Al-Hirak, Syria

Al-Hirak (Arabic: الحراك also spelled al-Hrak or Herak) is a small city in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Izra' District of the Daraa Governorate. It is situated about 40 kilometers northeast of Daraa, and is surrounded by the towns of Maliha al-Gharbiyah to the east and Izra' to the northeast. According to the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Hirak had a population of 20,760. Its inhabitants are predominantly Muslims. It was inhabited by families most of whom came from the Hijaz in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and settled there, such as Al-Zamil, Al-Salamat and Abu Salem, and all of whom belong to the Onaizah tribe spread in the Arabian Peninsula and Syria. Among its most important features is the ancient mosque, once a Christian monastery and before that a pagan temple for the worship of Baal, the sun god.