Muhasan مُوحَسَّن | |
|---|---|
  Muhasan | |
| Coordinates:35°14′22″N40°19′28″E / 35.23944°N 40.32444°E /35.23944; 40.32444 | |
| Country | Syria |
| Governorate | Deir ez-Zor |
| District | Deir ez-Zor |
| Subdistrict | al-Muhasan |
| Population (2004 census)[1] | |
• Total | 9,501 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Muhasan (Arabic:مُوحَسَّن,romanized: Mūḥassan, also spelledal-Mohassan orAlmu Hasan) is a town in easternSyria, administratively part of theDeir ez-Zor Governorate, located along theEuphrates River, south ofDeir ez-Zor and 120 kilometers west of the border withIraq. According to theSyria Central Bureau of Statistics, Muhasan had a population of 9,501 in the 2004 census.[1]
In the early 1950s theSyrian Communist Party began gaining support in severalArab andSunni Muslim towns in the country, including Muhasan which came to be locally known as "Little Moscow," in reference to capital of the formerSoviet Union. In the summer of 1953 the peasant tribesmen of the al-Aqaydat tribe initiated resistance against the encroachments of a regionally powerful mercantile clan specializing in thegrain trade, money lending and gas pumps and having one of their own as Minister of Agriculture. Under guidance from communist teachers in Deir ez-Zor and local communist activists from the town's primary school, the peasantmusha ("collective farming") landholders formed a public company and purchased two gas pumps and two tractors with domestically raised funds, thereby ending their dependence on the wealthy clan.[2]
