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Qardaha ( ar, القَرْدَاحَة /
ALA-LC ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...
: ''Qardāḥah'') is a town in northwestern
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 ...
, in the mountains overlooking the coastal town of
Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...
. Nearby localities include
Kilmakho , native_name = كلماخو , nickname = , settlement_type = Village , motto = , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , fla ...
to the west,
Bustan al-Basha Bustan al-Basha ( ar, بستان الباشا, also spelled Bistan al-Basha; translation: "the Governor's Garden") is a village located along the Mediterranean coastline in northern Syria, part of the Latakia Governorate. It is situated southeast o ...
to the southwest,
Harf al-Musaytirah Harf al-Musaytirah ( ar, حرف المسيترة) is a Syrian village in the Qardaha District in Latakia Governorate Latakia Governorate, also transliterated as Ladhakia Governorate, ( ar, مُحافظة اللاذقية / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓa ...
to the southeast and
Muzayraa Muzayraa ( ar, مزيرعة, Mzera'a or Mazirah) is a town in northwestern Syria administratively part of the Latakia Governorate, located east of Latakia. Nearby localities include Difa and Hanadi to the west, al-Jandiriyah to the northwest, a ...
to the north. According to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics, Qardaha had a population of 8,671 in 2004.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Latakia Governorate.
It has a predominantly
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 Isla ...
population and is the traditional home of the
al-Assad family The al-Assad family ( ar, عَائِلَة الْأَسَد '), also known as the Assad dynasty, has ruled Syria since General Hafez al-Assad became President of Syria in 1971 under the Ba'ath Party. After his death, in June 2000, he was succee ...
, which has ruled Syria since the 1970 Corrective Movement.
Syrian President The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: رئيس سوريا) is the head of state of the Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discretion, to ...
Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 197 ...
, who ruled from 1970 to 2000, was born in Qardaha. Under Assad, the government poured massive investments into Qardaha, Latakia and the surrounding region. Qardaha has many luxurious villas. A major statue of Hafez al-Assad is found in the town center, and a huge mausoleum containing the graves of
Bassel al-Assad Bassel al-Assad ( ar, بَاسِلُ حَافِظِ ٱلْأَسَدِ, translit=Bāsil Ḥāfiẓ al-ʾAsad; 23 March 1962 – 21 January 1994) was a Syrian engineer, colonel, equestrian and politician who was the eldest son of Syrian Presiden ...
and Hafez al-Assad is also located there.
Hasan al-Khayer Hasan al-Khayer (died 1980) ( ar, حسن الخيّر) was a Syrian poet born in Qardaha, Syria. He was known for his abomination of sectarianism and for his altruism. He was a candid voice of patriotism. His most famous work is a poem called '' Wh ...
was also born in Qardaha.


Climate and geography

Qardaha has a
hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
( Köppen climate classification: ''Csa''). Qardaha is in a mountainous area, but its altitude is only between 350 and 500 meters. It is in a beautiful forested area. Qardaha has much rainfall. The average high temperature in July is 29 °C, and in January is 7 °C. There is nearly 828 mm of rainfall annually and three days of snow in January. The climate and nature in Qerdaha favour agriculture, and there are apple and orange plantations and tobacco farms.
''Source #3'' Climate Zone (Rainy and snowy days) 


History

The Aramaic meaning of Qardaha is the first village. The name of Qardaha is Phoenician and means "the place that manufactures, and sharpens the weapons". Several of the villages and places situated in the Coastal Mountain Range have names that were originally Phoenician. It is said among the Circassian people of Syria that the town of Qardaha was actually founded by Circassians during the time of the
Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...
sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri. Evidence for this can be seen by the large number of Circassians that live in the town and the entire Alawite Mountain region. There is even a street named Cherkess Street as well as a large family of the same name. Qardaha in the Circassian language means "Welcome". The residents of Qardaha descended from the
Kalbiyya The Kalbiyya, ( ar, القلبية) Qalbiyya are one of four tribes, or tribal confederations, of the Alawite community in Syria. Syrian Presidents Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad are from the Kalbiyya. Alawite background The Kalbi ...
tribal confederation and the town served as the confederation's principle center. During the late Ottoman era, between 1840 and 1880, tensions between the authorities and the Alawite tribes of the coastal mountains increased sharply. In 1854 the Ottoman governor of the Latakia Sanjak ("Latakia District") was killed in armed confrontation between the authorities and members of the Qardaha-based tribe. This emboldened the Kalbiyya fighters, who proceeded to launch more raids against Ottoman positions, which the authorities responded to harshly. Fear of attracting the attention and subjugation of the authorities, and to avoid taxation and military conscription, was one of the reasons many of the Alawite
fellahin A fellah ( ar, فَلَّاح ; feminine ; plural ''fellaheen'' or ''fellahin'', , ) is a peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller". ...
("peasants") who lived in the vicinity of Qardaha, opted not to establish an agglomeration of settlement. Until the present day, Qardaha is surrounded by scattered rural hamlets. The town formerly had a significant Christian population until the mid to late 20th-century, when most Christian families left for the major coastal cities. In 1970 Qardaha was given city status, along with
al-Shaykh Badr Al-Shaykh Badr ( ar, الشيخ بدر, also spelled ''Sheikh Bader'') is a city in Syria, administratively belonging to Tartus Governorate. Al-Shaykh Badr has an altitude of 536 meters. As of 2008, it had a population of 47,982. Its inhabitants ...
and Duraykish. Together they made up around 6% of the total urban population of the two coastal governorates, Latakia and
Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche  Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard  Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...
. The three towns were also designated the seats of newly formed
districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
(''
mantiqah Minṭaqah ( ; plural ''manāṭiq'' ) is a first-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia and Chad and for a second-level administrative division in several other Arab countries. It is often translated as ''region'' or ''district'', but th ...
'') centered around them. According to French anthropologist
Fabrice Balanche Fabrice Balanche (born November 3, 1969 in Belfort, France) is a geographer and specialist in the political geography of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the Middle East in general. Biography In 2000, he defended his thesis The Alaouites, space and power ...
, the Ba'athist government which gained power in the 1960s, displayed a degree of favoritism for the three towns, all of which were Alawite, and Qardaha specifically. She particularly pointed to the fact that the subdistricts (''
nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'') of
al-Qadmus Al-Qadmus ( ar, القدموس, also spelled al-Qadmous or Cadmus) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located northeast of Tartus and southeast of Baniyas. Nearby localities include Kaff al-Jaa and ...
and Mashta al-Helu, predominantly Ismaili and Christian, respectively, were slated to become districts when each of their populations passed the 60,000 threshold, although the subdistricts of Qardaha, al-Shaykh Badr and Duraykish all had less than 40,000 inhabitants. In early October 2012 during the Syrian civil war, Mohammad Assad, cousin of President
Bashar Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
and leader of the local Shabiha, was wounded after a gunfight in the town with member of the rival Alawite Khayyir clan. This was sparked by a discussion about the earlier detention at Damascus airport of Abdel-Aziz Khayyer, a Qardaha native and member of the latter clan. On 24 April 2013, the village was attacked with a barrage of rockets launched by rebels. In early August 2013 in a surprise offensive, rebel fighters advanced south to the outskirts of the village of Aramo, 20 km. (12 miles) from Qardaha. One of the attackers stated "The objective is to reach Qardaha and hurt them like they are hurting us."


References

{{Authority control Populated places in Qardaha District Alawite communities in Syria