Kafr Batna ( ar, كفر بطنا, also spelled Kfar Batna and Kafar Batna) is a town in the
Rif Dimashq Governorate
Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف دمشق, ', literally, the "Governorate of the Countryside of Damascus", Damascus Suburb) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the ...
in southern
Syria and a suburb of
Damascus.
[Burns, 2005, pp]
14
15[Siddique, Haroon]
Syrian troops battle to retake Damascus suburbs
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. 2012-02-29. Retrieved on 2012-02-19. It is approximately east of the
Bab Sharqi
Bab Sharqi ( ar, بَابٌ شَرْقِيٌّ, Bāb Šarqī; "The Eastern Gate"), also known as the Gate of the Sun, is one of the seven ancient city gates of Damascus, Syria. Its modern name comes from its location in the eastern side of the cit ...
neighborhood. Kafr Batna had a population of 22,535 in 2004.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate.
History
Kafr Batna's name suggests it was previously an
Aramaean
The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...
village during the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
.
During a
Qays
Qays ʿAylān ( ar, قيس عيلان), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe does not appear to have functioned as a unit in the pre-Islamic e ...
i revolt against the
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
governor of Syria, Qaysi rebels led by Muhammad ibn Bayhas camped out in the town in 842 CE before proceeding to Damascus. There, they attracted the support of other villages in the
Ghouta region which aided them in their failed insurrection.
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known for ...
visited the town in 1226, during
Ayyubid rule, and described it as "a village in the Ghautah of Damascus, in the Iklim (District) of
Da'iyyah." He also noted that some members of the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
tribe, which ruled Syria until the mid-8th-century, still lived in Kafr Batna.
The
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
annexed Syria including Kafr Batna in the early 16th-century and continued to rule until 1918. In the mid-18th-century, a prominent businessman and scholar from
Hamah, Abd al-Qadir al-Kaylani, endowed large swathes of farmland property in Kafr Batna in a ''
waqf
A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...
'' (religious endowment) to be supervised by his wife al-Sharifa Rahmana. During the Ottoman period, a Sheikh Muhammad ibn Isa al-Qari' endowed a share of his vineyards in the town which was supervised by members of his family.
Syrian uprising
Some of Kafr Batna's inhabitants have participated on the side of the opposition during the
2011-2012 Syrian uprising against the government in Syria. On 29 January 2012,
Syrian Army tanks entered the suburb to force out rebels from the opposition
Free Syrian Army (FSA) who were positioned there. Although it has not been verified, opposition activists reported that five FSA soldiers and 14 civilians,
including at least one minor,
were killed during the raid.
[Forces battle to retake Damascus suburbs](_blank)
The Daily Star. 2012-01-30. Retrieved on 2012-02-19.
on 4 February 2013, it was reported that the suburb was taken over by the rebels as part of a large push into the capital
On 17 March 2018, the Syrian army captured Kafr Batna.
References
Bibliography
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External links
Google-map{{Rif Dimashq Governorate, markaz
Populated places in Markaz Rif Dimashq District
Towns in Syria