HASBEYA, or Hasbeiya, a town of the Druses, about 36 miles west of Damascus, is situated at the foot of Mount Hermon in Syria, overlooking a deep amphitheatre, from which a brook flows to the Hasbâni. Both sides of the valley are planted in terraces with olives, vines, and other fruit trees. The grapes are either dried, or made into a kind of syrup. About four-fifths of the inhabitants are Christians, and in 1846 an American Protestant mission was established in the town. This little community suffered much persecution at first from the Greek Church, and afterwards from the Druses, by whom in 1860 nearly 1000 Christians were massacred, while others escaped to Tyre or Sidon, The castle in Hasbeya was held by the crusaders under Count Oran; but in 1171 the Druse emirs of the great Shehaab family (see Druses) recaptured it, In 1205 thi3 family was confirmed in the lordship of the town and district, which they held till the Turkish authorities took possession of the castle in the present century. Near Hasbeya are bitumen pits let by Government; and to the north, at the source of the Hasbâni, the ground is volcanic. Some travellers have identified Hasbeya with the Biblical Baal-Gad, or Baal-Hermon,—a supposition rendered the more likely by the ruins of several temples near the town. Population about 5000.