Harran al-Awamid

Harran al-'Awamid (Arabic: حران العواميد) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located southeast of Damascus. It is situated on a plain that stretches to the marshes of Bahrat al-Qibliyah ("South Lake," the source of the Barada River) along the boundary of the fertile Ghouta region to the west, to the north of the Hauran. Nearby localities include al-Kafrayn and Judaydat al-Khas to the south, al-Atibeh to the northeast, al-Abadah and al-Qisa to the north, al-Ahmadiyah to the northwest, Sakka to the west and Ghasulah and al-Ghizlaniyah to the southwest.

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Harran al-'Awamid had a population of 12,117 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center and the most populous locality of the Harran al-'Awamid nahiyah ("subdistrict") which consisted of four localities with a collective population of 22,853 in 2004. The town was well known for its mudbrick architecture and three basalt columns of an ancient Roman temple, hence the name Harran al-'Awamid ("Harran of the Columns.") The columns themselves shoot out of the roof of a mudbrick building, which, along with many of the town's houses, have occupied the ruins of the temple.