Southern Syria is the southern region of modern-day
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
. It includes the region of
HauranHauran, also Hawran or Houran, is a volcanic plateau, a geographic area and a people located in southwestern Syria and extending into the northwestern corner of modern-day Jordan. It gets its name from the aramic Hawran, meaning "cave land." In geographic and geomorphic terms, its boundaries...
, and the
governoratesSyria has fourteen governorates, or muhafazat . The governorates are divided into sixty districts, or manatiq , which are further divided into subdistricts, or nawahi...
of Daraa, As Suwayda, and
QuneitraQuneitra is the largely destroyed and abandoned capital of the Quneitra Governorate in south-western Syria. It is situated in a high valley in the Golan Heights at an elevation of 1,010 metres above sea level...
.
Historically, the term "Southern Syria" in Arabic (سوريا الجنوبية,
Suriyya al-Janubiyya) could imply support for the
Greater SyriaGreater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
nationalism associated with the kingdom promised to the
HashemiteHashemite is the Latinate version of the and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashim", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe...
dynasty of the
Hejazal-Hejaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined mostly by the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better-known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
by the British during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
. After the war, the Hashemite prince
FaisalFaisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi , was for a short time King of Greater Syria in 1920 and King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 to 1933...
attempted to establish such a Greater Syrian or pan-Mashriq state
(i.e.
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Southern Syria is the southern region of modern-day
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
. It includes the region of
HauranHauran, also Hawran or Houran, is a volcanic plateau, a geographic area and a people located in southwestern Syria and extending into the northwestern corner of modern-day Jordan. It gets its name from the aramic Hawran, meaning "cave land." In geographic and geomorphic terms, its boundaries...
, and the
governoratesSyria has fourteen governorates, or muhafazat . The governorates are divided into sixty districts, or manatiq , which are further divided into subdistricts, or nawahi...
of Daraa, As Suwayda, and
QuneitraQuneitra is the largely destroyed and abandoned capital of the Quneitra Governorate in south-western Syria. It is situated in a high valley in the Golan Heights at an elevation of 1,010 metres above sea level...
.
Historically, the term "Southern Syria" in Arabic (سوريا الجنوبية,
Suriyya al-Janubiyya) could imply support for the
Greater SyriaGreater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
nationalism associated with the kingdom promised to the
HashemiteHashemite is the Latinate version of the and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashim", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe...
dynasty of the
Hejazal-Hejaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined mostly by the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better-known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
by the British during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
. After the war, the Hashemite prince
FaisalFaisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi , was for a short time King of Greater Syria in 1920 and King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 to 1933...
attempted to establish such a Greater Syrian or pan-Mashriq state
(i.e. a united kingdom that would comprise all of what later became Syria,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
,
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
,
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
, and
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, so that Palestine (inc. Transjordan) would be a province of "Southern Syria"), but he was stymied by conflicting promises made by the British to different parties (see
Sykes-Picot AgreementThe Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 was a secret agreement between the governments of the UK and France, with the assent of Imperial Russia, defining their respective spheres of influence and control in west Asia after the expected downfall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I...
), leading to the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
creation of the
mandate of SyriaThe French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate created after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
in 1920. Indeed, for hundreds of years prior to WWI, Syria (including modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip) was administered and viewed locally as one entity.
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