Kafr Nabl (, also spelled Kafranbel or Kafr Nabil) is a town administratively belonging to the
Idlib Governorate and
Ma'arrat al-Numan District 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 ...
. It is situated above sea level. In the 2004 census by the
Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics Kafr Nabl had a population of 15,455. In the early 1960s it had a population of about 1,200. Kafr Nabl's inhabitants are predominantly
Sunni Muslim.
History
Kafr Nabl is located on an ancient
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
dead city, and is surrounded by some of the most important
Dead Cities, such as
Serjilla, Shanshrah, and
al-Bara.
Prior to the
Syrian civil war, Kafr Nabl was Syria's largest producer of figs and a major producer of olives. About 3,700
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
s, or 778,000 trees were used for fig cultivation. Roughly 60% of the population were employed in the production and natural processing of the fruit. Farmers in Kafr Nabl usually dedicated around 80% of their cultivation time to the production of figs and 20% for olives.
Since the civil war, the town has gained fame for producing satirical videos about the war. It belonged to an area controlled by the
Army of Conquest.
Planes of the
Russian Air Force, based in
Latakia, had begun to attack the city in the autumn of 2015.
On November 23, 2018, activist
Raed Fares and journalist Hamoud Junaid were killed in Kafr Nabl, by an unknown gunman.
Most of the town's remaining inhabitants fled in early 2019, due to the violence that erupted during the
2019 Northwestern Syria offensive. Shortly thereafter, the rebel groups in control of the town received a "stark warning" from
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, which accused them of using it to stage alleged false-flag chemical attacks against the Syrian government, as well as a launching ground for missiles targeting government-controlled areas in violation of the
Idlib demilitarization agreement. On 21 July 2019, the local council of the rebel-held town declared that "everything
n the townhad been destroyed and burnt" as a result of clashes and government airstrikes targeting rebel positions within it.
On February 25, 2020, the Syrian Army reimposed control on Kafr Nabl for the first time since 2012 during the
2019–20 Northwestern Syria offensive and repulsed rebel attempts to re-take it during their counterattack.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*Al-Ubeidu, Ahmed
Old Mosques in Kafr Nabl From Several Civilizations ''E-Idleb''. E-Syria. 2011-01-26.
{{Idlib Governorate, maara
Populated places in Maarat al-Numan District
Towns in Syria
Archaeological sites in Idlib Governorate
Populated places in Jabal Zawiya