who were natives of the place." Later, under the Mamluks and the Ottomans, the city maintained its importance. In 1596 Daraa appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Madinat Idra'a and was part of the nahiya of Butayna in the Qada of Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 120 households and 45 bachelors. A 40% tax−rate was levied on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 26,500 akçe. In 1838, Eli Smith listed Der'a as a Muslim, Catholic and Greek Orthodox village in the Nukrah region, south of Eshmiskin. Modern era By the 20th-century Adhri'at gained its modern name "Daraa." Following the Ottomans' construction of the Hejaz Railway, it became a chief junction of the railroad. In both his book Seven Pillars and a 1919 letter to a military colleague, T. E. Lawrence describes an episode on 20 November 1917 while reconnoitering Deraa in disguise when he was captured by the Ottoman military, heavily beaten, and sexually abused by the local Bey and his guardsmen. During the Battle of Megiddo, Lawrence led the Arab Revolt in cutting the southern rail line at Mafraq, the northern at Tell Arar, and the western by Mezerib. On 27 September 1918, the Arab Northern Army managed to capture Daraa from the retreating Ottoman forces. Daraa is the southernmost city of Syria near the border with Jordan and a major midpoint between Damascus and Amman. After the Syrian Ba'ath Party gained power following the 1963 coup, the new interior minister Amin al-Hafiz appointed Abd al-Rahman al-Khlayfawi as governor of Daraa until 1965. Daraa had recently, before the Syrian Civil War, suffered from reduced water supply in the region and had been straining under the influx of internal refugees who were forced to leave their northeastern lands due to a drought exacerbated by the government's lack of provision. Syrian Civil War The city of Daraa played an important role by the start of the 2011 uprising against the government led by President Bashar al-Assad as part of the Arab Spring protests with thousands of people protesting in the city. The uprising was sparked on the 6th of March 2011, when 15 youths were arrested for scrawling graffiti on their school wall denouncing the Assad regime. The family and friends of the detained youths and many of their supporters marched on the streets on the 15th of March, demanding their release.