Hayalin (, also spelled Hayaleen or Hiyalin) is a village in northwestern

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

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib Governorate, Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the north, Raqqa Gove ...

, located northwest 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 ...

. Nearby localities include

al-Suqaylabiyah Al-Suqaylabiyah () is a city in western Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate. It is located about from Hama and overlooks the Ghab Valley. According to the 2004 official census, the town had a population of 13,920.Qalaat al-Madiq Qalaat al-Madiq ( also spelled Kal'at al-Mudik or Qal'at al-Mudiq; also known as Afamiyya or Famiyyah) is a town and medieval fortress in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. It is situated ...

to the northwest,

Bureij Bureij () is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the central Gaza Strip east of the Salah al-Din Road in the Deir al-Balah Governorate. The camp's total land area is 529 dunam, dunums and in 2017, it had a population of 28,024 with 28,770 regi ...

and Kirnaz to the north,

al-Lataminah Al-Lataminah (, also spelled ''Latamneh'' or ''Latamnah'') is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Karnaz to the northwest, Kafr Zita to the north, Murak, Ham ...

to the east,

Shaizar Shaizar or Shayzar (; in modern Arabic Saijar; Hellenistic name: Larissa in Syria, Λάρισσα εν Συρία in Greek language, Greek) is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. Near ...

Tremseh Tremseh (, ''al-Turaymisah''), or in various dialects ''Tremseh'', ''Treimsa'', ''Taramsah'', ''Taramseh'' in the Hama Governorate in northern Syria. It is roughly 22 miles northwest of the central city of Hama. Nearby localities include district c ...

and

Safsafiyah Safsafiyah () is a Syrian village located in the Mahardah Nahiyah, Mahardah Subdistrict of the Mahardah District in Hama Governorate. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (Syria), Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Safsafiyah had a ...

to the southeast and

Tell Salhab Tal Salhab (, also spelled Tal Selhab) is a town in the western center of Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. It is situated on the southern edge of the Ghab plain and by the western bank of the Oront ...

to the south. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 3,913 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

s. In 2005 18 people from Hayalin were detained in mass countrywide arrests of suspected Islamists or membership of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

, a serious offense in Syria. During the ongoing Syrian Civil War that began in 2011, Hayalin has experienced violence as a result of fighting between government forces and opposition rebels. The

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...

(SOHR) reported that government forces shelled the village on 13 May 2012. Rebels claimed to have captured Hayalin On 17 December along with a string of other towns during an offensive against the Hama region. According to the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), security forces reportedly surrounded checkpoints outside the village, leading to doubts as to whether rebels had full control over Hayalin, unlike the other places they captured in the operation. On 7 July 2013, the Syrian Army captured the town.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Hama Governorate, suqaylabiyah Populated places in al-Suqaylabiyah District