Ma'an ( ar, معان, also spelled Maan) is a town in northern

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

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 ...

, located north of

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

. Nearby localities include

Suran The Survivable Radio Network (SURAN) project was sponsored by DARPA in the 1980s to develop a set of mobile ad hoc network (MANET) radio-routers, then known as "packet radios". It was a follow-on to DARPA's earlier PRNET project. The program began ...

to the southwest, Murik to the northwest, al-Tamaanah to the north, Atshan to the northeast, Tuleisa to the east,

Fan al-Shamali Fan Shamali ( ar, فان شمالي, also spelled ''al-Fan Ashamali'' or ''Fan esh-Shemali'') is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northeast of Hama. Nearby localities include Suran and Kawkab to t ...

to the southeast and Kawkab to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Ma'an had a population of 1,561 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites.Jihadists take large part of Syria Alawite village: activists
'' The Daily Star''. Originally published by ''

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

''. 2012-12-24. In late December 2012, during the Syrian civil war, Islamist rebel fighters from the

al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

took over large parts of the town as part of a wider offensive in the

. During the battle, 11 rebels and 20

Syrian Army " (''Guardians of the Homeland'') , colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive * Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki , anniversaries = August 1st , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War Six ...

soldiers were killed. It was the site of the

Maan massacre The Maan massacre was a reported massacre of Alawites in the village of Ma'an, Syria on 9 February 2014. Events On 9 February 2014, rebels of the Jund al-Aqsa group attacked and captured the Alawite village of Maan, in Hama province, killing ...

in 2014. On October 13, 2016 the town was liberated by the Syrian Arab Army.

References

{{Hama Governorate, hama Populated places in Hama District Alawite communities in Syria