Khabur River

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The Khabur River (Aramaic:ܚܒܘܪ, Kurdish: Çemê Xabûr, Turkish: Habur Nehri, Arabic: نهر الخابور; also transliterated as Habor River or Habur River) is a river that begins in southeastern Turkey and flows south to Syria, where it eventually empties into the Euphrates River. The river, with its several branches, such as the Aweidj, Dara, Djirdjib, Jaghjagh, Radd and Zergan Rivers, is not a major water course, and during most of the year is represented by wadis (dry riverbeds).

Another river also named Khabur begins in Şırnak (Turkey), flows through Zakho (Iraq) and empties into the River Tigris at the tripoint between Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

[edit] History

In Sumerian Mythology, the Habur is equivalent to the River Styx in Greek myth.^{[citation needed]} Important ancient sites such as Tell Halaf, Tell Brak, Tell Leilan and Urkesh, have been excavated in the Khabur river basin. It has given its name to a distinctive painted ware found in northern Mesopotamia and Syria in the early 2nd millennium BCE, called Khabur ware. The region of the Khabur River is also associated with the rise of the kingdom of the Mitanni that flourished c.1500-1300 BC. In classical times the river was known as Chaboras.

The Books of Kings and The First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament recount that Tiglath-Pileser III, the King of Assyria, captured Israelites from east of the Jordan. A portion of the captives were deported to the banks of the river. The priest and prophet Ezekiel "was by the river Chebar among the exiles...in the land of the Chaldeans" when "the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God" (Ezek.1:1,3). The Book of Kings also describes Israelite captives from Samaria who settled near Guzana (Gozan) on the river's banks during the reign of Shalmaneser V (son and successor of Tiglath-Pileser), (17:6, 18:11).

[edit] Modern Khabur River Valley

The Khabur River project, begun in the 1960s, involved the construction of a series of dams and canals. The Khabur Valley, which now has about four million acres (16,000 km²) of farmland, is Syria's main wheat-cultivation area. The northeastern part is also the center for Syria's oil production.