Al-Qusayr ( ar, القصير, al-Quṣayr, ,

Literary Arabic Literary Arabic (Arabic: ' ) may refer to: * Classical Arabic * Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of Standard language, standardized, Literary ...

: ) is a city in western

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 ...

, administratively part of the

Homs Governorate Homs Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حمص / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. Its area differs in various sources, from to . It is thus geographical ...

. It is located about south of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

and is situated in a mountainous area overlooking Syria's

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

with

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

which lies to the southwest. Nearby localities include

Rablah Rablah ( ar, ربلة; also spelled Rableh, Ribla or Ribleh) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Just east of the border with Lebanon, nearby localities include al-Nizariyah to the s ...

and Zira'a to the south, Jandar further to the east,

al-Dabaah Al-Dabaah ( ar, الضبعة, also spelled Daba'a) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Nearby localities include Arjoun to the west, Kafr Mousa and al-Ghassaniyah to the northwes ...

to the northeast,

Arjoun Arjoun ( ar, عرجون, Arjūn, also spelled Arcun or Arjoon), is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Nearby localities include Aqrabiyah to the southwest, al-Qusayr to the southea ...

to the northwest and

Aqrabiyah Aqrabiyah ( ar, العقربية, also spelled Akrabieh or Aqrabieh; also known as al-Buwaydah al-Gharbiyah) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs and immediately east and north of t ...

to the west. Al-Qusayr has an altitude of . A Muslim majority city with a significant Christian minority, al-Qusayr had a population of 29,818 in 2004 according to the Syrian census. In addition to being capital of the

al-Qusayr District Al-Qusayr District ( ar-at, منطقة القصير, manṭiqat al-Qusair) is a district of the Homs Governorate in central Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Al-Qusayr. At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 107,470. ...

, it is also the administrative center of the al-Qusayr ''

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 60 localities with a collective population of 107,470 in 2004.

History

Al-Qusayr is the closest modern-day city to the ancient walled hilltop city of Qadesh (now the ruins known as '' Tell Nebi Mend'', ( ft)) named for the idol worshipped by the ancients at the time and which sits north and above the plain east of the river where historians place the largest known chariot vs. chariot battle in antiquity, the

Battle of Qadash The Battle of Kadesh or Battle of Qadesh took place between the forces of the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs near the moder ...

, May 1274 BC between the forces of

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...

's Egypt and the

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n Empire of the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

Muwatalli II :''See also Muwatalli I'' Muwatalli II (also Muwatallis, or Muwatallish) was a king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite empire c. 1295–1282 (middle chronology) and 1295–1272 BC in the short chronology. Biography He was the eldest son of Mursil ...

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, ...

geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...

visited the town in the early 13th-century, during

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...

rule, and noted al-Qusayr was located north of Damascus, was surrounded by gardens and possessed an extensive ''khan'' (

caravansary A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

.) During the Khedivate Egyptian conquest of the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

in 1832, Ibrahim Pasha, the leader of the campaign, was hosted in al-Qusayr. Following his army's withdrawal, several

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian families remained in the town because of its climate and abundant agriculture. Olives, apples, apricots, wheat, barley and potatoes were grown in the area.Yusef, Danny
The City of al-Qusayr - Daughter of the Orontes
''E-Homs''. E-Syria. 27 December 2008.

2011–2013 Syrian civil war

Some of al-Qusayr's inhabitants participated in the 2011–2013 Syrian civil war against the government of

Bashar al-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 ...

. The town became the destination for a number of defectors from the

Syrian Army " (''Guardians of the Homeland'') , colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive * Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki , anniversaries = August 1st , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War Six ...

. Between the start of the rebellion in April 2011 and 13 February 2012, at least 70 residents have been killed. Since November 2011, al-Qusayr had been besieged by the army. On 13 February, about 400 army soldiers and pro-government militiamen commandeered the city's main

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

and the municipal hall. There were reportedly several pro-government

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

s in the city putting daily life at a standstill and the opposition

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...

(FSA) had established a base in the city.Carrasco, Mayte
Death a daily event in al-Qusayr south of Homs
''Monsters and Critics: Middle East News''. 2012-02-13. Retrieved on 21 February 2012. The people of al-Qusayr set up a local civilians committee largely to prevent inter-religious strife in the city. Between 7–9 February, the FSA kidnapped a Christian Syrian Army corporal who they suspected was cooperating with government forces and whose family, they claimed, operated an unofficial checkpoint outside al-Qusayr to harass anti-government residents. Afterward, pro-government residents kidnapped six Sunni Muslims from the city, killing one. A local mob subsequently abducted 20

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

.Wood, Paul
Syria's slide towards civil war
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

''. 12 February 2012. Retrieved on 21 February 2012. All were released in an exchange deal mediated by the local civilians committee which also stipulated the exile of the corporal and his family from al-Qusayr. On 13 February, the FSA raided and captured the city's ''

mukhabarat ( ar, مخابرات, also transliterated '' / ''), is the Arabic term for intelligence, as used by an intelligence agency. In most of the Middle East, the term is colloquially used in reference to secret police agents who spy on civilians. Organi ...

