The Martyrs of Arna in Jabal al-Sheikh

Throughout the war in Syria, various localities in the country have each offered a number of 'martyrs' (that is, people who have been killed in various circumstances, such as fighters killed on the frontlines and civilians killed in terrorist/insurgent attacks). For the purposes of recording history it is important in my view to document 'martyrs' locality by locality, and if possible write on their lives individually. After all, in these days when information is more readily accessible, the people who have died in the war should not be confined to mere abstract statistics on casualties.

At most of course I cannot document the 'martyrs' of every locality but only offer sample overviews. In this case I have decided to look at the locality of Arna in the Jabal al-Sheikh region in southwest Syria near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The locality's inhabitants are Druze and the locality is under the control of the Syrian government. Indeed, throughout the war, the locality has remained on the side of the Syrian government. The current number of inhabitants is around 5000-7000.

The office of Mu'assasat al-Wa'ad al-Sadiq ('The True Promise Foundation') in Arna and Jabal al-Sheikh- a branch of the foundation that concerns itself with the affairs of 'martyrs' and wounded on the Syrian government side- has provided a list of 'martyrs' from Arna during the war. This list includes the three-fold names of the 'martyrs', their place and year of birth and the place and date of 'martyrdom'. Note that the total number of 'martyrs' comes to 48 confirmed cases, with two additional people still deemed 'missing' (mafqudeen) and so their final status uncertain.

In subsequent posts I will try to document the lives of each of the listed 'martyrs'.

The list of Arna 'martyrs', though note that entries 46-50 I provide below are supplementary to this original document.