Maskanah (), also spelled Meskene, 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 Manbij District of the

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' ) is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the t ...

. The town is located southeast of

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 ...

on the Lake Assad part of the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

. Nearby localities include Dayr Hafir, Humaymah Kabirah and Tell Ayoub to the northwest and al-Thawrah to the southeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Maskanah had a population of 15,477 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Aleppo Governorate. The Syrian government took control of Maskanah on 3 June 2017 from the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

. The SDF took control of the town on 1 December 2024.

History

The

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

city of Emar lies a few kilometres north of the present town. The earliest mention of Maskanah comes through

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

where it is mentioned in the context of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

's campaigns against the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

. After the

Muslim conquest of Syria The Muslim conquest of the Levant (; ), or Arab conquest of Syria, was a 634–638 CE invasion of Byzantine Syria by the Rashidun Caliphate. A part of the wider Arab–Byzantine wars, the Levant was brought under Arab Muslim rule and developed ...

, the town was overshadowed by the nearby Balis. The region was under the lordship of the rulers of

until the 12th century when the Atabegs of Mosul started asserting more control. The area was devastated by the Mongol invasions in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1210, during

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

rule, the al-Adil Minaret was constructed. The brick structure was built in the simple, Persian architectural style. It was further developed during the

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

period. It was restored during

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

's rule (1970-2000) and is one last historic architectural remains in the town. During Ottoman rule, the area was mostly inhabited by nomadic

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

tribes. In 1838, Maskanah was classified as a ruined village ("''khirba''") by Biblical scholar Eli Smith. The cultivable lands of the Aleppo Vilayet, including Maskanah, were confiscated in 1876 by Sultan Abdul Hamid II as his own personal property. The lands were later integrated back into the state as public property. In 1915 the town was visited by orientalist Alois Musil who mentions the town having barracks, a large '' khan'', and the residence of the head of the telegraph service. A year later, Maskanah became a major deportation route during the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

where an estimated 80,000 Armenians died. Under the French mandate, the town was the center of a ''

qadaa A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas continued to be used by some of the empire's succe ...

'', and served as a center for milk production and cattle merchants. In 1945 the village had 430 inhabitants. Maskanah nahiyah

On 3 June 2017, the city was captured by the Syrian Army from the

. The SDF took control of the town on 1 December 2024 following the withdrawal of the Syrian Army.

Tribes

The pre-Islamic Hadidin tribe is attested in the region of Maskanah through a tomb of Shaykh Hadid, a venerated ancestor of the tribe. After the Muslim conquest, the area was continuously inhabited by the Anizzah and

Banu Bakr The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il ( '), or simply Banu Bakr, today known as Bani Bakr is an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah, a branch of Adnanite tribe. It is registered as one of the oldest and most ancient Arab gatherings. The tribe is rep ...

tribes. The 17th and 18th centuries saw another wave of migration to the area by the Anizzah. Nowadays, the region is mostly composed of the Anizzah and

Shammar The tribe of Shammar () is a tribal Arab Qahtanite confederation, descended from the Tayy, which migrated into the northern Arabian Peninsula from Yemen in the second century. It is the largest branch of the Tayy, and one of the largest and mos ...

tribes.

Geography

The town lies on the left bank of the

in an area where the river bends eastwards due to a Pleistocene terrace. The town's distance to the river has varied over the years due to changes in the river's bed. Maskanah lies on the border between the

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...

to the south, and the northern fertile Manbij Plain.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{Aleppo Governorate, manbij Populated places in Manbij District Towns in Aleppo Governorate