Kafr Kila ( ar, كفر كيلا, also spelled Kafr Kile) is a town in northwestern
Syria, administratively part of the
Idlib Governorate, located north of
Idlib. Nearby localities include
Kafr Takharim
Kafr Takharim ( ar, كَفْر تَخَارِيم, Kafr Takhārīm, also spelled Kafar Takhareem or Kfar Takharam) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate, located in the north of Idlib. Nearby localities inc ...
to the southwest,
Qurqania
Qurqania ( ar, قُورْقَانِيَا, Qūrqāniyā, also spelled ''Qurqanya'' or ''Korkania'') is a town in Syria, administratively part of the Harem District of the Idlib Governorate
Idlib Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة ادلب / ALA-LC ...
to the southeast,
Barisha to the northeast,
Qalb Loze
Qalb Loze ( ar, قلب لوزة, also spelled Qalb Lawzah or Qalb Lozeh) is a Druze village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate located about west of Aleppo. It is situated near the border with Turkey, in the Hari ...
to the north,
Harem
Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...
to the northwest and
Isqat
Isqat ( ar, اسقاط, Isqāṭ) is a village in Syria, administratively part of Idlib Governorate. Nearby localities include Salqin to the southwest, Kafr Takharim to the southeast, Harem
Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, ...
and
Salqin
Salqin ( ar, سَلْقِين, Salqīn) is a town in Syria, administratively part of Idlib Governorate. Nearby localities include Kafr Takharim to the southeast, Abu Talha to the south, Delbiya to the southwest, al-Alani to the northwest and Is ...
to the west. According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Kafr Kila had a population of 2,037 in the 2004 census.
Its inhabitants are predominantly members of the
Druze community.
[Choufi, Firas]
Syria: ISIS Imposes ‘Sharia’ on Idlib’s Druze
. '' Al-Akhbar''. 2013-12-23.
Kafr Kila's inhabitants, like most Druze in the area, work primarily in agriculture and cultivate olives and
cumin.
The village contains a number of
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
ruins. Of these ruins include an ornate
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
, with an entrance topped by a particularly decorated
lintel.
[Baedeker, 1900, p. 416.]
During the ongoing
Syrian Civil War, Kafr Kila's residents provided shelter for internal refugees. In 2014, Although the Idlib region (with the exception of
Idlib and small pockets of territory) was largely under
opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...
control, the
Free Syrian Army (FSA) had not entered Kafr Kila or other Druze villages because the villages maintained their neutrality in the conflict and host many displaced families from neighboring towns. However, towards the end of 2013, militants from the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
(ISIL), a
Salafi jihadist
Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadist and Sa ...
organization, largely became dominant over the FSA and captured Kafr Kila along with other Druze-majority villages in the area. They reportedly demanded that residents "announce their Islam" by converting their prayer houses into
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
s and trimming their
moustache
A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history.
Etymology
The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ...
s.
See also
*
Dead Cities
The Dead Cities ( ar, المدن الميتة) or Forgotten Cities ( ar, المدن المنسية) are a group of 700 abandoned settlements in northwest Syria between Aleppo and Idlib. Around 40 villages grouped in eight archaeological parks sit ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{Idlib Governorate, harem
Populated places in Harem District
Druze communities in Syria