By the 20th-century Adhri'at gained its modern name "Daraa." Following the Ottomans' construction of the Hejaz Railway, it became a chief junction of the railroad. In both his book "Seven Pillars" and a 1919 letter to a military colleague, T. E. Lawrence describes an episode on 20 November 1917 while reconnoitering Deraa in disguise when he was captured by the Ottoman military, heavily beaten, and sexually abused by the local Bey and his guardsmen. During the Battle of Megiddo (1918), Lawrence led the Arab Revolt in cutting the southern rail line at Mafraq, the northern at Arar, and the western by Mezerib.