Jayrūd

Jayrud lies on the eastern slopes of the Qalamoun, northeast of Damascus, beside a broad plain that gives way to the Syrian steppe. The salt flat of al-Mallahah lies near the town, a conspicuous white expanse in the dry season. Its fields have drawn on wells and channels, while sheep and goats graze in the surrounding country. The geographer Yaqut knew the settlement as Jarud; the salt deposits and ancient remains around the basin speak to a longer history of human occupation at the edge of the desert.