Beit Jinn ( ar, بيت جن), also known as Bayt Jin, Beit Jann or Beyt Jene, is a town in southern
Syria, administratively part of the
Rif Dimashq Governorate
Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف دمشق, ', literally, the "Governorate of the Countryside of Damascus", Damascus Suburb) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the ...
, located southwest of
Damascus on the foothills of
Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of th ...
. According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Beit Jinn had a population of 2,846 in the 2004 census.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly
Sunni Muslims.
The town is the administrative center of the Beit Jinn Subdistrict, which consists of nine towns, with a combined population of 15,668.
The subdistrict has a mixed Sunni and Druze population and Beit Jinn contains a Druze religious shrine. Nearby localities include
Arnah to the north,
Darbal to the northeast,
Mazraat Beit Jinn to the east,
Harfa to the southeast, and
Hader to the southwest. The Nahr al-Awaj river (ancient
Pharpar) passes near the town.
History
Beit Jinn was visited by
Andalusian geographer
Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr (1 September 1145 – 29 November 1217; ar, ابن جبير), also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to M ...
in the late 12th century, during
Ayyubid rule. He noted that it was "a village between
Darayyah and
Baniyas lying among the hills."
In 1838, during
Ottoman rule,
Eli Smith noted Beit Jinn's population as being predominantly
Sunni Muslim.
In December 2017, according to the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the village was a source of fighting between the
Syrian Arab Armed Forces
The Syrian Arab Armed Forces ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْمُسَلَّحَةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ السُّورِيَّةُ, al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥah al-ʿArabīyah as-Sūrīyah) are the military forces of the Syrian Arab Re ...
and the
al-Qaeda-affiliated Levant Liberation Committee. Following the
Beit Jinn offensive of late 2017, the Syrian government took control of the area. The local rebels surrendered and were allowed to leave.
References
Bibliography
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Populated places in Qatana District
Towns in Syria
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