HASAKAH, AL-

also spelled Hassaka, or Hasakeh, town, northeastern Syria. The town lies on the banks of the Khabur River (a tributary of the Euphrates) at its confluence with the Jaghjaghah. Under the Ottoman Empire it lost its importance, but it revived with the settlement there of Assyrian refugees from Iraq during the French mandate of Syria after 1932. Now an important road junction near the Turkish and Iraqi frontiers, Al-Hasakah is the centre of an extensive irrigated-farming region. The basin of the Khabur River, in which Al-Hasakah is situated, is the nation's main wheat- and rice-producing region and, with improved irrigation, an important cotton-growing area. The completion of the Tabaqah Dam in 1973 with its hydroelectric plant provided for the electrification of villages in the area as well as increased power for industry. In the 1950s petroleum was discovered in the area northeast of Al- Hasakah. The oil is piped to Hims for refining and to the Mediterranean port of Tartus for export. Pop. (1985 est.) town, 98,607.