Da'el - History

History

In 1596 Da'el appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Da'il and was part of the nahiya of Bani Malik al-Asraf in the Qada of Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 42 households and 20 bachelors. Taxes were paid on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives and a water mill.

In 1838 Da'el was classified as a Muslim village. At the end of the 19th century, the village had 300 inhabitants and 65 houses. Throughout the later Ottoman era and up until the dominance of the Ba'ath Party during the 1960s, the al-Hariri clan, which had its principal seat in Da'el, was the most powerful clan in the Hauran region of southern Syria, controlling about 18 villages. The al-Hariri family had also been the chief patrons of the Rifa'i order of Sufi mystics in the Hauran. The Rifa'i were the most prominent Sufi order in the area.

During the French occupation (1918-1946), they entered into a rivalry with the Zu'bi clan which was based in nearby Khirbet al-Ghazaleh and controlled 16 villages. The al-Hariri were largely aligned with nationalist movement, while the Zu'bi leadership was identified with the French Mandatory authorities. While the al-Hariri naturally benefited from Syrian independence and also received backing from Saudi Arabia, the Zu'bi managed to gain more influence during Baathist governance, but more so on the individual and lower-stratum level rather than as a tribal unit. The influence of both the tribes and their leaders considerably dwindled during the Baathist era, nonetheless.

In March 2011 Da'el was among the first towns in the area of Daraa where residents participated in demonstrations against the government of Bashar al-Assad, which would eventually culminate into the ongoing Syrian civil war. On 29 March 2013 the town was reportedly captured by anti-government rebels. Da'el is strategically located on one of two main north-south highways that connect Damascus to Daraa. The rebels initially enagaged in clashes with Syrian Army troops manning checkpoints outside the town, leaving 12 government soldiers and 16 rebels, according to the activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).