Aqrab ( ar, عقرب, also spelled Akrab) is a Town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حماة / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the south, Raqqa Governorate to t ...

, located southwest of

Hama Hama ( ar, حَمَاة ', ; syr, ܚܡܬ, ħ(ə)mɑθ, lit=fortress; Biblical Hebrew: ''Ḥamāṯ'') 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 provinci ...

. Nearby localities include Nisaf and

Baarin Baarin ( ar, بعرين, ''Baʿrīn'' or ''Biʿrīn'') is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located in Homs Gap roughly southwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Taunah and Awj to the south, Aqrab and ...

to the west, Awj to the southwest, Qarmas to the south, Taldou and Houla to the southeast, Talaf and the subdistrict (''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'') center Hirbnafsah to the east,

Bisin Bisin is a naturally occurring lantibiotic (an antibacterial peptide) discovered by University of Minnesota microbiologist Dan O'Sullivan. Unlike earlier lantibiotics discovered, such as nisin, bisin also kills Gram-negative bacteria, includin ...

and Jidrin to the northeast and al-Bayyadiyah to the northwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Aqrab had a population of 8,422 in the 2004 census, making it the largest locality in the Hirbnafsah ''nahiyah''.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. The population of Aqrab is roughly two-thirds

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

, with the remainder being

Alawite The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Is ...

s. Many of Aqrab's Sunni inhabitants are of Turkmen descent, while Alawites live mostly in the enclave of Jbeili where they make up about 200 families.Rosen, Nir
A Tale of Two Syrian Villages: Part two
''

Al-Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is ...

'' (AJE). 2011-10-26. In a 1958

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

report, it was noted that Aqrab had been owned by

feudalist Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

Syrian civil war

Since the beginning of the ongoing Syrian civil war in 2011, several Alawite families threatened by Sunni rebel fighters have fled Aqrab for nearby predominantly Alawite villages such as

. On 11 December 2012, bomb attacks in the village left between 125-200Up to 200 hurt in attack on Syrian Alawite village - activists
'' The Daily Star''. 2012-12-11. Originally published by ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

''. civilians dead or wounded according to opposition activists. Most of the casualties were reportedly Alawites,Scores reportedly killed in Syria's Hama
'' Al Jazeera English''. 2012-12-11. and local witnesses blamed FSA rebels from Houla and Al-Rastan for the killings.Mackey, Robert. (18 December 2012
Accounts of a Siege in Syria Differ on Rebel YouTube Channels and British Television
''The New York Times''.

References

Bibliography

* {{Hama Governorate, hama Populated places in Hama District Towns in Hama Governorate