Khabur [key], river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, rising in SE Turkey, and flowing generally south through NE Syria to enter the Euphrates River, near Dayr az Zawr. 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 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) of farmland, is Syria's main wheat-producing area. In ancient times the Khabur was known as the Habor; along its banks in Gozan the Israelite captives from Samaria were settled in the 8th cent. b.c. (2 Kings 17.6; 18.11).
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