'' (intelligence or security agency) headquarters, killing five military intelligence agents in the process. In June 2012 the military chief of the armed opposition, Abdel Salam Harba, ordered the remaining thousand of the prior ten thousand Christians to leave al-Qusayr.Ultimatum to Christians: "Leave Qusayr"
''

Agenzia Fides Agenzia Fides is the news agency of the Vatican. It is based in the ''Palazzo de Propaganda Fide'' in Vatican City. It is part of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. It was formed on 5 June 1927, as the first missionary news agency ...

''. 9 June 2012. Retrieved on 4 January 2014. Four

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

s were sent to the city afterward. However, one of the tanks defected to the opposition together with 30 soldiers. The defected tank managed to take out the other three tanks, killing 20 government soldiers, according to local rebels. The FSA then captured the town hall and hospital, and focused on other government positions. On 25 February, the whole town was controlled by the FSA. Since the government sent no further reinforcements, the 80 remaining government soldiers fled from their posts in al-Qusayr. On 20 April 2012, Abdel Ghani Jawhar, an explosives expert and commander of the

Fatah al-Islam Fatah al-Islam ( ar, فتح الإسلام, meaning: ''Conquest of Islam'') is a radical Sunni Islamist group that formed in November 2006 in a Palestinian refugee camp, located in Lebanon. It has been described as a militant jihadistLe Figaro ...

group, detonated himself in al-Qusayr accidentally, while preparing explosive devices. He was wanted in Lebanon for 200 cases of murder, assassinations, attempted assassinations and explosive attacks. On 9 July, Al Jazeera reported that the Free Syrian Army recaptured the town hall, which had served as the main command center for Syrian troops in the area, and demolished it in order to prevent the Syrian government from recapturing it. It was then reported that the Free Syrian Army controlled all of the town except for a few checkpoints and the city's main hospital. On 4 April 2013 the Syrian army launched an

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

against al-Qusayr, with the aim of capturing all villages around the rebel-held town and eventually the town itself. The Qusayr area is considered of strategic importance because it lies between the capital and the Mediterranean coast, and is close to the Lebanese border. On 19 May 2013, the Syrian Army attempted to retake al-Qusayr. As of May 2013, there were over 25,000 civilians still living in the city. As of the beginning of June 2013, the Syrian Army regained control over 50% of the city, including the strategic al-Qusayr Military Airbase. On 5 June 2013, the Syrian Army finally regained control of al-Qusayr, after a rapid overnight attack, allowing some rebel fighters to flee to the neighbouring village of

Demographics

In 1970 al-Qusayr had a population of 9,240. According to Syria's Central Bureau of Statistics, the city's population in the 2004 census was 29,818.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. The

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estimated the population to be around 40,000 in 2011–2012. According to the 2004 census, there were 5,304 households in the city. In 2012 al-Qusayr had a mixed population of

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

s and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s, along with a few hundred

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 Isl ...

s. Today, most of the population follows

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

, as the Christians and Alawites were driven out after the rebel takeover.

Notable people

* Hadi Al Abdullah (born 1987), Syrian citizen journalist

Localities of the subdistrict

The following villages and al-Qusayr city make up the ''nahiyah'' ("subdistrict") of al-Qusayr according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). *al-Qusayr 29,818 / ( ar, القصير) *

5,328 / ( ar, ربلة) *

al-Ghassaniyah Al-Ghassaniya ( ar, الغسانية also spelled Ghassaniyeh) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located south of Homs and just east of Lake Qattinah. Nearby localities include Kafr Mousa to the south, dist ...

4,509 / ( ar, الغسانية) *

al-Aqrabiyah Aqrabiyah ( ar, العقربية, also spelled Akrabieh or Aqrabieh; also known as al-Buwaydah al-Gharbiyah) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs and immediately east and north of t ...

(al-Buwaydah al-Gharbiyah) 4,326 ( ar, العقربية_البويضة الغربية) *

al-Nizariyah Al-Nizariyya ar, النزارية, al-Nīzārīyya) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. It is situated off the Orontes River and at the northeastern border of Lebanon. Nearby ...

3,813 / ( ar, النيزارية) *

Jusiyah al-Amar Jusiyah al-Amar ( ar, جوسية العمار), or simply Jusiyah, is a Syrian village located in Al-Qusayr District, Homs Governorate, Homs, near the border of Lebanon. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (Syria), Syria Central Bureau o ...

3,447 / ( ar, جوسية العمار) *

al-Buwaydah al-Sharqiyah Al-Buwaidah al-Sharqiyah ( ar, البويضة الشرقية, also spelled al-Buwaideh al-Sharqiyeh) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southeast of Homs. Nearby localities include al-Qusayr and a ...

3,196 / ( ar, البويضة الشرقية) *

3,129 / ( ar, الضبعة) *

Shinshar Shinshar ( ar, شنشار, Shinshār, also spelled Shanshar) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located between Homs to the north, al-Qusayr to the southwest and Shamsin to the south. According to the ...

