Al-Shaddadah or al-Shaddadi (,

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

: ''Şeddadê'') is a town in southern

al-Hasakah Governorate Al-Hasakah Governorate (; ; , also known as , ''Gozarto'') is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is located in the far north-east corner of Syria and distinguished by its fertile lands, plentiful water ...

, northeastern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. The town is the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the al-Shaddadah Subdistrict, which consists of 16 municipalities. At the 2004 census, al-Shaddadah had a population of 15,806.

Name and geography

The town's name might be derived from "Shadadu"; a governor of the district of "Suru" mentioned in the annals of the Assyria king

Assurnasirpal II Ashur-nasir-pal II (transliteration: ''Aššur-nāṣir-apli'', meaning " Ashur is guardian of the heir") was the third king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 883 to 859 BC. Ashurnasirpal II succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II. His son and su ...

. The town is situated off the western bank of the Khabur River. Nearby localities include al-Sabaa wa Arbain to the west.

Civil war

In the course of the Syrian civil war, the city was attacked by the rebel forces in the February 2013 Battle of Shaddadi and was captured three days later. According to the

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...

, over 100

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

soldiers and 40

al-Nusra Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

fighters were killed, as well as dozens of petroleum workers. The city was later attacked and captured by the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

in July 2013 which took over the city after ousting the rebels and it remained one of the last IS strongholds in the province. When on 11 October 2015, the Kurdish-majority

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of K ...

and their multiethnic partners, including the

al-Sanadid Forces The Forces of the Brave (), generally called the al-Sanadid Forces, is a militia formed by the Arab Shammar tribe to fight against the Islamic State. Even though the tribe's Syrian strongholds are mostly in the Jazira Canton of the Autonomous Adm ...

of the Arab

Shammar The tribe of Shammar () is a tribal Arab Qahtanite confederation, descended from the Tayy, which migrated into the northern Arabian Peninsula from Yemen in the second century. It is the largest branch of the Tayy, and one of the largest and mos ...

tribe, joined forces to form the SDF, al-Sanadid leader Bandar al-Humaydi made it an "immediate priority to liberate

al-Hawl Al-Hawl (), also spelled al-Hole, al-Hol, al-Hool and al-Houl, is a town in eastern al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, under control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. It is the administrative center of the Al-Haw ...

and al-Shaddadah from the

.” On 24 November 2015, it became known that

militants were transferring their family members further south to the

Deir ez-Zor Governorate Deir ez-Zor Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Dayr az-Zawr,'' Kurdish'':'' ''Parêzgeha Dêrezor'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in eastern Syria, bordering Iraq. It has an area of 33,060 k ...

. After the SDF captured the South Hasakah Dam on 30 November, they continued their offensive southward, towards the city of al-Shaddadah, now IS's last stronghold in al-Hasakah province.Inside The War Against ISIS
/ref> Subsequently, Arab tribal leaders reportedly urged IS to withdraw from the city "peacefully," in order to prevent civilian casualties and the possible collapse of al-Shaddadi's economic infrastructure, if a destructive battle between the SDF/coalition forces and the Islamic State were to occur. It was also reported that IS was beginning to evacuate some of its positions near al-Shaddadi. On 19 February 2016, the town was captured by the SDF. On 21 January 2019, US and SDF forces were attacked by a VBIED. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack through an affiliated news service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaddadah Populated places in al-Hasakah District Towns in al-Hasakah Governorate