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Mashta al-Helou مشتى الحلو
Town
Mashta al-HelouLocation in Syria
Coordinates: 34°52′35″N 36°15′25″E / 34.87639°N 36.25694°E / 34.87639; 36.25694
Country	Syria
Governorate	Tartus
District	Safita
Subdistrict	Mashta al-Helu
Elevation	465 m (1,526 ft)
Population
• Total	2,458

Mashta al-Helu (Arabic: مشتى الحلو, also known as Meshta al-Helu or Mashta al-Helo) is a town and resort in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located 35 kilometers east of Tartus. Mashta al-Helu is situated in a verdant area on the eastern slopes of the an-Nusayriyah Mountains, the Syrian coastal mountain range, close to where the mountain give way to the basaltic plateaur of Jabal al-Helu. The town has an elevation of 465 meters (1,526 ft) above sea level. Nearby localities include Kafrun to the west, al-Malloua and al-Bariqiyah to the southwest, Habnamrah and Marmarita to the south, Hadiya to the southeast, Kafr Ram to the east, Ayn Halaqim to the northeast, Ayn al-Shams to the north and Duraykish to the northwest.

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Mashta al-Helu had a population of 2,458 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the Mashta al-Helu nahiya (subdistrict) of the Safita District which contained 19 localities with a collective population of 12,577 in 2004. Its inhabitants are predominantly Christians, mainly belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church.

The town was founded by Christian families from different parts of Ottoman Syria (including modern Lebanon) who gradually settled in the site in the 18th and early 19th centuries, during Ottoman rule. The town modernized and became mostly literate long before many of the rural communities of the coastal mountains. Schools were opened by American, European and Russian missions in the late 19th century and silk mill was built in 1855, one of the few industrial facilities in the coastal region into the 1960s. Since the 1980s, Mashta al-Helu has become a major summer resort town in the area and derives most of its income from tourism.

History

Ottoman period

According to a book about the village penned by one of its residents, Michel Aji, the village was founded by Elias Maalouf in 1727 after he fled from his ancestral village of Kafarakab (in modern Lebanon) for killing someone there in a blood feud. The area where the village was established was then known as Mashta Troush Hasan for the landowner of nearby Uyun al-Wadi, Hasan Agha al-Turkmani, who camped his livestock at Mashta for the winter and sheltered Elias in his home at Uyun al-Wadi. Elias became known as 'al-Aji' because he was an orphan and initially lived alone in the village site and his descendants took on this epithet as the family name.

Other Christian families steadily migrated to Mashta. In 1730 the Msallam family from Zahle settled in the village and later became known as the Sous clan. The Helou family arrived in 1742 from Nabe Karkar and originally from Ayn Hilya near Zabadani. Part of the Haddad or Zeirik family settled there in 1763, the other part settling in nearby Jenin, having originally come from Jobar and the Hauran. The Nassar family arrived in 1772 from Deir Atiyah, the Sabbaghs from Palestine in 1791, the Bitar and Khoury families in 1823 and 1830 from Ayn al-Dahab, and the Awki-Hannoush family from Daghlah in 1823.

As in Mount Lebanon, olive and mulberry growing spread in Mashta al-Helu and nearby Safita and Uyun al-Wadi in the 19th century, with mulberry trees raised for silk worm cultivation. Silk mills opened in the area and the mill in Mashta was opened in 1855 by Philip Faroun from Mount Lebanon. It was sold to a French company in 1875. In 1880, an American Evangelical school was opened in the village. Six years later, the Jesuits opened a school in Beit Sarkis. In 1896 the Russian Orthodox Church opened a missionary school, the Palestinian Imperial Commission, in Mashta, which closed in 1917 then reopened as a government school under French Mandatory rule in 1920 and eventually became a secondary school.

French Mandatory period

The American school closed in 1947. The first high schools opened in 1949 and 1951, the first operated by the Syrian Communist Party and the second opened by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. The SSNP school was shut down after the assassination of the Ba'athist military officer Adnan al-Malki by the SSNP.

Post-Syrian independence

Before the Ba'ath Party gained power in Syria in the 1960s, Mashta al-Helu was one of a few villages in the coastal mountain region that was electrified and connected to a grid, and one of the few with resident doctors. The silk mill in the village was one of the only industrial facilities in the coastal region. When these facilities were slated to be nationalized in 1963–1965, the mill was sold to a Syrian businessman from Homs, Antoine Samman, and was later purchased by the Nassar family of Mashta al-Helu, who closed the mill in 1970. In the 1980s and 1990s popular summer resorts began to be built in Mashta al-Helu. A luxury hotel was built in the village by entrepreneur Saheb Nahhas. Tourism has become the primary source of income in Mashta al-Helu.

