricts based on the boundaries of the Druze sheikhdoms.
Peace ensued in Jabal Hauran in the following years, and although a Turkish qaimmaqam administered the qadaa, the Druze sheikhdom system was largely left alone by the authorities.
[12] The Druze sheikhs rejected the demands, and Ibrahim al-Atrash opposed the appointment of Talhuq and was incensed at Midhat Pasha's administrative reforms.
[12] A commission was overseen by Hamdi Pasha which eventually concluded with a large Druze payment of blood money (diyya) to al-Karak's inhabitants, who were officially blamed for instigating the massacre, the establishment of an Ottoman garrison outside of as-Suwayda and a series of subdistrict appointments for the Bani al-Atrash sheikhs.
[13] Accordingly, Ibrahim al-Atrash was recognized as mudir of as-Suwayda, Shibli in 'Ira, their brother Muhammad in Salkhad and their ally Hazima Hunaydi in al-Majdal.
[13] The official elevation of Ibrahim, which coincided with an increased Ottoman military presence in Jabal Hauran, was met with dissatisfaction among many Druze, sheikhs and peasants alike.
[16] The situation was temporarily settled through mediation by the shuyukh al-uqqal, but the revolt, which was known as the "Ammiyya" was renewed in 1890 and the clans were again expelled from the peasant villages.
[16] The Ottomans' restoration of Bani al-Atrash to their former position was conditioned on a major agrarian reform whereby the peasants were given the right to own property; many became landowners as a result.
[17] Shibli's brother Yahya organized al-Atrash allies, the Azzam, Abu Fakhr and Nasr clans to retaliate against the Ottomans.
[17] The Ottomans and Druze sheikhs came to an agreement whereby Shibli would be released and a member of the Khalidi family of Jerusalem, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi was appointed governor of Jabal Hauran.
[19] They were based in the southern half of the mountain, inhabiting or controlling 16 towns and villages:[18] al-Suwayda, Salkhad, al-Qurayya, Qaysama, 'Anz, 'Ira, Rasas, Urman, Malah, Samad, Umm al-Rumman, Awas, al-Annat, al-Hawiyah, al-Ghariyah and Dhibin.
[22][23] The coming to power of the socialist Ba'ath Party during the 1963 Syrian coup d'état did not end the prestige and kinship loyalties of the prominent clans, including the al-Atrash, who continued to have paramount sheikh.
