, the main left bank affluent of the Jordan river [see al-urdunn. 1], famed in history as the site of a historic battle between the Arabs and Byzantines.
1. Geography.
The Yarmūk flows into the Jordan some 9 km/5 miles to the south of Lake Tiberias, with headwaters on the southwestern slopes of the Ḥawrān [q.v.] in southern Syria. It follows a deeply-incised valley which nevertheless provides the main access through the eastern wall of the Jordan rift valley, the G̲h̲awr or G̲h̲ōr, to the north-south routes along the western fringes of the Syrian De…