Sabburah ( ar, صبورة) is a town in northern
Syria, administratively part of the
Hama Governorate, located east of
Hama and 25 kilometers northeast of
Salamiyah, on the western edge of the
Syrian Desert. Nearby localities include
Aqarib to the south,
Mabujah to the southeast and
Khunayfis and
al-Saan
Al-Sa'an ( ar, السعن, also spelled ''as-Si'in'' and also known as Sa'n al-Shajara) is a Syrian town located in the al-Sa'an Subdistrict in Salamiyah District, located in the Syrian Desert, 50 kilometers northeast of Salamiyah and northeast of ...
to the northeast.
According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Sabburah had a population of 7,141 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the Sabburah ''
nahiyah
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 ...
'' ("subdistrict") which consisted of 19 localities with a collective population of 21,900 in 2004.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly
Alawites
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 Isl ...
.
Sabburah was founded in the 1860s by Ismaili migrants from other parts of northern Syria who chose the place because of worsening economic conditions in the interior parts of Syria, the low taxes that living in the
Syrian Desert fringes offered, and the place's proximity to the Ismaili center of Salamiyah. The settlement struggled to thrive, however, due to threats from the
Bedouin tribesmen who inhabited the area.
Sabburah has a high-frequency station for international radio service.
References
{{Hama Governorate, salamiyah
1860s establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Alawite communities in Syria
Populated places established in the 1860s
Populated places in Salamiyah District
Towns in Hama Governorate