sentences:  The general region of the desert plains east of Homs and Hama was repopulated during the late 19th century by local Bedouins and by Ismaili and Alawite peasants from the areas west of Homs and Hama, as well as Circassians.The modern town was of al-Mukharram was founded in 1882, although its inhabitants struggled to make a living off the semi-arid region.In 1960, al-Mukharram was still an impoverished village populated by Alawite sharecropper families employed by landlords based in Homs.