Arab Belt project

The Arab Belt project () was the Syrian Baath government's project of Arabization of the north of the Al-Hasakah Governorate to change the demographics of the Kurdish regions of Syria in favor of the Arabs. The process was meant to increase the Arab population in those lands that were once Arab majority, before the Kurdish influx into the region after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s.

Background
The regions in the "Arab Belt" are rich in oil deposits and good agricultural land. About 50 to 60 percent of the Syrian petroleum caves are estimated to be located in the district of Al-Malikiyah.

Planning
The Baath party came to power in 1963 in Syria and decided in 1965 to build the 350 km long and 10-15 km wide Arabian belt along the Syria–Turkey border. The Belt stretched from the Iraqi border in the east to Ras al-Ayn (Kurdish: Serê Kaniyê) in the west. After another coup within the Baath party, Hafez al-Assad succeeded in becoming the head of Syria in 1970 and began to act on the plan in 1973. The project's name was officially changed to "Plan for the establishment of state model farms in the Jazira province".

References

Category:20th century in Syria