Jabal al-Akrad ( ar, جبل الأكراد ''Jabal al-Akrād'', ''Mountain of the Kurds'') is a rural mountainous region with an elevation that ranges from 400 to 1,000 meters above sea level, in northwestern Syria along the Coastal Mountain Range. It is located in the northeastern

Latakia Governorate Latakia Governorate, also transliterated as Ladhakia Governorate, ( ar, مُحافظة اللاذقية / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat al-Lādhiqīyah'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western Syria, bordering Turkey's Hata ...

, near the borders with Idlib Governorate and Turkey. Jabal al-Akrad should not be confused with the neighboring

Kurd Mountain Kurd Mountain or Kurd Dagh ( ku, چیای کورمنج, Çiyayê Kurmênc; tr, Kürt Dağı, officially ; ar, جبل الأكراد) is a highland region in northwestern Syria and southeastern Turkey. It is located in the Aleppo Governorate o ...

, which is located further northeast. Jabal al-Akrad is rich in forests and natural resources. As a result of the Syrian civil war the region has seen numerous military clashes between the armed opposition groups and the Syrian army. The Syrian Army recaptured the mountainous region in February 2016 in the

2015–2016 Latakia offensive The 2015–2016 Latakia offensive was a campaign of the Syrian Civil War that was launched by government forces in October 2015 to recapture rebel-held territory in the Latakia Governorate bordering Turkey. The offensive Initial government a ...

Demographics

19th-century German traveler

Martin Hartmann Martin Hartmann (9 December 1851, Breslau – 5 December 1918, Berlin) was a German orientalist, who specialized in Islamic studies. In 1875, he received his doctorate at the University of Leipzig as a student of Heinrich Leberecht Fleische ...

noted that some Sunni Muslims in the Ottoman

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 ...

of Jabal al-Akrad claimed descent from Kurds who were forced to settle in the region 300 years ago but no longer spoke Kurdish.

References

{{Reflist Mountains of Syria Latakia Governorate Idlib Governorate