Al-Kafr ( ar, الكفر, also spelled ''al-Kefr'') is a village in as-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria. It is located 8 km to the southeast of

as-Suwayda As-Suwayda ( ar, ٱلسُّوَيْدَاء / ALA-LC romanization: ''as-Suwaydāʾ''), also spelled ''Sweida'' or ''Swaida'', is a mainly Druze city located in southwestern Syria, close to the border with Jordan. It is the capital of As-Suwayda ...

. It is known for its forest and good wine, and it was the site of a number of battles during the 19th and 20th centuries. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Kafr had a population of 7,458 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. Modern-day al-Kafr was settled by Druze coming from other areas in central Ottoman Syria between 1857 and 1860, at a time when the Druze sheikh

Ismail al-Atrash Ismail al-Atrash () (died November 1869) was the preeminent Druze sheikh (chieftain) of Jabal Hauran, a mountainous region southeast of Damascus, in the mid-19th century. His family had moved to the area in the early 19th century. As relative newco ...

was becoming the preeminent force of the Jabal al-Druze area over his Druze rivals in the Hamdan clan. Druze settlement in al-Kafr and other villages, like Najran, on the southern borders of the

Lajat The Lajat (/ ALA-LC: ''al-Lajāʾ''), also spelled ''Lejat'', ''Lajah'', ''el-Leja'' or ''Laja'', is the largest lava field in southern Syria, spanning some 900 square kilometers. Located about southeast of Damascus, the Lajat borders the Hau ...

plain, the Druze were able to encircle the Sulut Bedouin tribe that had dominated the area previously. Al-Kafr was one of two villages (the other being

Qanawat Qanawat ( ar, قَنَوَات, Qanawāt) is a village in Syria, located 7 km north-east of al-Suwayda. It stands at an elevation of about 1,200 m, near a river and surrounded by woods. Its inhabitants are entirely from the Druze comm ...

) that put up armed resistance to the 30-battalion-strong force assembled by the Ottoman governor Sami Pasha al-Faruqi to suppress the

Hauran Druze Rebellion The Hauran Druze Rebellion was a violent Druze uprising against Ottoman authority in the Syrian province, which erupted in 1909. The rebellion was led by the al-Atrash family, in an aim to gain independence, but ended in brutal suppression of th ...

, led by Zuqan al-Atrash, against the government. The Druze sheikhs ultimately surrendered to the government. During French Mandatory rule, on 22 July 1925, al-Kafr became the site of the

Battle of al-Kafr The Battle of al-Kafr was a military engagement between a French Army column commanded by Captain Gabriel Normand and the local Druze and Bedouin forces of Sultan al-Atrash on 22 July 1925. It occurred at Normand's encampment at the village of a ...

, in which the forces of Sultan al-Atrash routed a French army column sent to defeat Sultan's men at

Salkhad Salkhad ( ar, صَلْخَد, Ṣalḫad) is a Syrian city in the As-Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one of the governorate's three districts. It has a population of 15,000 inhabitants. It is located ...

. The battle essentially precipitated the countrywide Great Syrian Revolt against French rule.Firro 1992, pp
285
��286.

References

Bibliography

External links

Map of the town
Google Maps {{DEFAULTSORT:Kafr Populated places in as-Suwayda District Druze communities in Syria