Ghab, al-

GHAB, AL-

In Syria, the largest plain of a large trough which also includes the low plains of al-Asharina, al-Ruj, and al-Amq.

Al-Ghab is located between the mountains Jabal alAnsariyya (al-Alawiyyin) in the west and Jabal alZawiya in the east. Its length from south to north is about 56 miles (90 km), its width between 5 and 7.5 miles (8 to 12 km), and its elevation above sea level is between 558 and 656 feet (170 and 200 m). It slightly slopes toward the north like the Orontes River that traverses it to the northeast of Hama. Its yearly rainfall averages 19.5 to 27 inches (500 to 700 mm), but it receives other sources of water, notably from the Orontes River, which is rejected back into it by the basaltic bedrock of Qarqar in the north. Before 1954, al-Ghab was intersected by swampland, infested by malaria, and covered by reeds used for catching its celebrated catfish.

Within two decades after 1954, the landscape of al-Ghab changed dramatically as a result of the drainage of its swamps, the building of dams, such as the ones at al-Rastan, Maharda, and notably alAsharina, to regulate its irrigation, and the creation by the Syrian government of a number of projects in it. Of its total area of 136,000 acres (55,000 ha), 42,000 acres (17,000 ha) are irrigated by river flooding and dam water, 74,000 acres (30,000 ha) depend on rainfall, and the remaining parts are turned into farms. In 1969, land in al-Ghab was distributed by the government to 11,000 beneficiaries according to the decrees of agricultural reform. To encourage the cultivation of land, fifty-two cooperatives were established there. Other projects include a cattle farm, fisheries, and a sugar factory at the village of Salhab.

abdul-karim rafeq