The Queiq (

Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA) is the variety of Standard language, standardized, Literary language, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages al ...

: , ''Quwayq'', ; northern Syrian Arabic: ''ʾWēʾ'', ), with many variant spellings, it was known to the Greeks in antiquity as the Belus in (, ''Bēlos''), the Chalos and also known in English as the Aleppo River is an

endorheic An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

river and valley of the Aleppo Governorate, Syria and Turkey. It is a -long river that flows through the northern Syrian city of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

. It arises from the southern Aintab plateau in southeastern Turkey. The Akpınar River in the

Kilis Kilis is a city in southernmost Turkey, near the Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province and Kilis District. Its population is 112,187 (2022). On 6 February 2023 Kilis was badly affected by the tw ...

plain is one of the headwaters of the Queiq. The former town of

Qinnasrin Qinnašrīn (; ; ; ), was a historical town in northern Syria. The town was situated southwest of Aleppo on the west bank of the Queiq (historically, the Belus) and was connected to Aleppo with a major road during Roman times. Some scholars p ...

lay on its banks. It partly flows along the western rim of the Matah Depression. The valley has been occupied for thousands of years and in ancient times the Queiq valley was noted for its flint industries and pottery. The river dried up completely in the late 1960s, due to irrigation projects on the Turkish side of the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

. Recently, water from the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

has been diverted to revive the dead river, and thus revive agriculture in the plains south of Aleppo, but many Syrians remain bitter towards the Turks over their handling of the river. To revive the river and build irrigation, the Tal Hasel Water Pumping Station was opened in 2008 in rural Aleppo. The station was restored and made operational again in July 2022.

Queiq River Massacre

In late January 2013 during the Syrian civil war over 100 dead bodies were shored up from or floating in the river in rebel-held parts of Bustan al-Qasr district,

. They were typically found with hands tied behind their backs and having gunshot wounds in their heads with the tape across mouth. Nearly all the victims were in their twenties (not older than 30) who had recently crossed the border line from rebel-controlled neighbourhood into the government one. The blame for murders was widely put on

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

's regime as the bodies usually came downstream from the government controlled area. Between February and mid-March 2013, between 80 and 120 additional bodies were recovered from the river. Youssef Horan, a lawyer and activist, with his team of volunteers have gathered information on the murders at the time. The Syrian Institute for Justice headed at the time by Abdulkader Mandou, also investigated the case and held a press conference.

Gallery

File:Quweik flood Aleppo.jpg, The flood of Queiq River in February 1922 File:Aleppo 1950s.JPG, The river crossing the Aleppo Public Park in the 1950s File:Downtown Aleppo, Queik river at night.jpg, The river in 2010, downtown Aleppo File:Quweik river Aleppo.jpg, Queiq river in 2011

References

{{Rivers of Syria Aleppo Geography of Aleppo Governorate Rivers of Syria Rivers of Turkey International rivers of Asia Landforms of Adıyaman Province Violence against men in Asia