Al-Bayda ( ar, ٱلْبَيْضَاء, al-Bayḍāʾ, also spelled al-Beida) is a village in northwestern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, administratively part of the

Tartus 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 ...

, located north of

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&n ...

. Nearby localities include

Baniyas Baniyas ( ar, بَانِيَاس ') is a Mediterranean coastal city in Tartous Governorate, northwestern Syria, located south of Latakia (ancient Laodicea) and north of Tartous (ancient Tortosa). It is known for its citrus fruit orchards an ...

to the north, Kharibah to the east and

Maten al-Sahel Maten al-Sahel ( ar, متن الساحل), also known as Maten Arnouk ( ar, متن عرنوق‎), is a village in Tartus Governorate, northwestern Syria Originally named for the prominent Arnouk family land owners, the Syrian government renamed ...

to the south. It is situated just east of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Bayda had a population of 5,783 in the 2004 census, making it the second largest locality in the Baniyas ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' ("subdistrict") after the city of Baniyas.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Idlib Governorate. The inhabitants al-Bayda are predominantly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

s with a Christian minority, and together with Baniyas,

Basatin al-Assad Basatin al-Assad () is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located north of Tartus. Nearby localities include Baniyas to the north, Kharibeh to the southeast and al-Bayda to the south. It is situate ...

and

Marqab Margat, also known as Marqab ( ar, قلعة المرقب, ''Qalaat al-Marqab'', lit=Castle of the Watchtower), is a castle near Baniyas, Syria, which was a Crusader fortress and one of the major strongholds of the Knights Hospitaller. It is loc ...

, the villages form a Sunni-inhabited area amid the largely

Alawite The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...

-inhabited heartland. During the Syrian civil war, al-Bayda fell under the control of anti-Assad elements. In May 2013 the village was subjected to government bombardment that reportedly left over 100 dead, including the town's mayor and his family. According to main opposition group, a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

took place on 2 May, committed by government and pro-government forces. "Syrian troops, backed by gunmen from nearby Alawite villages, swept into the village, torched homes and used knives, guns and blunt objects to kill people in the streets."Surk, Barbara
Assad regime accused of massacre of 50 Sunni villagers
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. 2013-05-04.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baydah Populated places in Baniyas District