Douma

The largest town in the Ghouta, 9 kilometres northeast of Damascus, and the administrative seat of Rif Dimashq governorate. The 2004 census counted about 111 thousand people. Douma has two faces. One is a market town that feeds the capital’s vegetable gardens; the other is a position that stood watch on the outer defence of Damascus for centuries.

Getting there

East out of Damascus, 9 kilometres through the Ghouta. Half an hour without traffic. Douma is a district centre, so minibuses run all day and run often; what is uncertain is not the road but which stretch of it has been repaired. Ask on the day, before you set out.

How long it takes

Two hours. That covers the Great Mosque, the streets around the market and the old house fronts still standing in the centre. Add the archaeological sites around the town and you need half a day.

What is there

More than 80 mosques are counted in the town and some of them are old. The most important is al-Masjid al-Kabir, the Great Mosque; it stands in the centre and the market opens onto it. Records also list historic khans, madrasas and large houses — some standing, some reduced to a facade. The settlement itself goes back to the Aramaean period, and more than one archaeological site is counted in the fields around.

What happened here in 1925

On 14 October 1925 rebels under Ramadan Shallash attacked the French forces in Douma. The old government house burned with its furniture and its records, and the police post was set on fire. On 21 October they took the commander of the post and every policeman with him prisoner. On 28 October a French unit installed itself in the Jubrani house at the place called Nuqta, east of the town. The fighting there ran from morning until noon. When the French called for aircraft and artillery, the rebels pulled back into the Ghouta.

It was not the first time. Douma was the centre of popular resistance during the Crusader siege of Damascus, it later became one of the bases of the resistance to the French Mandate, and for a period the weapons going to Palestine passed through here.

The town today

Douma was the centre of the siege of Eastern Ghouta between 2013 and 2018 and it was badly damaged. Repair is under way. Some streets are open and busy, others are still rubble; what you see is a state in between, and the town says as much about itself.