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Safita
Safita ( ar, صَافِيتَا '; phn, 𐤎𐤐𐤕𐤄, ''Sōpūte'') is a city in the Tartous Governorate, northwestern Syria, located to the southeast of Tartous and to the northwest of Krak des Chevaliers. It is situated on the tops of three hills and the valleys between them, in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Safita had a population of 20,301 in the 2004 census. Geography Safita is situated at the southeastern end of the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range. It is southeast of the Mediterranean port city of Tartus and northwest of Homs. The average elevation of Safita is above sea level, while the Crusader fortress stands about . History Safita is located on a site where remains of the Phoenician settlement were discovered. The archaeological remains at the site of Tell Kazel were identified as the Phoenician city of Sumur mentioned in the Amarna letters. Crusader era Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse founded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Safita District
Safita District ( ar-at, منطقة صافيتا, manṭiqat Ṣāfītā) is a district of the Tartus Governorate in northwestern Syria. Administrative centre is the city of Safita Safita ( ar, صَافِيتَا '; phn, 𐤎𐤐𐤕𐤄, ''Sōpūte'') is a city in the Tartous Governorate, northwestern Syria, located to the southeast of Tartous and to the northwest of Krak des Chevaliers. It is situated on the tops of .... At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 129,632. Sub-districts The district of Safita is divided into six sub-districts or nawāḥī (population as of 2004): * Safita Subdistrict (ناحية صافيتا): population 60,172. * Mashta al-Helu Subdistrict (ناحية مشتى الحلو): population 12,577. * Al-Bariqiyah Subdistrict (ناحية البارقية): population 7,336. * Sebei Subdistrict (ناحية سبة): population 7,614. * Al-Sisiniyah Subdistrict (ناحية السيسنية): population 22,018. * Ras al-Khashufah Subdis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chastel Blanc
Chastel Blanc ( ar, برج صافيتا, Burj Safita or Safita Tower) is a medieval structure in Safita, western Syria. It was built by the Knights Templar during the Crusades upon prior fortifications. Located on the middle hill of Safita's three hills, it offers a commanding view of the surrounding countryside, and was a major part of the network of Crusader fortifications in the area. From the roof, a view ranging see from the Mediterranean Sea to the snow-covered mountains of Lebanon, and County of Tripoli, is offered. From Chastel Blanc it would have been possible to see the Templar strongholds at Tartus and Ruad Island to the northwest, Chastel Rouge on the coastline to the southwest, Akkar to the south, and Krak des Chevaliers (the headquarters of the Syrian Knights Hospitallers) to the southeast. History The region was initially controlled by the Crusaders by 1110, and was mentioned the first time in an Arab chronicle in 1112. The Knights Templar built a dungeon after 1117 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tartous Governorate
Tartus Governorate, also transliterated as Tartous Governorate, ( ar, مُحافظة طرطوس / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ṭarṭūs'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western Syria, bordering Latakia Governorate to the north, Homs and Hama Governorates to the east, Lebanon to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. It is one of the few governorates in Syria that has an Alawite majority. Sources list the area as 1,890 km² or 1,892 km², with its capital being Tartus. History The governorate was historically part of the Alawite State, which existed from 1920–1936.Longrigg, Stephen Hemsley. "Syria and Lebanon Under French Mandate." London: Oxford University Press, 1958. It was formerly part of Latakia governorate, but was split off circa 1972. The region has been relatively peaceful during the Syrian civil war, being a generally pro-Assad region that had remained under government control. However in 2013 massacres against Sunni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sayfa Dynasty
Yusuf Sayfa Pasha ( ar, يوسف سيفا باشا, Yūsuf Sayfā Pāsha; – 22 July 1625) was a chieftain and ''multazim'' (tax farmer) in the Tripoli region who frequently served as the Ottoman ''beylerbey'' (provincial governor) of Tripoli Eyalet between 1579 and his death. Yusuf or his family may have been Kurdish or Turkmen ''levends'' (tribal irregulars) from Marash and were established in Tripoli's vicinity by at least the 1510s–1520s. He became a ''multazim'' in Akkar subordinate to the Assaf chieftains of the Keserwan for most of his career until his promotion to the rank of pasha and appointment as Tripoli's first ''beylerbey'' in 1579. Hostilities consequently ensued with the Assafs, ending with Yusuf's assassination of their last chieftain in 1591 and his confiscation of their tax farms. His takeover of the Keserwan and Beirut prompted his first confrontation with Fakhr al-Din II, the Druze chieftain and ''sanjak-bey'' (district governor) of Sidon-Beirut in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maan Family
The Ma'n dynasty ( ar, ٱلْأُسْرَةُ ٱلْمَعْنِيَّةُ, Banū Maʿn, alternatively spelled ''Ma'an''), also known as the Ma'nids; ( ar, ٱلْمَعْنِيُّونَ), were a family of Druze chiefs of Arab stock based in the rugged Chouf area of southern Mount Lebanon who were politically prominent in the 15th–17th centuries. Traditional Lebanese histories date the family's arrival in the Chouf to the 12th century, when they were held to have struggled against the Crusader lords of Beirut and Sidon alongside their Druze allies, the Tanukh Buhturids. They may have been part of a wider movement by the Muslim rulers of Damascus to settle militarized Arab tribesmen in Mount Lebanon as a buffer against the Crusader strongholds along the Levantine coast. Fakhr al-Din Uthman ibn Yunus Ma'n (), the first member of the family whose historicity is certain, was the "emir of the Chouf", according to contemporary sources and, despite the non-use of mosques by the Druze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tartus
) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium Citadel of Tartus , image_seal = Emblem of Tartus.svg , seal_size = 60px , mapsize1 = TarusSeadefence.jpg , pushpin_map = Syria#Mediterranean east#Asia , pushpin_label_position = bottom , pushpin_mapsize = 250 , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Syria , pushpin_relief = 1 , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Governorate , subdivision_name1 = Tartus Governorate , subdivision_type2 = District , subdivision_name2 = Tartus District , subdivision_type3 = Subdistrict , subdivision_name3 = Tartus Subdistrict , leader_title = Governor , leader_name = Abdel Halim Khalil , est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chastel Rouge
Chastel Rouge, also called Qal’at Yahmur ( ar, قلعة يحمور, Castle of Yahmur) is a small Crusader stronghold in the North West of Syria that belonged to the County of Tripoli. It is also identified as Castrum Rubrum mentioned in Latin texts. The castle stands in the village of Yahmur, at 12 kilometres' distance from Tartus and 10 kilometres from Safita, where the Tortosa and Chastel Blanc Crusader castles can be found. History Little is known about the capture and early development of the place by the Crusaders. This is because it was a castle of secondary importance, and also to some doubts in identifying the castle in medieval sources. However, it was granted by Tancred to Pons, Count of Tripoli in 1112. Later on, the stronghold seems to be in the hands of a Frankish family, the Montolieu, vassals of the Counts of Tripoli. Thus, it was part of the network of castles defending the County, for example Crac des Chevaliers, Chastel Blanc and Areimeh. In 1177/78, Raymond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tell Kazel
Tell Kazel ( ar, تل الكزل, translit=Tall al-Kazil) is an oval-shaped tell that measures at its base, narrowing to at its top. It is located in the Safita district of the Tartus Governorate in Syria in the north of the Akkar plain on the north of the al-Abrash river approximately south of Tartus. Links to ancient Sumur The tell was first surveyed in 1956 after which a lengthy discussion was opened by Maurice Dunand and Nassib Saliby identifying the site with the ancient city variously named Sumur, Simyra or Zemar (Egyptian ''Smr'' Akkadian ''Sumuru'' or Assyrian ''Simirra''). The ancient city is mentioned in the Bible, Book of Genesis () and 1 Chronicles () as the home of the Zemarites, an offshoot of the Caananites. It was a major trade center and appears in the Amarna letters; Ahribta is named as its ruler. It was under the guardianship of Rib-Hadda, king of Byblos, but revolted against him and joined Abdi-Ashirta's expanding kingdom of Amurru. Pro-Egyptian factio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tartous
) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium Citadel of Tartus , image_seal = Emblem of Tartus.svg , seal_size = 60px , mapsize1 = TarusSeadefence.jpg , pushpin_map = Syria#Mediterranean east#Asia , pushpin_label_position = bottom , pushpin_mapsize = 250 , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Syria , pushpin_relief = 1 , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Governorate , subdivision_name1 = Tartus Governorate , subdivision_type2 = District , subdivision_name2 = Tartus District , subdivision_type3 = Subdistrict , subdivision_name3 = Tartus Subdistrict , leader_title = Governor , leader_name = Abdel Halim Khalil , estab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Districts Of Syria
The 14 governorates of Syria, or ''muhafazat'' (sing. ''muhafazah''), are divided into 65 districts, or ''manatiq'' (sing. ''mintaqah''), including the city of Damascus. The districts are further divided into 281 subdistricts, or ''nawahi'' (sing. ''nahiya''). Each district bears the same name as its district capital. Districts and subdistricts are administered by officials appointed by the governor, subject to the approval of the minister of the interior. These officials work with elected district councils to attend to assorted local needs, and serve as intermediaries between central government authority and traditional local leaders, such as village chiefs, clan leaders, and councils of elders. List of districts The 65 districts are listed below by governorate (with capital districts in bold text). The city of Damascus functions as a governorate, a district and a subdistrict. Parts of Quneitra Governorate have been under Israeli occupation since 1967 (see Golan Heights). Cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Of Tripoli
The County of Tripoli (1102–1289) was the last of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant in the modern-day region of Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria which supported an indigenous population of Christians, Druze and Muslims. When the Frankish Crusaders – mostly southern French forces – captured the region in 1109, Bertrand of Toulouse became the first count of Tripoli as a vassal of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. From that time, the rule of the county was decided not strictly by inheritance but by factors such as military force (external and civil war), favour and negotiation. In 1289 the County of Tripoli fell to Sultan Qalawun of the Muslim Mamluks of Cairo. The county was absorbed into Mamluk Egypt. Capture by Christian forces Raymond IV of Toulouse was one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the crusaders.Tyerman C"God's war – a new history of the crusades"Harvard University Press. February, 2009. Even so, after the First Crusade, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad and ancient Greek philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Zeno of Citium. Adherents of the Druze religion call themselves " the Monotheists" or "the Unitarians" (''al-Muwaḥḥidūn''). The Epistles of Wisdom is the foundational and central text of the Druze faith. The Druze faith incorporates elements of Isma'ilism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Pythagoreanism, and other philosophies and beliefs, creating a distinct and secretive theology based on an esoteric interpretation of scripture, which emphasizes the role of the mind and truthfulness. Druze believe in theophany and reincarnation. Druze believe that at the end of the cycle of rebirth, which is achie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
