Al-Mukharram (Arabic: المخرم), also known as Mukharram al-Fawqani (Arabic: المخرم الفوقاني; also spelled Makhem Fuqani or Mkhurem Fouqani) is a small city in central Syria, capital of the al-Mukharram District, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located 42 kilometres (26 miles) northeast of Homs.

[4] In 1960, al-Mukharram was still an impoverished village populated by Alawite sharecropper families employed by landlords based in Homs.

Other notable Syrian military figures from al-Mukharram include Ahmed Sa'id Salih, the former Chief of Political Security (1970-1987) and deputy Interior Minister, Adnan Badr Hassan, another former Chief of Political Security (1987-2002),[7] and Abd al-Karim al-Razzuq the late 1970s commander of the missile corps and the air defense forces.

[9] Although the village's population was only 2,170 in 1970, well below the government-designated threshold required to become a district seat, the close relationship between the residents and the security establishment allowed for al-Mukharram to be promoted to is current role, according to anthropologist Fabrice Balanche.

[4] Al-Mukharram is situated on a plain along the western fringes of the Syrian Desert, east of the central Orontes River valley.

[1] The inhabitants of al-Mukharram and the localities of its district are predominantly members of the Alawite community,[5] particularly from the Khayyatin tribal confederation.