Al-Annazah ( ar, العنازة; also spelled al-Annazeh) is a village about 20 km to the northeast of

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and 5 km from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. It is less than a one-hour drive to Latakia and about three hours' drive to Damascus. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Annazah had a population of 3,357 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Idlib Governorate . Its inhabitants are predominantly members of the Alawite community. Its hills were covered with olive and oak trees and have many caves. Although there are no rivers in Al-Annaze, it has many valleys.

Natural parks

Al-Annazah offers the possibility for activities such as rock climbing, valleys walking, hill jogging, bike riding or exploring the jungle. There are caves and jungles in the Ein Ibraheim area, with fresh water, many kinds of birds and wild animals. Another place is Alshikh Abbas forest.

Public services

Health centre

The Al-Annaze health centre is situated in the centre of the village. It has a team of nurses and doctors who serve Al-Annaze and its neighbour villages. One of the major duties of Al-Annaze medical centre is to offer immunisation services to children. Also first aid service is another major service that can be offered in Al-Annaze's health centre. All the services in Al-Annaze health centre are free. Al-Annaze has a health centre as well as private clinics including specialists for breast care and cardiology, otorhinolaryngology, general surgery, and dentistry, and pharmacies.

Public transportations

There are many minibuses (capacity 11 to 14 passengers) which run from Al-Annaze to

many times a day. Average time journey is half an hour to Tartus city centre, and it is a ten-minute drive to Tartus- Latakia

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

. The first bus to the city travels at 05:00 early morning and the last one from the city is at 19:00. Two main routes can be used to travel from Al-Annaze to Tartus city centre: the first one is through the Markieh and the other one is through al-Sauda.

Telecoms services

Syrian telecoms delivers its services to Al-Annaze through Bhanien's electronic

telephone switch telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syste ...

. The main available service is the fixed telephone service which covers approximately 43% of the people in Al-Annaze. Data services are limited, and the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

is available for the dial-up internet access plan only with bad

quality of service Quality of service (QoS) is the description or measurement of the overall performance of a service, such as a telephony or computer network, or a cloud computing service, particularly the performance seen by the users of the network. To quantitat ...

, due to the limitations of the most rural electronic telephone switches in Syria. Mobile services are available on demand from the two main Syrian operators: MTN and

Syriatel Syriatel ( ar, سيريتل) is a mobile network provider in Syria. It is one of the only two providers in Syria, the other being MTN Syria MTN Syria is one of the two only mobile operators in Syria, the other being Syriatel. MTN Syria was pre ...

Education

It has a big and completely new primary school which allows pupils in Al-Annaze to take their elementary and preparatory education starting from age 5/6 until age 14/15. Primary education in Syrian law is mandatory for all pupils from age 5/6 to 14/15 and it is totally free. Al-Annaze secondary school accepts good students from different villages around Al-Annaze. The school has a lab, library, computer room, activities room and a wide area for

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and football. Students start their education in the secondary school at age 14/15 and they remain for three years to get their high school diploma, which is called Bakaloria. Every year, many graduated students from Al-Annaze secondary school go to the universities to continue their higher studies in different aspects of

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

medicines A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. Most students prefer to study in

Tishreen University Tishreen University ( ar, جامعة تشرين, lit=October University), is a public university located in Latakia, Syria. It is the third-largest university in Syria. History The university was founded under the name of the ''University ...

in Latakia as a first priority, because it is close to the village around 70 km and it has a variety of faculties. Some medicine students prefer Damascus due to its good reputation. Although there are students from Al-Annaze in most of the Syrian universities and institutions, Tishreen university is the major destination. Recently, some faculties have been established in

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and a few graduated students from Al-Annaze secondary school are doing their studies there.

Climate

Al-Annaze's climate is

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, it is moderate to hot and wet in summer and it is cosy and wet in

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...

. Winter is rainy and high

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...

. January maximum and minimum temperatures are and . August maximum and minimum temperatures are and . The minimum annual rainfall in Al-Annaze is 85 cm (33.46 in), which occurs from September to May.

References and Bibliography

* Tartus Framing establishment, annual reports for 2007 and 2008. * Al-Annaze Planting society, latest database is updated on 18 February 2009. * Tartus tourism establishment. * Yearly reports (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) from the Tartus Governorate, local organisations and civil societies. * Publications from several public and private societies. {{DEFAULTSORT:Annazeh Populated places in Baniyas District Towns in Syria Alawite communities in Syria