Al-Qubeir (Arabic: ; also referred to as Mazraat al-Qubeir, Qubair, Qubayr, al-Qubayr and al-Kubeir in various news reports) is a settlement in the

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حماة / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib Governorate, Idlib and Aleppo Governorates ...

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 ...

, near the larger village of

Maarzaf Ma'arzaf ( ar, معرزاف) is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Asilah to the west, Mahardah to the north, Khitab to the east and Umm al-Tuyur to the s ...

. Al-Qubeir is described as a

Sunni 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 disagr ...

farming enclave surrounded by

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 ...

villages in the central province of Hama. Al-Qubeir is around 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the city of

Hama , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , ar ...

with around 30 homes and had around 160 inhabitants. BBC News reports have described al-Qubeir as "just a few single-storey flat-roofed buildings set in the middle of golden corn fields" and as having "fewer than 30 houses". The settlement came to global attention in 2012 as the location of the

al-Qubeir massacre The Al-Qubeir massacre ( ar, مجزرة القبير), also known as the Hama massacre, occurred in the small village of Al-Qubeir near Hama, Syria, on 6 June 2012 during the country's ongoing civil conflict. Al-Qubeir is described as a Sunni ...

References

Populated places in Mahardah District {{HamaSY-geo-stub