Al-Safa (Syria)

As-Safa (Arabic: الصفا, Aṣ-Ṣafā), also known as Tulul al-Safa (تلول الصفا, Tulūl Eṣ-Ṣafā), Arabic for Al-Safa hills, is a hilly region which lies in southern Syria, north-east of Jabal al-Druze volcanic plateau.

It consists of a basaltic lava field of volcanic origin, covering an area of 220 square kilometres, and contains at least 38 cinder cones.

This volcanic field lies within the northern part of the massive alkaline Harrat Ash Shamah volcanic field that extends from southern Syria, through eastern Jordan to Saudi Arabia.

The field contains numerous vents which have been active during the Holocene Epoch (12,000 years ago).

[1] A boiling lava lake was observed in the Es Safa volcanic area in the middle of the 19th century (see Erta Ale in Ethiopia and Puʻu ʻŌʻō in Hawaii for reference).

Safaitic script with a figure of a camel on a red sandstone fragment, from es-Safa, currently housed in the British Museum