Beit Sarkis

In 1735 the Baisari family from Hadshit (in modern Lebanon) settled in Mashta and eventually took up abode on a nearby hill, which became a hamlet called Beit Sarkis after a monk from the family named Sarkis. The home Sarkis built became the church of Beit Sarkis. In 1960 Beit Sarkis was listed as its own village with a population of 223. In 1962, the Catholic newspaper The Criterion reported the village had 200 impoverished parishioners, many of whom were unemployed, and in need of funds to repair the church of Beit Sarkis. The population of Beit Sarkis in 1994 was 157. and at a later point the village was incorporated into the Mashta al-Helu municipality.

Churches

The old church of Mashta al-Helou, the Church of Elias, was built by Ibrahim al-Sabbagh in 1843. The second oldest church, Saydeh Church, in the town was founded by Askandra Hanna al-Haddad following her return from Jerusalem in 1890. It was completed in 1898, with its dome installed two years later.

References

1. Balanche 2000, p. 53.
2. "Mashta al-Helou Nahiyah Population". Syria Central Bureau of Statistics. 2004. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2012-07-02.
3. Balanche 2006, p. 44.
4. Balanche 2000, p. 465.
5. ^ Aji 2019, p. 11.
6. Aji 2019, p. 12.
7. Aji 2019, pp. 14–16.
8. ^ Balanche 2000, p. 134.
9. ^ Aji 2019, pp. 30–31.
10. Aji 2019, pp. 41–43.
11. Aji 2019, pp. 44–45.
12. Balanche 2006, p. 60.
13. Balanche 2000, p. 207.
14. ^ Balanche 2000, p. 223.
15. Balanche 2000, p. 502.
16. Balanche 2000, p. 528.
17. Balanche 2000, p. 693.
18. Aji 2019, p. 13.
19. ^ Balanche 2000, p. 262.
20. Spellman, Francis Cardinal (25 May 1962). "A Dangerous Place to Stay" (PDF). The Criterion. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
21. Aji 2019, pp. 32–35.

Sources

• Aji, Michel Ghosn (2019). Mashta Al Helou - A Village Tale. ISBN 978-9933-18-861-0.
• Balanche, Fabrice (2000). "Les Alaouites, l'espace et le pouvoir dans la région côtière syrienne : une intégration nationale ambiguë" (in French). Tours: Université François Rabelais. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
• Balanche, Fabrice (2006). La région alaouite et le pouvoir syrien (PDF) (in French). Karthala Editions. ISBN 2845868189.

v t e Tartus Governorate
Capital: Tartus
Tartus District Tartus al-Annazah Aqir Zayti Areimeh Arwad Arzuna Ayn al-Zarqa Azzayt Bahnin Bahuzi Beit Kammunah Bimalkah Dahbash Duwayr Taha Dweir al-Shaykh Saad al-Hamidiyah Husayn al-Baher Kafr Fo al-Karimah Khawabi Khirbet al-Faras Khirbet al-Maazah al-Khreibat Al-Madehleh Majdalun al-Baher Maraqiya Maten al-Sahel Ruwaysa al-Safsafah al-Sawda (includes Awaru, Baashtar, Bureij and Zamrin) al-Shaykh Saad Tayshur Yahmur al-Zarqat
Baniyas District Baniyas al-Annazah Adimeh Aliqa Alqin Ayn Qadib Barmiya Basatin al-Assad al-Bayda Bustan al-Hamam Bustan al-Najjar Dahr Safra Dayr al-Basal Fneitiq Hammam Wasel Huraysun Kaff al-Jaa Kharibeh al-Marqab Mqarmideh Osaibah al-Qadmus Qarqafti al-Qulou Ras al-Wati al-Rawda Taanita Talin al-Tawahin Tayru Zallalu
Safita District Safita Ayn Dabish Ayn Hifad Ayn al-Zibdeh Ayn al-Tineh al-Bariqiyah al-Karama Bayt al-Shaykh Yunis al-Bitar Buwaydat al-Suwayqat Jenin al-Kafrun Kafrun Badra Khirbet Abu Hamdan Mashta al-Helu al-Malloua al-Mitras Nabe Karkar Ras al-Khashufah Sibbeh al-Sisiniyah al-Sur al-Tulay'i Ubin
Duraykish District Duraykish Ayn al-Dahab al-Baqaa Dweir Ruslan Hababa Junaynet Ruslan Fajlit Hamin Qulay'a
Al-Shaykh Badr District Al-Shaykh Badr Brummanet al-Mashayekh Brummanet Raad Hammam Qanyah Kaff al-Hammam Maati Niha al-Riqama al-Qamsiyah

