Jaramana

Jaramana (Arabic: جرمانا‎) is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate in the Ghouta plain. Its location, 3 kilometers southeast of the Syrian capital, makes it a bustling town in the greater Damascus metropolitan area, with a mostly Christian and Druze population.

Jaramana

جرمانا
Jaramana refugee camp skyline and mosque dome
Jaramana
Location in Syria
Coordinates: 33°29′N 36°21′E
Country Syria
GovernorateRif Dimashq
DistrictMarkaz Rif Dimashq
SubdistrictJaramana
Area
 • City5.95 km2 (2.30 sq mi)
 • Land5.95 km2 (2.30 sq mi)
 • Water0 km2 (0 sq mi)  0%
 • Urban
5.95 km2 (2.30 sq mi)
Elevation
670 m (2,200 ft)
Population
 (2004 census)
 • City114,363

History

Jaramana was visited by Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in the early 13th-century and noted it was "a district of the Ghautah of Damascus."[2]

In late 2012, the neoconservative Institute for the Study of War said there had been reports of Popular Committees (local self-defense militias formed to defend communities from armed extremists) and pro-government Shabiha working closely with government forces there.[3] On October 29 and November 28, 2012 the town was hit by car bombings killing over 100 civilian residents, including, several Iraqi and Palestinian refugees.

Demographics

Since 2003 and the beginning of the Iraq War, large numbers of Iraqi have immigrated to Jaramana, swelling the population from around 100,000 to over 250,000.[4] According to the 2004 official census, the population of the city was 114,363.[5]

There is also a Palestinian refugee camp near the town bearing its same name. Jaramana is a favorite destination for Iraqi Assyrian Christian refugees fleeing their unstable country. In October 2006, the Assyrian community in Jaramana finally received a priest from Mosul, Iraq. The priest, Arkan Hana Hakim, claims there are now 2,000 Assyrian Iraqi refugees in the town Jaramana alone.[6]

References
  1. 5950 dunums (595 ha.) " العقارات في مدينة جرمانا الأسعار نار" ("Real estate prices in the city of Jaramana are afire") Syria Steps 13 January 2010, in Arabic, last accessed 18 September 2010
  2. le Strange, 1890, p. 462.
  3. Holliday, Joseph; Lynch, Michael (7 December 2012). "The Battle for Damascus: The Current State of Play in Syria". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  4. "أسعار العقارات في جرمانا تتحدى الإنحدار .. والجمود لم " ("Real estate prices in Jaramana challenge Downgrade ..") De Press - Buildex Online 19 March 2009, in Arabic, last accessed 18 September 2010
  5. " العقارات في مدينة جرمانا الأسعار نار" ("Real estate prices in the city of Jaramana are afire") Syria Steps 13 January 2010, in Arabic, last accessed 18 September 2010
  6. "Huge increase in number of Christian Iraqis fleeing to Syria" German Press Agency 12 October 2006 at The Raw Story, last accessed 18 September 2010

Bibliography
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