Atme (, also spelled Atma, Atima, Atmeh) is a town in northern

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 Idlib Governorate, located north of Idlib and just east of the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It lies southeast of Deir Ballut, south of

Jindires Jindires (; or ) is a town in northern Syria in the Afrin District of the Aleppo Governorate. It is located on the Afrin River, northwest by road from Aleppo and southwest of Afrin, Syria, Afrin. Nearby localities include Deir Ballut and Bayadah ...

, northwest of Qah and north of Sarmada and al-Dana. In the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics' 2004 census, it had a population of 2,255.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Idlib Governorate.

History

The Olive Tree Camp is a refugee camp that emerged during the Syrian Civil War. According to Bianet, about 80,000 people live in tents in the camp. Since October 2013, internally displaced Syrians who failed to cross over to

started settling between the olive trees. A new wave of refugees was triggered by the Syrian offensive in 2019. A 150-year-old

oak tree An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the Fagaceae, beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northe ...

in Atme was cut down by members of

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

in November 2013. They accused the locals of venerating the tree instead of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. The town is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. In February 2023, the town was hit by the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, leading to at least 11 deaths.

Incidents

IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi killed himself during a raid by US special forces on a house in Atme on 3 February 2022. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, thirteen other people, including seven civilians, died during the raid, which was noted by the media for its intensity. Many of the local residents were "shocked" about the presence of Quraishi in the town, including Quraishi's landlord, who was unaware that his tenant was the leader of IS.

References

Populated places in Harem District {{IdlibSY-geo-stub