Al-Junaynah (, also spelled ''Jneineh'') is a village in central

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 ...

, administratively part of the Suran Subdistrict of

Hama District Hama District ( ') is a district ( mantiqah) administratively belonging to Hama Governorate, Syria. At the time of the 2023 Census, it had a population of 1,054,000 Its administrative centre is the city of Hama. It is now controlled by the Syrian ...

, located northeast of

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

. The village lies on the road connecting Hama with

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

via

al-Hamraa Al-Hamraa (, also spelled al-Hamra) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northeast of Hama. Nearby localities include Jubb al-Othman to the northeast, Abu al-Thuhur to the north, Fan al-Sham ...

and

Qasr Ibn Wardan Qasr Ibn Wardan () is a hamlet and 6th-century archaeological site located in the Syrian Desert, approximately northeast from Hama and about northeast of al-Hamraa. The hamlet is separated from the Byzantine-era ruins by a road, with the for ...

. It is from the ancient town of

Androna Androna, also known as al-Andarin (), is a Byzantine site spread over a vast area at the edges of the semi-desert, about 25 kilometers beyond the more well-known Byzantine site of Qasr Ibn Wardan. History Androna was built as a defense line aga ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Junaynah had a population of 341 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are

Alawites Alawites () are an Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ...

. The main economic activity in the village is rainfed agriculture and sheepraising.

History

In 1890, al-Junaynah was sold by the Ma'adid clan of the

Mawali ''Mawlā'' (, plural ''mawālī'' ), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the te ...

tribe of central Syria to the prominent Kaylani family of

. Its inhabitants were

Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...

tenant farmers who were originally settled there to cultivate its lands in the 1920s or early 1930s. In 1990, a municipality was established to administer the village.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Junaynah Alawite communities in Syria Populated places in Hama District