Kafr Nabl ( ar, كَفْرنَبِل, Kafr Nabil, also spelled Kafranbel or Kafr Nabil) is a town administratively belonging to the
Idlib Governorate and
Ma'arrat al-Numan District
Maarat al-Numaan District ( ar-at, منطقة معرة النعمان, mantiqah, manṭiqat Maʿarrat al-Nuʿmān) is a Districts of Syria, district of the Idlib Governorate in northwestern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Maarat al ...
in northwestern
Syria. It is situated above sea level. In the 2004 census by the
Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics Kafr Nabl had a population of 15,455. In the early 1960s it had a population of about 1,200. Kafr Nabl's inhabitants are predominantly
Sunni Muslims.
History
Kafr Nabl is located on an ancient
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
dead city, and is surrounded by some of the most important
Dead Cities
The Dead Cities ( ar, المدن الميتة) or Forgotten Cities ( ar, المدن المنسية) are a group of 700 abandoned settlements in northwest Syria between Aleppo and Idlib. Around 40 villages grouped in eight archaeological parks sit ...
, such as
Serjilla
Serjilla ( ar, سيرجيلة) is one of the best preserved of the Dead Cities in northwestern Syria, containing about 700 sites. It is located in the Jebel Riha, approximately 65 km north from Hama and 80 km southwest from Aleppo, ve ...
, Shanshrah, and
al-Bara.
Prior to the
Syrian civil war, Kafr Nabl was Syria's largest producer of figs and a major producer of olives. About 3,700
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
s, or 778,000 trees were used for fig cultivation. Roughly 60% of the population were employed in the production and natural processing of the fruit. Farmers in Kafr Nabl usually dedicated around 80% of their cultivation time to the production of figs and 20% for olives.
Since the civil war, the town has gained fame for producing satirical videos about the war. It belonged to an area controlled by the
Army of Conquest.
Planes of the
Russian Air Force, based in
Latakia, had begun to attack the city in the autumn of 2015.
On November 23, 2018, activist
Raed Fares and journalist Hamoud Junaid were killed in Kafr Nabl, by an unknown gunman.
Most of the town's remaining inhabitants fled in early 2019, due to the violence that erupted during the
2019 Northwestern Syria offensive. Shortly thereafter, the rebel groups in control of the town received a "stark warning" from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, which accused them of using it to stage alleged false-flag chemical attacks against the Syrian government, as well as a launching ground for missiles targeting government-controlled areas in violation of the
Idlib demilitarization agreement. On 21 July 2019, the local council of the rebel-held town declared that "everything
n the townhad been destroyed and burnt" as a result of clashes and government airstrikes targeting rebel positions within it.
On February 25, 2020, the Syrian Army reimposed control on Kafr Nabl for the first time since 2012 during the
2019–20 Northwestern Syria offensive and repulsed rebel attempts to re-take it during their counterattack.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*Al-Ubeidu, Ahmed
Old Mosques in Kafr Nabl From Several Civilizations ''E-Idleb''. E-Syria. 2011-01-26.
{{Idlib Governorate, maara
Populated places in Maarat al-Numan District
Towns in Syria
Archaeological sites in Idlib Governorate
Populated places in Jabal Zawiya