Sawran ( ar, صوران, Ṣawrān), also spelled Suran, Souran or Sawwaran, is a town in northern

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( ar, محافظة حلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the ...

, northwestern Syria. Located north of the city of

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, it is the administrative centre of Nahiya Sawran in

Azaz District Azaz District ( ar, منطقة أعزاز, manṭiqat A'zāz) is a district of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Azaz. At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 251,769. The district lies ...

. Nearby localities include

A'zaz Azaz ( ar, أَعْزَاز, ʾAʿzāz) is a city in northwest Syria, roughly north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census.

and Kafra to the west,

Ihtaimlat Ihtimillet ( ar, احتملات, Iḩtimillet) or Ihtaimlat ( ar, إحتيملات, Iḩtaymilāt), also spelled ''Ihtaymilat'', ''Ahtaymalat'' or ''Hetemlat'', is a town in northern Aleppo Governorate, northwestern Syria. Located some north of th ...

and Dabiq to the east and

Mare' Mare' ( ar, مارع ''Māriʿ'', locally pronounced ''Mēreʿ''), also spelled Marea, is a town in northern Aleppo Governorate, northwestern Syria. It is the largest town and administrative centre of the Mare' nahiyah in the Azaz District. Locate ...

to the south. In the 2004 census, Sawran had a population of 6,988. Sawran nahiyah

History

Sawran's history dates back to the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

when it was an

Aramaean The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

settlement in the Kingdom of

Bit Adini Bit Adini, a city or region of Syria, called sometimes ''Bit Adini'' in Assyrian sources, was an Aramaean state that existed as an independent kingdom during the 10th and 9th centuries BC, with its capital at Til Barsib (now Tell Ahmar). The city ...

known as "Surunu." In a military campaign against Bit Adini's king Ahuni, the

Neo-Assyrian The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

king

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campai ...

raided and captured Surunu. It later came under the rule of Assyrian king

Tiglath Pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, Tig ...

. During the

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 ...

era in Syria, Sawran was inhabited by the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

tribe of

Tanukh The Tanûkhids ( ar, التنوخيون, transl=al-Tanūḫiyyūn) or Tanukh ( ar, تنوخ, translit=Tanūḫ) or Banū Tanūkh (, romanized as: ) were a confederation of Arab tribes, sometimes characterized as Saracens. They first rose to prom ...

. Before the

Muslim conquest The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He esta ...

it served an

Arab Christian Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who l ...

center and contained a fortified monastery. During early

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic rule, Sawran was part of

Jund Qinnasrin ''Jund Qinnasrīn'' ( ar, جُـنْـد قِـنَّـسْـرِيْـن, "military district of Qinnasrin") was one of five sub-provinces of Syria under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, organized soon after the Muslim conquest of Syria in t ...

("Military District of

Chalcis Chalcis ( ; Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: , ) or Chalkida, also spelled Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief town of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...

"), part of the larger

Bilad al-Sham Bilad al-Sham ( ar, بِلَاد الشَّام, Bilād al-Shām), often referred to as Islamic Syria or simply Syria in English-language sources, was a province of the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates. It roughly correspon ...

province.

Syrian civil war

During the Syrian civil war, the town saw two massacres of pro-opposition civilians by pro-government regular and irregular forces: on 20 May 2012 (37 civilian casualties) and on 8 February 2018 (30 civilian casualties). The

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ' ...

(ISIL) took control of the town on 31 May 2015. On 16 October 2016, Turkish-backed rebels captured the town from ISIL.السيطرة على دابق تقضي على أهم ذرائع تنظيم “الدولة الإسلامية”.
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References

Bibliography

* * * {{Aleppo Governorate, azaz Populated places in Azaz District