Tal Salhab ( ar, تل سلحب, also spelled Tal Selhab) is a town in the western center of Syria, administratively part of the

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حماة / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the south, Raqqa Governorate to t ...

, located northwest of

Hama Hama ( ar, حَمَاة ', ; syr, ܚܡܬ, ħ(ə)mɑθ, lit=fortress; Biblical Hebrew: ''Ḥamāṯ'') is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provinci ...

. It is situated on the southern edge of the Ghab plain and by the western bank of the

Orontes River The Orontes (; from Ancient Greek , ) or Asi ( ar, العاصي, , ; tr, Asi) is a river with a length of in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon, flowing northwards through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ in Turkey. ...

. Nearby localities include Nahr al-Bared, Asharnah and al-Suqaylabiyah to the north, Deir Shamil and Deir Mama to the south, Tremseh, Mhardeh and Halfaya to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Tell Salhab had a population of 15,454 in the 2004 census. It is also the center of a ''

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"), part of the Al-Suqaylabiyah District, consisting of 18 localities and with a combined population of 38,783 in 2004.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. In the early 1960s its population was around 700. Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites. The town was the traditional seat of the Jnaid clan, which typically provided the leaders of the Alawite Kalbiyya confederation. In 1978 a sugar refinery was built in Tell Salhab at a cost of $50 million. The refinery complex boasted a sugar beet silo, a washing plant, pulp presses and dryers, and a water reservoir.

Archaeological excavations

Near Tell Salhab is located ''Tell 'Acharneh'', a large mound which is believed to be the location of the ancient city of

Tunip Tunip was a city-state in western Syria in 1350–1335 BC, the period of the Amarna letters. The name "Syria" did not yet exist, though this was already the time of ancient Assyria. The regions were: Amurru, Nuhašše, the Amqu (the Beqaa), ...

. Archaeological excavations have been ongoing at the site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tell Salhab Populated places in al-Suqaylabiyah District Towns in Hama Governorate Alawite communities in Syria