3,118 / ( ar, شنشار) * Dahiyat al-Majd 3,061 / ( ar, ضاحية المجد) *

Zita al-Gharbiyah Zita al-Gharbiyah ( ar, زيتا الغربية, also spelled Zeita) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs and immediately north of the border with Lebanon. Nearby localities incl ...

2,922 / ( ar, زيتا الغربية) *

2,465 / ( ar, عرجون) * an-Naim 2,290 / ( ar, الناعم) *

Zira'ah Zira'a ( ar, زراعة, also spelled Zerraa, Zirhagh or Zar'a) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Situated on a hill just east of the Orontes River, nearby localities include Ra ...

2,250 / ( ar, زراعة) *

al-Hoz Al-Houz ( ar, الحوز, also spelled al-Huz) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Situated at the southern edge of Lake Qattinah, nearby localities include Aqrabiyah to the south ...

2,239 / ( ar, الحوز) *

Daminah al-Sharqiyah Daminah al-Sharqiyah ( ar, دمينة الشرقية) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, south of Homs. Nearby localities include Shinshar to the northeast, al-Buwaida al-Sharqiya to the northwest and al- ...

1,893 / ( ar, دمينة الشرقية) *Jubaniyah (Ramtout) 1,857 / ( ar, (جوبانية (رام توت) *Dibbin 1,696 / ( ar, دبين) *

Kafr Mousa Kafr Mousa ( ar, كفر موسى, also spelled Kafr Musa) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located south of Homs. Nearby localities include Ghassaniya to the north, Damina al-Gharbiya to the east, al- ...

1610 / ( ar, كفر موسى) *al-Qurniyah 1,329 / ( ar, القرنية) *Mudan 1,230 / ( ar, مودان) *Bluzah 1,159 / ( ar, بلوزة) *

Tell al-Nabi Mando Tell al-Nabi Mando ( ar, تل النبي مندو), known in archaeological literature as Tell Nebi Mend and also known as Qadesh ( ar, قادش) after the Bronze-Age city which stood at almost the same location, is a village in central Syria, adm ...

(Qadesh) 1,068 /( ar, تل النبي مندو_قادش) *al-Hawi (al-Haweek) 1,050 / ( ar, الحاوي_الحاويك) * Husseiniya 1,018 / ( ar, الحسينية) *

Daminah al-Gharbiyah Daminah al-Gharbiyah ( ar, دمينة الغربية, also spelled Dumaynah Gharbiyah) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Nearby localities include Qattinah to the northeast, a ...

1,012 / ( ar, دمينة الغربية) *Samaqiat Gharbiyah 866 / ( ar, سماقيات غربية) *Samaqiat Sharqiyah 864 / ( ar, سماقيات شرقية) *al-Souadiyah 861 / ( ar, السوادية) *Hawsh Murshed Samaan 802 / ( ar, حوش مرشد سمعان) *al-Fadhliyah 798 / ( ar, الفاضلية) *al-Burhaniyah (al-Radwaniyah) 744 / ( ar, البرهانية_الرضوانية) *al-Saloumiyah 725 / ( ar, السلومية) *al-Shoumariyah 713 / ( ar, الشومرية) *Diyabiyah 698 / ( ar, ديابية) *Ras al-Ain (Hasabiyah) 690 / ( ar, رأس العين_حسابية) *Saqirjah (Ain al-Tannour) 674 / ( ar, سقرجة_عين التنور) *al-Sakher (Hit) 656 / ( ar, الصخر_هيت) *Abou Jouri 652 / ( ar, أبو جوري) *al-Masriyah 618 / ( ar, المصرية) *Hawsh al-Said Ali 541 / ( ar, حوش السيد علي) *al-Nahriyah 529 / ( ar, النهرية) *al-Hammam 526 / ( ar, الحمام) *al-Shiahat 520 / ( ar, الشياحات) *Ain al-Safa (Akoum) 506 / ( ar, عين الصفا_أكوم) *Kammam 474 / ( ar, كمام) *al-Hamra 431 / ( ar, الحمراء) *Wadi al-Hourani 379 / ( ar, وادي الحوراني) *al-Muh 377 / ( ar, الموح) *Umm Haratain Atiq 345 / ( ar, أم حارتين عتيق) *al-Aatafiyah 317 / ( ar, العاطفية) *al-Khaldiyah 270 / ( ar, الخالدية) *al-Masitbah 258 / ( ar, المصيطبة) *al-Buwait 181 / ( ar, البويت) *Dahiraj 156 / ( ar, دحيرج) *Wadi Hanna 138 / ( ar, وادي حنا) *al-Andalus 106 / ( ar, الأندلس) *Koukran (al-Sadiat) 102 / ( ar, كوكران_السعديات) *al-Hamidiyah 64 / ( ar, الحامدية) *al-Haidariyah 56 / ( ar, الحيدرية)

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Qusayr Cities in Syria Populated places in al-Qusayr District Christian communities in Syria