v t e Cities and towns of Syria
Governorate centres	Aleppo Damascus Daraa Deir ez-Zor Hama al-Hasakah Homs Idlib Latakia Quneitra Raqqa Rif Dimashq Suwayda Tartus
District centres	Abu Kamal Afrin Ariha Atarib Ayn al-Arab Azaz al-Bab Baniyas Darayya Dayr Hafir Douma Duraykish Fiq al-Haffah Harem Izra' Jableh Jarabulus Jisr ash-Shughur Maarat al-Numaan al-Malikiyah Manbij Masyaf Mayadin Mhardeh al-Mukharram al-Foqani an-Nabk Palmyra Qamishli Qardaha Qatana Qudsaya al-Qusayr al-Qutayfah Ra's al-'Ayn al-Rastan as-Safira Safita Salamiyah Salkhad al-Sanamayn Shahba ash-Shaykh Badr al-Suqaylabiyah Talkalakh al-Tall Tell Abyad al-Thawrah Yabroud Zabadani
Sub-district centres	Abu Qilqil Abu al-Thuhur Akhtarin Amuda Arbeen Arima al-Ariqah al-Arishah Armanaz Arwad al-Asharah Assal al-Ward Awj Ayn al-Fijah Ayn Halaqim Ayn Issa Ayn al-Nasr Babbila Banan Barri Sharqi Beit Jinn Binnish Bir al-Helou Bosra Bulbul Busayrah Da'el al-Dana Darat Izza Darkush al-Darbasiyah Deir Atiyah al-Dimas al-Dumayr Furqlus Ghabaghib Ghandoura al-Ghariyah al-Ghizlaniyah al-Hader Hadidah al-Hajar al-Aswad al-Hajib Hajin al-Hamidiyah al-Hamraa Harasta Harbnafsah Harran al-Awamid al-Hirak Hish Hisyah al-Hawl Huraytan al-Huwash Ibbin Samaan Ihsim Jayrud al-Jalaa al-Janudiyah Jaramana al-Jarniyah Jasim al-Jawadiyah Jubb al-Jarrah Jubb Ramlah Jindires al-Jiza al-Qabu Kafr Batna Kafr Nabl Kafr Takharim Kafr Zita al-Karamah al-Kasrah Kessab al-Khafsah Khan Shaykhun Khasham Kirnaz Kuwayris Sharqi Khanaser Khirbet Ghazaleh Khirbet al-Tin Mahmoud al-Kiswah Ma'arrat Misrin Maabatli Maadan Maaloula Madaya Mahin Malah al-Malihah al-Mansurah Mare' Markada Mashta al-Helu Maskanah al-Masmiyah al-Mazraa Muhambal Muhasan al-Musayfirah al-Mushannaf Muzayrib al-Nashabiyah al-Nasirah Nawa Nubl al-Qadmus al-Qahtaniyah Qalaat al-Madiq Qarah al-Qaryatayn al-Qurayya Qurqania Rajo Rankus Rasm Harmil al-Imam al-Rai al-Riqama al-Ruhaybah al-Saan Saasaa Sabburah al-Sabe' Biyar al-Sabkhah Sadad Sahnaya Saidnaya Salqin Saraqib Sarmin Sarrin Sawran Sebei al-Shaddadah al-Shajara Shaqqa Sharran Shathah Shaykh al-Hadid al-Shaykh Maskin Shayukh Tahtani Shin Sinjar Sirghaya Slinfah Suluk al-Surah al-Saghirah al-Suwar Suran al-Susah al-Sukhnah al-Tabni Talbiseh Taldou al-Tamanah Tasil Tell al-Daman Tell Hamis Tell Rifaat Tell Salhab Tell Tamer Tedef Thiban Uqayribat Urum al-Kubra Wadi al-Oyun al-Yaarubiyah al-Zirbah az-Ziyarah

• Populated places in Safita District
• Towns in Syria
• Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Syria